FY2027 National Ataxia Foundation — Early Career Investigator Award
The National Ataxia Foundation (NAF) is accepting FY2027 letters of intent for the Early Career Investigator Award, a competitive applicant-facing research grant. This mechanism is separate from NAF’s other research awards. The program supports Innovative basic, translational, or clinical research improving understanding or treatment of hereditary, sporadic, or acquired ataxias, while developing an early-stage investigator’s independent research career.
Individual funding and grant period
Individual award: $50,000 USD for one year. The funding period is September 1, 2027 through August 31, 2028. The funder has not published a uniform overall FY2027 allocation for this individual mechanism; do not interpret other NAF program totals as an applicant award.
Eligible organizations and researchers
Applicant must hold a PhD or equivalent doctoral/combined clinical-research degree, be within six years of completing postdoctoral training and/or hold a junior-faculty appointment, and have a full-time appointment at an academic, nonprofit, or for-profit institution. Associate professors are ineligible. Eligible U.S. and international researchers may apply; U.S. citizenship is not required. Previous Early Career award recipients are ineligible. Applicants may submit only one NAF letter of intent in this funding cycle and must disclose other support. Researchers with NAF awards within the past two fiscal years, active no-cost extensions, delinquent reporting, or overlapping funding can be ineligible. Check the exact rules in the linked mechanism instructions and annual grant policies.
Budget and important restrictions
Funding covers direct research expenses, including eligible project-specific supplies, essential equipment (no more than 20% of budget), animal care, patient-related study costs and permitted publication and investigator travel. Personnel salary or stipend costs may not exceed 50% of the award ($25,000), excluding fringe benefits. Publication costs are limited to $2,500 and qualifying economy conference or collaboration travel to $2,000. Institutional indirect costs, cost sharing, tuition, fringe benefits, relocation, permanent equipment and duplicated support are prohibited. Follow the full FY2027 mechanism-specific and annual policies.
Mandatory two-stage deadlines
Letter of intent: November 18, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. NAF opened LOI submissions September 14, 2026. Only successful LOI applicants will be invited to submit a full application by March 1, 2027 by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. LOI decisions are expected January 2027 and award decisions June 2027. The full proposal stage is not presently open to applicants without an invitation.
Application prerequisites and instructions
Create a ProposalCentral account and select National Ataxia Foundation and this specific FY2027 mechanism. The LOI requires a statement of need (four sentences), impact statement (four sentences), specific aims (one page), and biosketch (five pages). Invited full submissions require scientific abstract, lay summary, ORCID, research plan, budget and justification, institutional signatures and other listed items. Research focus: ataxia disease mechanisms, therapeutic targets, models, early-career independent research. Applicants must complete required e-signatures before submitting. The NAF LOI-stage question deadline was November 1, 2026.
Controlling official FY2027 Early Career Investigator Award instructions (PDF) · Official National Ataxia Foundation grant overview and annual policies · ProposalCentral application portal. Official source reviewed November 5, 2026.