ASD Research Funding and Funders in 2016

2016 ASD Research Funding

Australia, Canada, U.K., and the U.S. requested 2016 autism-related research project and funding information from public body entities and private organizations, including the annual budget for each project and its relevance to the seven research priority areas. Details describing the data collection methods and currency conversion for each country are included in Appendix B.

Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. invested a total amount of $395.9 million in ASD research funding in 2016, distributed among 1,552 projects (Table 1). The U.S. had the largest funding total with $364.4 million and 1,360 projects. The U.K. funded $14.8 million in ASD research and had 59 projects. Canada invested nearly $11 million in ASD research and 74 projects. Lastly, Australia funded 59 projects that amounted to almost $6 million in autism research. For the U.K. and Australia, research projects receive all the designated funds for a project in the first year of the project. For these two countries, projects that started research activity prior to 2016 but are still ongoing will not contribute any funding to the 2016 portfolio, but these projects are still accounted for in each country's project count.

2016 ASD Research Total Funding and Project Counts by Country

Country	Funding Amount in U S Dollars (Percentage of total funding)	Project Count (Percentage of total project count)
Country United States	Funding $364,435,254 (92%)	Project Count 1,360 (88%)
Country United Kingdom	Funding $14,848,929 (4%)	Project Count 59 (4%)
Country Canada	Funding $10,719,396 (3%)	Project Count 74 (5%)
Country Australia	Funding $5,854,451 (1%)	Project Count 59 (4%)
Country Grand Total	Funding $395,858,120	Project Count 1,552

Table 1. In 2016, there were 1,552 ASD research projects totaling $395.8 million among Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Currency conversion methods are described in Appendix B.

2016 ASD Research Funders in Each Country

Among the four countries, there were 34 funders included in the 2016 analysis. Australia included funding information from two federal government research councils and three private entities. Canada collected funding information from one government agency and two not-for-profit private organizations. The U.K. provided funding information from five public body agencies, which are non-departmental research councils, as well as three private organizations. The U.S. collected data from nine federal government agencies and nine private organizations. These 34 agencies and organizations are listed in Table 2. Each country collected from the major private and public ASD-related funders in their respective countries, however some funders may not have been identified for this analysis. Future iterations of this report intend to include more funders from each country as well as more countries. Brief summaries of the mission areas for each agency and organization that contributed to the analysis can be found in Appendix C of this report.

Australia

Government Agencies	Private Organizations
Government Agencies Australian Research Council (ARC)	Private Organizations Financial Markets Foundation for Children
Government Agencies National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)	Private Organizations Ian Potter Foundation
Government Agencies	Private Organizations Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC)

Canada

Government Agencies	Private Organizations
Government Agencies Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)	Private Organizations Brain Canada Foundation (BCF)
Government Agencies	Private Organizations Ontario Brain Institute (OBI)

United Kingdom

Government Agencies	Private Organizations
Government Agencies Economic and Social Research Council (ERSC)	Private Organizations Autistica
Government Agencies Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	Private Organizations British Academy
Government Agencies Innovate UK	Private Organizations Wellcome Trust
Government Agencies Medical Research Council (MRC)	Private Organizations
Government Agencies National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)	Private Organizations

United States

Government Agencies	Private Organizations
Government Agencies Administration for Community Living (ACL)	Private Organizations Autism Research Institute (ARI)
Government Agencies Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)	Private Organizations Autism Science Foundation (ASF)
Government Agencies Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)	Private Organizations Autism Speaks (AS)
Government Agencies Department of Defense – Army (DoD – Army)	Private Organizations Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF)
Government Agencies Department of Education (ED)	Private Organizations Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD)
Government Agencies Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Private Organizations New England Center for Children (NECC)
Government Agencies Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)	Private Organizations Organization for Autism Research (OAR)
Government Agencies National Institutes of Health (NIH)	Private Organizations Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
Government Agencies National Science Foundation (NSF)	Private Organizations Simons Foundation (SF)

Table 2. ASD research project information was collected from 34 public and private entities among Australia, Canada, U.K., and the U.S. for the 2016 International ASD Research Portfolio Analysis Report.

ASD Research Funding Provided by Each Funder in 2016

Australia

Australia contributed $5,854,541 across 59 autism research projects in 2016 (Table 3). There were two Australian government research councils and three private organizations included in the analysis. Two organizations contributed 98% of Australia's autism research investment in 2016. The Autism CRC, a private organization, was the largest funder with $3.2 million in investment across 37 autism research projects. The other major funder was a government research council, the NHMRC, reporting more than $2.5 million and 16 research projects. The second government council, the ARC, did not contribute any new funding in 2016 but had ongoing projects included in Australia's portfolio. The Financial Markets Foundation for Children and the Ian Potter Foundation, two non-profit organizations, each funded one project in 2016.

Australia's 2016 ASD Research Funding by Agency/Organization

Funding Agency/Organization	2016 Funding (USD)	Project Count
Funding Agency/Organization Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC)	2016 Funding (USD) $3,173,265	Project Count 37
Funding Agency/Organization National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)	2016 Funding (USD) $2,557,017	Project Count 16
Funding Agency/Organization Financial Markets Foundation for Children	2016 Funding (USD) $109,860	Project Count 1
Funding Agency/Organization Ian Potter Foundation	2016 Funding (USD) $14,400	Project Count 1
Funding Agency/Organization Australian Research Council (ARC)	2016 Funding (USD) $0	Project Count 4
Funding Agency/Organization Total	2016 Funding (USD) $5,854,541	Project Count 59

Table 3. The table lists the total funding and number of projects provided by the five Australian funders included in the analysis.

Canada

In 2016, Canada supported 74 ASD research projects totaling $10,719,396 (Table 4). Research project data were collected from two private organizations and one Canadian government agency. The government agency, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), was the largest funder with nearly $7 million in ASD research and 61 projects. The second largest contributor was the Brain Canada Foundation (BCF), which is a private organization that reported $2.6 million for 11 projects. The private organization of the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) funded two projects that covered almost $1.2 million in funding.

Canada's 2016 ASD Research Funding by Agency/Organization

Funding Agency/Organization	2016 Funding (USD)	Project Count
Funding Agency/Organization Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)	2016 Funding (USD) $6,974,431	Project Count 61
Funding Agency/Organization Brain Canada Foundation (BCF)	2016 Funding (USD) $2,584,273*	Project Count 11
Funding Agency/Organization Ontario Brain Institute (OBI)	2016 Funding (USD) $1,160,693**	Project Count 2
Funding Agency/Organization Total	2016 Funding (USD) $10,719,396	Project Count 74

Table 4. Total funding and number of projects towards ASD research provided by the three Canadian funders.

* Funding provided by BCF includes co-funded ASD research projects. While BCF leads the ASD research projects provided in this report, they are not the sole funders and included funding from private donors and organizations in their total amount. BCF's funding numbers are not duplicative of any agency/organization included in this report.

** The annual funding amount for some projects reported by OBI are prorated estimates for the autism-related portion of a larger project.

United Kingdom

The U.K. provided funding information from five public body agencies as well as three private organizations. Overall, the U.K. contributed $14,848,929 towards autism research and had 59 projects (Table 5). The largest funder of autism research was the private organization, Wellcome Trust, which provided $4.2 million in autism research among 12 projects. Three public body agencies followed, the Medical Research Council ($3.3 million, 7 projects), the Economic and Social Research Council ($3.1 million, 11 projects), and the National Institute for Health Research ($2.8 million, 9 projects).

United Kingdom's 2016 Autism Research Funding by Agency/Organization

Funding Agency/Organization	2016 Funding (USD)	Project Count
Funding Agency/Organization Wellcome Trust	2016 Funding (USD) $4,200,832	Project Count 12
Funding Agency/Organization Medical Research Council (MRC)	2016 Funding (USD) $3,268,036	Project Count 7
Funding Agency/Organization Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	2016 Funding (USD) $3,127,812	Project Count 11
Funding Agency/Organization National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)	2016 Funding (USD) $2,763,124	Project Count 9
Funding Agency/Organization Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	2016 Funding (USD) $1,133,952	Project Count 4
Funding Agency/Organization Autistica	2016 Funding (USD) $355,174	Project Count 14
Funding Agency/Organization British Academy	2016 Funding (USD) $0	Project Count 1
Funding Agency/Organization Innovate UK	2016 Funding (USD) $0	Project Count 1
Funding Agency/Organization Total	2016 Funding (USD) $14,848,929	Project Count 59

Table 5. The list of agencies and private organizations that contributed to the United Kingdom's 2016 autism research portfolio.

United States

The 18 agencies and organizations that participated in the U.S. supported 1,360 ASD research projects totaling $364,435,254 (Table 6). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) was the leading federal (and overall) contributor of funding for ASD research in 2016 with a total of $234.4 million, funding 547 projects. The next largest federal funder was the Department of Education, with $19.6 million, followed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with $15.4 million. As in previous years, the Simons Foundation and Autism Speaks were the largest private funders of ASD research, with investments of $61.8 million and $6.7 million, respectively.

United States' 2016 ASD Research Funding by Agency/Organization

Funding Agency/Organization	2016 Funding (USD)	Project Count
Funding Agency/Organization National Institutes of Health (NIH)	2016 Funding (USD) $234,392,406	Project Count 547*
Funding Agency/Organization Simons Foundation (SF)	2016 Funding (USD) $61,754,800	Project Count 283
Funding Agency/Organization Department of Education (ED)	2016 Funding (USD) $19,627,374	Project Count 75
Funding Agency/Organization Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)	2016 Funding (USD) $15,390,203	Project Count 28
Funding Agency/Organization Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)	2016 Funding (USD) $8,576,199**	Project Count 30
Funding Agency/Organization Department of Defense - Army (DoD-Army)	2016 Funding (USD) $6,888,542	Project Count 58
Funding Agency/Organization Autism Speaks (AS)	2016 Funding (USD) $6,745,989	Project Count 90
Funding Agency/Organization National Science Foundation (NSF)	2016 Funding (USD) $4,488,826	Project Count 44
Funding Agency/Organization Administration for Community Living (ACL)	2016 Funding (USD) $1,798,164	Project Count 7
Funding Agency/Organization Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF)	2016 Funding (USD) $1,688,387	Project Count 56
Funding Agency/Organization Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)	2016 Funding (USD) $539,719	Project Count 7
Funding Agency/Organization Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD)	2016 Funding (USD) $690,000	Project Count 9
Funding Agency/Organization Autism Science Foundation (ASF)	2016 Funding (USD) $474,072	Project Count 30
Funding Agency/Organization Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	2016 Funding (USD) $420,364	Project Count 1
Funding Agency/Organization Autism Research Institute (ARI)	2016 Funding (USD) $347,650	Project Count 8
Funding Agency/Organization New England Center for Children (NECC)	2016 Funding (USD) $259,060	Project Count 64
Funding Agency/Organization Organization for Autism Research (OAR)	2016 Funding (USD) $199,803	Project Count 19
Funding Agency/Organization Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)	2016 Funding (USD) $153,695	Project Count 4
Funding Agency/Organization Total	2016 Funding (USD) $364,435,254	Project Count 1,360

Table 6. The table lists the total funding and number of projects provided by the 18 federal agencies and private organizations included for 2016. Together, the agencies and organizations funded 1,360 projects, representing an overall investment of $364,435,254.

*The NIH project number shown reflects unique NIH projects. Portions of a project funded by more than one NIH institute ("co-funds") were combined and only counted as a single project. This approach differs from that used in the NIH RePORT database, where each co-fund portion is counted as a separate project.

**The annual funding amount for some projects reported by HRSA are prorated estimates for the autism-related portion of a larger project.

Institutions Receiving Research Funding in Each Country

For the four countries included in this analysis, the major recipients of ASD research funding tended to be academic research institutions. In Australia, four institutions were universities that support researchers and students in their autism research endeavors, and one organization was a service provider with a strong research focus. While Canada and the U.K. included academic establishments among their highest funded institutions, each also included several hospitals. In Canada and the U.K., clinical academics often have dual roles across hospitals and universities. Within the U.S., four of the five institutions that received the most funding in 2016 were universities that support academic researchers and research programs in medicine, behavioral health, services research, and other disciplines. NIH's intramural research program, the internal research program at NIH, received a significant portion of U.S. funding for ASD research. The following tables provide additional information about the institutions that had the highest funding in 2016 for each country (Tables 7-10).

Which Australian institutions had the highest levels of
autism research funding in 2016?

Institution	Funding (USD)	Project Count
Institution University of Melbourne	Funding (USD) $1,923,030	Project Count 6
Institution University of Queensland	Funding (USD) $1,426,200	Project Count 10
Institution Curtin University	Funding (USD) $589,959	Project Count 4
Institution Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect)	Funding (USD) $427,319	Project Count 1
Institution La Trobe University	Funding (USD) $391,756	Project Count 3

Table 7. Institutions in Australia with the most autism-related research funding from government and private sources in 2016.

Which Canadian institutions had the highest levels of
autism research funding in 2016?

Institution	Funding (USD)	Project Count
Institution Hospital for Sick Children	Funding (USD) $1,625,296	Project Count 8
Institution McGill University	Funding (USD) $1,324,452	Project Count 11
Institution University of British Columbia	Funding (USD) $1,269,207	Project Count 7
Institution Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital	Funding (USD) $1,268,520	Project Count 4
Institution Centre for Addiction and Mental Health	Funding (USD) $990,548	Project Count 2

Table 8. Institutions in Canada with the most ASD-related research funding from government and private sources in 2016.

Which U.K. institutions had the highest levels of
autism research funding in 2016?

Institution	Funding (USD)	Project Count
Institution University of Edinburgh	Funding (USD) $5,569,179	Project Count 2
Institution Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	Funding (USD) $2,421,382	Project Count 1
Institution King's College London	Funding (USD) $1,668,839	Project Count 11
Institution University of York	Funding (USD) $1,450,930	Project Count 2
Institution Heriot-Watt University	Funding (USD) $1,013,907	Project Count 1

Table 9. Institutions in the U.K. with the most autism-related research funding from government and private sources in 2016.

Which U.S. institutions had the highest levels of
autism research funding in 2016?

Institution	Funding (USD)	Project Count
Institution University of California, Davis	Funding (USD) $18,355,969	Project Count 54
Institution Yale University	Funding (USD) $15,308,925	Project Count 41
Institution University of California, Los Angeles	Funding (USD) $15,010,953	Project Count 44
Institution National Institutes of Health - Intramural Research Program	Funding (USD) $13,085,768	Project Count 12
Institution University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Funding (USD) $10,481,404	Project Count 34

Table 10. Institutions within the U.S. with the most ASD-related research funding from government and private sources in 2016.