OARacle Newsletter

OAR invites graduate students in the United States and abroad to submit research proposals for the annual Graduate Research Grant Program. Applications for proposals will open Monday, September 11 with a deadline of Monday, February 5, 2024. The maximum award for master’s candidates is $1,000, while doctoral and post-doctoral candidates are eligible for a maximum award of $2,000.  

Interested students should first review the 2024 Request for Proposals and OAR’s funding guidelines, then apply online. OAR will announce grant recipients in May 2024 and make the awards in July 2024. 

Since the program was established in 2004, OAR has awarded over $322,067 in grants to more than 180 graduate research students. In 2023, nine students received funding totaling $16,313. OAR hopes to build on this success in 2024, continuing its commitment to support the next generation of applied autism researchers.  

OAR’s Scientific Council will evaluate the proposals it receives for scientific and technical merit. Review criteria for the evaluation include: 

• Significance: Does the study address an important problem? How will it advance scientific knowledge in the field? 
• Approach: Are the concepts, design, methods, and analyses adequate and appropriate? Are alternate approaches accounted for? 
• Innovation: Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches, or methods? Are its aims original? Does it challenge existing paradigms? 
• Meaningful outcomes: OAR places special emphasis on the research’s importance to the autism community and its application to the practical challenges of autism. While a proposal’s scientific merit in terms of design, methodology, and analysis is vital, the meaningfulness of its outcomes will carry great weight in the final review. 

OAR’s Board of Directors will grant awards based on these evaluations and the recommendations of the Scientific Council.  

For more information, please contact OAR at research@researchautism.org or 571-977-5391.