EXPLORER AWARD APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS Applications are considered on a rolling basis, with a response time as early as 30 days.

To submit an Explorer Award Application, the following proposalCENTRAL sections must be completed: 1. Title Page: Include your project title and indicate use of SSC and/or Simons VIP Biospecimens. 2. Download Templates & Instructions: All templates necessary to complete your proposal are available for download in this module (or the PROPOSAL ATTACHMENTS module, where attachments are submitted as PDF-only files (please also see the “Proposal Attachments” section below for more details). 3. Enable Other Users to Access this Proposal: This section allows you to give other users access to your grant application. When you give a person access to your grant application, you can give them one of three levels of permission. These include View, Edit and Administrator. 4. Applicant/PI: The Principal Investigator (PI) should be listed here. For grants with multiple Principal Investigators, the contact PI should be listed here. Optional: the contact PI’s ORCID identifier. 5. Organization/Institution: Contact information for the signing official and financial/fiscal officer from your institution is required; select the correct person or enter new names in this section. 6. Key Personnel: Indicate key personnel, including but not limited to: Non-Contact Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, Consultants, Postdoctoral Research Associates, and others. In rare circumstances, the applicant organization may designate multiple individuals as PIs who share the authority and responsibility for leading and directing the project, intellectually and logistically. 7. Abstracts: Enter as text in this section. 8. Budget Period Detail: The following information is required for the BUDGET PERIOD DETAIL section. a. Award start date: If you are submitting an application in the first half of a month, a start date two months out is appropriate (this would be a month after selecting the application for award). If you submit in the second half of the month, the third month after that should be used. Projects must start on the first of the month. Please note that grants may not activate without current ethical approval documentation for human participants and/or animal research, unless given prior approval by SFARI staff. b. Indirect Costs (IDC): IDCs are limited to 20 percent of direct costs, with the following exceptions: equipment, tuition, pre- and postdoctoral fellow stipends and benefits (nonuniversity personnel), SSC and Simons VIP biospecimens and any subcontracts with budgets including IDCs. IDCs paid to a subcontractor may not exceed 20 percent of the direct costs paid to the subcontractor. IDCs on equipment are not allowable; however, IDCs on small equipment (equipment up to $5,000) are permissible. a. Equipment: The Simons Foundation will own equipment purchased with foundation grant funds with a unit cost of $50,000 or more. At the end of the grant-funding period or in case of grant termination for any reason, the foundation reserves the right to retain ownership or cede ownership to the Principal Investigator's institution. Equipment with a unit cost of $50,000 or less shall be the property of the institution. b. Biospecimens: If the proposal includes the use of SSC or Simons VIP biospecimens, the Simons Foundation will review the estimated cost based on the price list on our website. Biospecimen costs will be considered separately from other project costs. Enter the projected figure in the field marked “SSC [Simons VIP] Biospecimens (No IDC)” in the BUDGET PERIOD DETAIL section, under “Other Expenses.” A description of use, including the number and type of biospecimens, should be included in the proposal narrative and budget justification (see the “Proposal Attachments” section below). Biospecimen costs must be excluded from the IDC cost calculation. i. Please do not use the field marked “For Internal Use Only-Estimated Cost for SSC Biospecimens” below the INDIRECT COSTS section in the BUDGET PERIOD DETAIL. 1  

c.   Subcontracts: i.   Applications with subcontracts (including PIs who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution) must submit: 1.   Subcontract Detailed Budget (available for download in the PROPOSAL ATTACHMENTS and DOWNLOAD TEMPLATES &  INSTRUCTIONS sections). 2.   Subcontract direct costs must be included in the CONSORTIUM & CONTRACTUAL DIRECT section, and subcontract indirect costs should be included in the INDIRECT COSTS section. Please enter both direct costs and indirect costs for each subcontract on separate lines. 9.   Budget Summary: The BUDGET SUMMARY will populate from the saved BUDGET PERIOD DETAIL module. 10.   Organization Assurances: Indicate use of human participants or vertebrate animals in this section and status of approval from the institutional review board or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Grants cannot activate without current human participant and/or animal research ethical approval. 11.   Proposal Attachments: The following documents are to be uploaded in the PROPOSAL ATTACHMENTS section, where they are also available for download. a.   Explorer Narrative: The Explorer Narrative should not exceed three (3) pages of single-spaced, 11point text and 0.5 margins, including references and figures. The Narrative should provide a research project description, including specific aims, experimental design, significance, potential impact on autism research, novelty, milestones and preliminary data (if available; it is understood that preliminary results are not required). b.   Key Personnel Biosketch: Please upload key personnel biosketches as separate attachments. c.   Budget Justification d.   Subcontract Budget Template: Applications with subcontracts must submit a detailed budget. a.   Current and Pending Support: Please upload current and pending support for both Principal Investigator(s) and key personnel. e.   Research Environment and Resources f.   Renewable Reagents and Data-Sharing Plan g.   501 (c) (3) Equivalent Letter from the IRS (if applicable): For international institutions, upload a copy of the institution’s 501(c) (3) equivalency letter. The SF requires an equivalency determination letter from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stating exemption under 501(c)(3) and furthermore, either a 509(a)(1), (2) or (3) classification. If an international institution is selected for funding and does not have the aforementioned documentation, the foundation will require that the institution complete an equivalency determination with NGOsource (please refer to SFARI Policies). 12.   PI Data Sheet: Your professional profile will populate this section of the application. If revisions are required, please select EDIT PROFESSIONAL PROFILE and go to section 4 (PERSONAL DATA FOR APPLICATIONS). 13.   Validate: You must click the VALIDATE button below to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed on the screen. Please correct any missing information before proceeding to the next step. 14.   Signature Page(s): The signed Signature Page is available for download in the Signature Page section and must be signed by the signing official, then re-uploaded in the PROPOSAL ATTACHMENTS Section. 15.   Submit: You will be unable to submit if you have not provided all the required information. Any missing information will be listed on the screen. If your submission is successful, you will receive a confirmation message on the screen and a confirmation email will be sent to the applicant. Please note that narratives exceeding the 3-page limit will not be reviewed (including Figures, Figure Legends and References). Contacts: Administrative inquiries:

[email protected]

646-654-0066

proposalCENTRAL:

[email protected]

800-875-2562

SSC and Simons VIP questions:

[email protected]

646-654-0066

 

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