DoW Autism Career Development Award

About this funding opportunity

Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Autism Research Program (ARP) Career Development Award supports early-career, independent investigators and/or the transition of established investigators from other research fields to conduct innovative, high-impact ideas or early-phase, proof-of-principle clinical trials with the potential to have a major impact on autism.

Distinctive Features:

Applications are strongly encouraged to address one of the FY26 ARP Career Development Award Areas of Interest or provide justification that the proposed research addresses a critical problem, question, or need in autism.

FY26 Career Development Award submissions with a pilot clinical trial component are required to include community collaborations to optimize research impact. Applications are expected to name at least one community partner (e.g., an Autistic individual or caregiver, representatives of community-based organizations) who will provide advice and consultation throughout the planning and implementation of the research project.

Topic areas: General and Cross-cutting R&D, Life Sciences and Health, Social Innovation and Community Development.

Funding amount

This grant provides Varies in funding.

Deadline

Applications are due Oct 22, 2026. Confirm the exact closing time on the official program page before applying.

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to the following applicant types:

• Open to all applicant types

Eligibility

The program did not publish a separate eligibility statement. See the official opportunity page for the full eligibility criteria.

Agency

DoW Autism Career Development Award is administered by Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity - DHACA (AMRAA), listed via Grants.gov.