DoW Autism Idea Development Award

About this funding opportunity

Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Autism Research Program (ARP) Idea Development Award supports the development of innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that could lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate progress in improving outcomes for Autistic individuals. This award mechanism is designed to support innovative ideas with the potential to yield impactful data and new avenues of investigation.

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

Partnering Principal Investigator (PI) Option: The Partnering PI Option is structured so that two investigators, each of whom will be designated as a PI, will work synergistically on a single project. The results of this partnering project should significantly advance the research beyond what would be possible through individual efforts.

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

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