Individual Investigator Research Award
Funds individual investigators pursuing biomedical studies of Friedreich ataxia therapeutic targets.
⚠This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.
The Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) Individual Investigator Research Award (IIRA) is a three-year investigator-initiated grant for researchers pursuing treatments and cures for inherited retinal degenerative diseases (IRD) and dry age-related macular degeneration (dAMD). The Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, has invested nearly $996 million in retinal disease research since its founding in 1971, currently funding more than 113 grants per year across 124 investigators at 90 U.S. institutions and international laboratories in 16 countries. The IIRA is the Foundation's principal mechanism for supporting mid-career and established investigators with significant research projects in the IRD and dAMD space.
Awards provide approximately $100,000 per year for up to three years, for a total of approximately $300,000 per award. Eligible applicants must hold a Ph.D., M.D., M.D./Ph.D., D.M.D., D.V.M., D.O., O.D., or equivalent doctoral degree, and must hold a faculty position or equivalent at a domestic or foreign non-profit organization, university, medical school, hospital, or research institute. For-profit organizations are not eligible. The FY26 letter of intent deadline was October 16, 2025; full applications were by invitation only and due March 5, 2026. Applications are submitted via the online portal at onlineapplicationportal.com/blindness/. The FY27 LOI cycle is expected in mid-to-late 2026.
The IIRA process is two-stage: applicants first submit a letter of intent, and only those selected following LOI review receive an invitation to submit a full application. This staged approach makes the LOI the critical competitive filter. Proposals should directly address research with the greatest potential to advance toward treatments or cures — the Foundation's scientific strategy explicitly prioritizes translational relevance. The Foundation encourages applications from underrepresented racial, ethnic, and gender groups and individuals with disabilities.
Investigator-initiated research on inherited retinal degenerative diseases and dry age-related macular degeneration with the greatest potential to advance toward treatments and cures.
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