What Are SFARI and SPARK?

Launched in 2006, SFARI is a scientific initiative within the Simons Foundation’s suite of programs. SFARI’s mission is to advance the basic science of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions.

SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge) is the world’s largest research study on autism. SPARK’s goal is to accelerate autism research and discovery by building an online research community of thousands of individuals with ASD and their family members. Participation in SPARK is simple, free and open to any individual living in the United States with a professional diagnosis of ASD. SPARK participants consent to be contacted about other research opportunities in the future through SPARK Research Match.

Purpose

The SPARK Research Match Expansion request for applications (RFA) encourages and supports applications for SPARK Research Match studies from principal investigators to increase SPARK research opportunities to individuals whose genetic ancestries have been undersampled in clinical research. This will ensure that these research efforts better reflect the demographics of the United States.

Objective

Large segments of the U.S. population are less able to benefit from new clinical knowledge because they are undersampled in clinical research studies.
The SPARK Research Match Expansion request for applications (RFA) aims to increase research participation by soliciting studies on autism that recruit participants from undersampled groups. Proposals may be on any topic related to autism provided that:

1. The study protocol prioritizes participation of undersampled group(s).
2. The study topic is clearly of interest, impact, and/or importance to the undersampled group(s). Applications should provide a clear justification regarding the topic’s importance (see How To Apply section for details).

Type of Funding

Funding will provide per-person participant incentive (e-gift cards) for participation in online surveys or remote projects (e.g., phone interview, focus group, telehealth) that utilize SPARK Research Match to recruit participants into new research studies. Funding may ONLY be used for incentives for participants in the undersampled group. Funds will not be transferred directly to the institution but rather will be provided as part of the workflow built for the project. For example, for an online survey study, SPARK Research Match would build the surveys into an online workflow, and after completion, participants would receive an e-gift card. Data would be distributed to the investigator and, later, shared back with SFARI.

Investigators may apply for $10,000 in per-person incentive funding per study.

Program Description

SPARK Research Match is a platform provided in kind by SFARI that aims to expedite research and scientific discovery by linking interested Investigators with SPARK participants. Since launching in 2017, Research Match has helped connect over 66,000 SPARK participants with researchers conducting new research studies. Approved Investigators work with SPARK’s dedicated Research Match team to finalize study materials, build the online research components, if applicable (i.e., surveys), and invite eligible participants. The Research Match team monitors the research, which may involve sharing authorized participant contact information with the study research team, collecting data for researcher surveys and/or performing data linkages to SPARK data. Investigators are required to share their Research Match data back with SPARK, and in this way the SPARK database is enhanced over time for future research. The Research Match team also works with Investigators and the SPARK communications team to develop lay-friendly summaries of completed, published research, which are sent directly to study participants and posted on the Discover SPARK webpage for the SPARK community.

For more information about SPARK Research Match, please review SPARK Recruitment Process Document.