AFTD Holloway Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027: $65,000 a Year for Two Years of Frontotemporal Degeneration Research

AFTD Holloway Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027: $65,000 a Year for Two Years of Frontotemporal Degeneration Research

The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) has opened the 2027 Holloway Postdoctoral Fellowship for researchers whose work is specifically focused on frontotemporal degeneration (FTD). The award provides $65,000 per year for two years, or $130,000 in total, for a funding period running from July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2029. AFTD expects to make up to two awards in this cycle.

The first stage is a letter of intent (LOI), due September 2, 2026, by 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. AFTD expects to invite selected LOI applicants to submit full proposals around October 4, 2026. The full application deadline is November 20, 2026, also at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The LOI is not a short formality: it is the screening document that determines who may proceed to the detailed proposal stage.

This fellowship is intended for early-career investigators who have a doctorate and an eligible postdoctoral appointment, including international researchers. Its scope covers basic, translational, and clinical FTD research, as well as FTD outcomes research and public health. A proposal must be about FTD itself. A project focused entirely on another neurodegenerative disease will not qualify simply because it uses related methods or could eventually have broader relevance.

Key details

The amount should not be read as an unrestricted research budget. AFTD says the award is primarily intended to cover the fellow’s stipend or salary and benefits. Other expenses, such as research costs, travel to scientific meetings, publication costs, or technical staff support, may be considered when they are itemized and justified. The RFP also states that the funds are for direct costs and cannot be allocated to institutional overhead.

What the fellowship supports

FTD is an umbrella term for a group of neurodegenerative disorders affecting behavior, language, movement, and cognition. The 2027 RFP names behavioral variant FTD, primary progressive aphasia, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, and FTD-ALS as examples within the program’s scope. Applicants do not need to force a project into one narrow subtype, but the connection to FTD should be unmistakable in the research question, methods, expected findings, and likely value to the field.

AFTD lists several areas of need. These include cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in FTD pathogenesis; models that reproduce FTD pathology or clinical phenotype; technologies for diagnosis, disease monitoring, symptom or disease treatment, and caregiver support; bioinformatics and computational biology; fluid, imaging, or digital biomarker development; and work addressing health disparities or the needs of populations underrepresented in FTD research.

That list is illustrative rather than a closed set. The RFP says that projects may address any area of basic, translational, or clinical FTD research, as well as outcomes research and public health. The practical test is whether the proposal makes a clear and credible contribution to understanding, diagnosing, monitoring, treating, or responding to FTD. A technically impressive project with only a remote connection to FTD is a weaker fit than a focused project that answers a meaningful FTD question with an appropriate method.

The fellowship also comes with a potential research-resource benefit through AFTD’s collaboration with Target ALS. AFTD postdoctoral fellows may be able to access core resources for post-mortem brain tissue, human stem cells, and viral vectors, with most associated costs covered by Target ALS. Access is not automatic: recipients who want to use the resources must submit a written request explaining how they fit the funded research and provide proof of AFTD funding. These resources can be relevant to a proposal, but applicants should not promise access before confirming that their project and requested materials fit the available core facilities.

Who can apply

The basic eligibility requirements are unusually clear. An applicant must hold a PhD, MD, or similar doctorate degree and be engaged in postdoctoral research at an academic institution, teaching hospital, or nonprofit research institute. AFTD welcomes both U.S. and international postdoctoral investigators. The application instructions also allow current PhD candidates to apply if they will begin a postdoctoral appointment at a not-for-profit institution no later than July 1, 2027.

The postdoctoral appointment must last through the entire two-year funding period. Someone whose current appointment ends before June 30, 2029 must have a documented plan for an eligible appointment that covers the full period. The program allows applicants to be entering the first, second, or third year of a postdoctoral appointment at the start of the fellowship term, provided the appointment continues for the required duration.

The program excludes people who hold temporary or permanent staff scientist positions rather than postdoctoral appointments. That distinction is important for researchers who have recently moved into a staff role or whose institution uses nonstandard titles. If your title does not clearly identify you as a postdoctoral researcher, ask the sponsoring institution or AFTD whether the appointment satisfies the program’s definition before investing in the LOI.

The proposed research must specifically focus on FTD. AFTD says proposals focused entirely on other neurodegenerative diseases will not be considered. This does not prevent comparative, cross-disease, or methodologically broad work, but the FTD rationale should be central rather than added in the final paragraph. The application should make clear which FTD population, mechanism, clinical problem, or care need the project addresses.

How the application works

Applications begin in AFTD’s online submission portal. A new user creates an account, builds a profile, and completes an eligibility quiz. The quiz must be submitted before the LOI becomes available. AFTD’s instructions say that the portal sends an eligibility confirmation email and that applicants should contact [email protected] if the message does not arrive within an hour or if the result raises a question.

The LOI components must be combined into a single PDF. They are:

• An applicant CV or NIH-formatted biosketch, with a five-page maximum.
• A description of the proposed research, consisting of one page of specific aims and up to one additional page for references.
• A one-page statement of interest in FTD research.

The specific-aims page should include background, rationale, proposed experiments divided into two or three aims, methods, and the resources and data needed to complete the work. The statement of interest is deliberately more personal. It should explain why the applicant is interested in FTD research, describe future career plans, and identify relevant preliminary data if it helped lead to the proposed project.

LOIs are reviewed confidentially by AFTD staff. The RFP identifies four screening categories: novelty and significance, feasibility, investigator, and interest in FTD. The strongest LOI will therefore do more than list an interesting hypothesis. It will show why the question matters to FTD research, why the proposed work can be completed in two years, why the applicant and lab have the necessary expertise or collaborations, and why the applicant is likely to remain committed to the field.

Applicants invited to the second stage complete a substantially larger submission. The full application includes a current CV or biosketch, institutional certification and endorsement, a 250-word lay abstract, a four-page research plan, a budget, a signed mentor sponsorship letter and training-plan description, the sponsoring principal investigator’s CV or biosketch, a summary of the PI’s current funding, and two independent letters of support. Human-subjects and animal-use statements are also required where relevant, although the relevant approval may be pending at the time of submission.

Timeline and deadline strategy

The LOI deadline is the immediate planning date. AFTD’s portal must receive the LOI by 8:00 p.m. Eastern on September 2, 2026. Treat that as a complete-document deadline, not as the time to begin uploading files. The portal requires an eligibility check and a single PDF, and technical problems or an incomplete document could prevent a submission from being considered.

The published cycle is:

1. RFP opens July 8, 2026.
2. LOI is due September 2, 2026, by 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
3. Invitations for full proposals are expected around October 4, 2026.
4. Invited full proposals are due November 20, 2026, by 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
5. Decision letters are expected in April 2027.
6. The two-year funding period begins July 1, 2027 and ends June 30, 2029.

The full-proposal date matters even while preparing the LOI. If the project would require a difficult institutional approval, a new collaboration, or access to specialized samples, start those conversations now. An invited applicant may have only a short interval between the invitation and the full deadline. Preparing a realistic research-plan outline, draft budget, mentor commitment, and list of possible independent references before the LOI decision will make that interval manageable.

How to prepare a persuasive LOI

Start by reducing the project to one FTD-specific question. The one-page aims document cannot carry a broad program of loosely connected experiments. Each aim should have a purpose, a method, and a result that will change what the field knows or can do. If an aim depends on another aim, explain that dependency and identify a credible fallback. Reviewers are looking for a project that is ambitious but not fragile.

Make the two-year scope visible. The RFP’s feasibility criterion asks whether the project is achievable within the fellowship period and whether the resources or models are appropriate. A short work plan can help even if the page limit does not permit a full schedule: show what will be established first, what data will be generated next, and what analysis or validation will complete the work. Do not imply that every experiment will work exactly as planned. Instead, show that the project has an interpretable decision point if a method or model fails.

Connect the investigator to the project without turning the CV into a publication inventory. The application instructions ask for a CV or biosketch, while the review criteria emphasize career-stage-appropriate achievement and capacity for independent research. Select evidence that demonstrates relevant technical skills, disease knowledge, quantitative ability, or collaboration. If the project asks you to learn a new method, identify the mentor, collaborator, or training environment that will supply that expertise.

Use the statement of interest to explain commitment rather than repeat the specific aims. AFTD wants to know why the applicant is drawn to FTD and whether the fellowship will support a continuing career in the field. A concise account of an experience, result, or unmet clinical or research problem can be more useful than a generic declaration that FTD research is important. If preliminary data motivated the project, describe what it actually showed and what remains unknown; do not treat preliminary evidence as proof of the final hypothesis.

Write for a scientifically informed reader who may not work in your exact subfield. Define specialized terms, state the clinical or biological stakes early, and make the connection between each method and the FTD question explicit. A reviewer should not have to infer why an assay, dataset, animal model, imaging measure, or computational pipeline matters to people affected by FTD.

Full proposal materials to arrange early

The full application has several institutional dependencies. The sponsoring PI must provide a signed letter describing the two-year training plan, its relationship to the applicant’s career goals, the path toward independent research, and the plan for maintaining a commitment to FTD. The PI must also provide a CV or biosketch and a current-funding summary that lists each award’s source, title, dates, and amount.

The applicant must obtain institutional certification and endorsement. Send that form to the appropriate sponsored-research or grant-administration office early enough for institutional review. A budget template is supplied through the portal. Because the award is primarily for stipend or salary and benefits, every request for travel, research, publication, or technical support should be itemized and justified. Institutional overhead is not an eligible allocation under the RFP.

Two independent professional contacts must submit letters of support. They cannot be the PI who will mentor and oversee the project. AFTD gives examples such as a graduate thesis advisor, a collaborator in another lab, or an investigator who supervised an independent project. Contact likely references before the LOI if you can. The application instructions state that the full application is incomplete until both letters have arrived, so a reference who agrees in principle but misses the portal request can still create a serious problem.

If the research involves human participants or vertebrate animals, document the IRB or IACUC status. Approval may be pending at submission, but the application should say what review is required and where the protocol stands. Also begin thinking about data management and sharing. AFTD expects a concise plan covering data types, tools and code, standards, preservation and access, reuse constraints, and oversight. The plan should be realistic about consent, licensing, privacy, and proprietary restrictions rather than promising unrestricted release of materials that cannot legally be shared.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most serious mistake is a weak disease fit. A project may use an advanced technique or address a general neurodegenerative mechanism, but that does not make it an FTD proposal. Put the FTD population, mechanism, or unmet need at the center of the question and explain how the proposed evidence will advance that area.

Another mistake is treating the LOI as a miniature full proposal with no coherent story. The first stage is short by design. Use the page limits to show significance, a small number of testable aims, appropriate methods, and a credible investigator-development rationale. Save secondary experiments and technical detail for the full application rather than making the primary logic difficult to find.

Do not assume that a postdoctoral title automatically proves eligibility. Confirm that the appointment continues through June 30, 2029 and that the host is an academic institution, teaching hospital, or nonprofit research institute. Staff scientist appointments are excluded. Current PhD candidates should document how and when the eligible postdoctoral appointment will begin.

Finally, do not budget as if the $130,000 total were a flexible project grant. The stated primary purpose is stipend or salary and benefits, and the funds are direct costs only. A carefully justified budget that respects those limits is more credible than a long list of purchases that the program does not promise to support. Also check for overlapping fellowships or grants: the RFP says Holloway recipients cannot hold two fellowships or grants concurrently and must report an overlap to AFTD.

Frequently asked questions

Can international researchers apply?

Yes. AFTD explicitly welcomes U.S. and international postdoctoral investigators. The host appointment still must be at an academic institution, teaching hospital, or nonprofit research institute, and it must cover the full funding period.

Is the September 2 date the final fellowship deadline?

It is the LOI deadline. Only applicants invited after the LOI review may submit a full proposal, which is due November 20, 2026 by 8:00 p.m. Eastern. The portal must receive a complete LOI by the September deadline.

Can a current PhD candidate apply?

Yes, if the candidate will begin a postdoctoral appointment at a not-for-profit institution no later than July 1, 2027 and will have an appointment lasting through the full two-year funding period.

Is a project about another neurodegenerative disease eligible?

Not if it is focused entirely on another disease. The RFP requires a specific FTD focus. Comparative or cross-disease work needs a clear, central FTD rationale.

Can the award pay research expenses?

Possibly, but salary or stipend and benefits are the primary use. Other direct expenses may be considered when itemized and justified in the budget. Institutional overhead is not eligible.

Are there limits on other funding?

Yes. The RFP says recipients cannot hold two fellowships or grants concurrently and must spend the majority of their time on the funded research. Report a potential overlap to AFTD rather than assuming the awards can be combined.

Official links and next steps

Begin with AFTD’s official Holloway Fellowships page, which contains the current cycle dates, award details, submission portal, RFP, and application instructions. Read the 2027 Holloway Postdoctoral Fellowship RFP for the scope and review criteria, then read the application instructions before assembling the LOI PDF.

Before September 2, confirm the eligibility quiz, verify the appointment dates with the host institution, draft the one-page aims and one-page FTD-interest statement, update the CV or biosketch, and ask potential future references whether they could provide support if an invitation follows. Questions about scientific scope or review can be sent to Kate Still at [email protected]; questions about application materials or the portal can be sent to Samantha Garner at [email protected]. A focused, FTD-specific LOI gives the review team the evidence it needs to judge novelty, feasibility, investigator fit, and long-term commitment to the field.