Innovative Student Research Grant Application Form

Grant application deadline: February 5, 2025


Applicants will be notified June, 2025.


Submissions that do not meet the specified requirements or that are incomplete will not be reviewed.


Applicant Information
First Name: (Required)
Last Name: (Required)
Email: (Required)
Affiliation: (Required)
Street Address 1: (Required)
Street Address 2:
City: (Required)
Country: (Required)
State/Province: (Required)
Postal Code: (Required)
Phone Number: (Required)

Biosketch (Required)
Please download and complete the NIH biosketch form found here. Instructions for completing the form may be found here. You may leave the eRA Commons field blank. Please save the file as a PDF, with the following naming format: LastName.FirstName.Masters.Bio or LastName.FirstName.Doctoral.Bio.

Please upload your biosketch here: (Required)

Program Information
University: (Required)
Program Name: (Required)
Semester/term and year accepted to program (for example, fall 2013): (Required)
Current year in program (for example, second year out of four): (Required)
Expected graduation date: (Required)
Grade point average or comparable: (Required)

Proposal Information (Required)
Is this a doctoral-level application or master’s-level application? (Required)

Title: (Required)

The title should briefly convey, in general terms, the question addressed by the study.


Research Domain: (Required)

Please review the research domains here, and indicate which your project falls under. This proposal is for a project involving:

Research Domain

Projects that (1) are translational (practice-to-science and science-to-practice) and (2) incorporate collaboration with other disciplines will be reviewed favorably.


Applied research targets the improvement of socially significant behavior (e.g., smoking, language acquisition). It may include methods of assessment, treatment, training, promotion, or any combination of these objectives.


Basic research is designed to help us better understand basic behavioral processes. Basic research may not be bound by subject population and may include nonhumans, vulnerable populations, and convenience samples (college students). This research is distinguished from applied research in that the behavior studied is born out of convenience, and is of little to no direct or obvious social significance. The primary contribution of this work will be an improved understanding of mechanisms of behavior (behavioral and otherwise).


Translational research lies somewhere between applied and basic research. Translational research may address cross-species differences (or generality) of basic behavioral processes. That is, translational research may involve systematic replication (Sidman, 1960) and extension of basic research involving nonhuman subjects to the behavior of human subjects. Translational research may also involve extensions and applications of basic findings (procedures) to the socially significant behavior of vulnerable populations. Finally, translational research may involve laboratory evaluations of common behavioral interventions. This type of laboratory research might involve convenience samples and non-socially significant behavior. A designation of translational research using the latter criterion will require an explicit description of how the laboratory findings might have an immediate impact on behavior analysis in practice or considerable implications that may produce an empirical foundation that leads to applied research.



Budget: (Required)
Please enter amount requested in US Dollars. The amount requested for dissertation grants should not exceed $5,000. The amount requested for thesis grants should not exceed $2,500. Please ensure that the amount requested matches the total for project budget included in the proposal upload.

US$


Proposal Upload

Please upload your proposal using the button below; only PDF files are accepted.


Doctoral proposals are limited to five pages (references may be up to two additional pages). Master’s proposals are limited to three pages (references may be up to two additional pages).


Please format your document as follows: 11-point Arial font, single spacing, 1/2-inch margins, section headers as outlined below; naming format LastName.FirstName.Masters.Proposal or LastName.FirstName.Doctoral.Proposal.


The following sections should be included in your proposal:


Title
The title should briefly convey, in general terms, the question addressed by the study.


Significance
Describe the following; up to 1/2 page is recommended:

  • The importance of the problem in terms of societal need and/or advances in scientific knowledge.
  • How the proposed project will improve scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice in one or more broad fields.
  • How the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive the subject matter will be changed if the proposed aims are achieved.

Specific Aims

State concisely the goals of the proposed project and summarize the expected outcome(s), including the impact that the results of the proposed project will have on behavior analytic research. At the end of this section, list in bullet-point form the specific question(s) to be addressed. Up to 1/2 page is recommended.


Approach
Describe the background and the overall strategy, methods, and analyses to be used to accomplish the specific aims of the project. Include how the data will be collected, analyzed, and interpreted.


Method
In the interest of brevity, this section should include highlights only. It does not need to include enough detail for replication. Include the following information:

  • Subjects
  • Apparatus/materials/setting
  • Procedures
  • Data analysis plan
  • Expected results plus how data will be interpreted

Limitations
Briefly discuss anticipated difficulties in conducting the research and your contingency plan for completing the research successfully should those difficulties be encountered.


Timeline
Include a timeline. Up to 1/4 page is recommended.


Budget
Describe how the funds would be spent. No indirect funds are provided to the student's institution. Grant funds must be applied to direct costs of conducting the research, such as compensating participants, purchasing equipment, or copying materials. Grant funds may not be applied toward the general infrastructure that supports research, such as paying research staff, renting or renovating research space, or defraying the costs of professional travel (though travel to ABAI's annual convention to present research is allowed). Up to 1/2 page is recommended.


Matching Funding
Please describe sources and amounts of matching funding for which you are applying or that you have received. Matching funding can be full or partial, and can take a variety of forms (e.g., tuition/fees coverage). Grant applications with matching funding from universities or other sources will be given preference, but matching funds are not a requirement to apply for or receive a grant. Also describe plans to identify and apply for funding sources to support follow-up and continuing studies related to the proposed project. Up to 1/4 page is recommended.


Please upload your proposal here: (Required)

Letters of Support
Verification of Qualifications and Place in Program

Doctoral: Please ask your advisor to send a letter that confirms your place (year) in your doctoral program and that you have a minimum of 1 academic year left. The letter should also outline your qualifications and indicate that the proposed research has received or is likely to receive approval from the appropriate compliance committees (e.g., IRB, IACUC, Biosafety). In addition, the letter should address your standing relative to other students at the same stage in their educational careers and your promise for contributing to the field, as well as include a statement about the feasibility of your conducting the research under your advisor’s guidance.

Master’s: Please ask your advisor to send a letter that confirms your place (year) in your master's program and that you have a minimum of 1 academic year left. The letter should also state that you are a student in good standing in your graduate program; comment on the feasibility of your conducting the research under your advisor's guidance; and also comment on the likelihood, given the nature of the project and the track record of the student, that the project will be completed within 1 academic year. In addition, the letter should indicate that the proposed research has received or is likely to receive approval from the appropriate compliance committees (e.g., IRB, IACUC, Biosafety).

This letter should be emailed by your advisor no later than February 5, 2025, to saba@abainternational.org. Letters received after this date will not be accepted.

Please provide the following information about your advisor:

Name: (Required)
Email: (Required)
Affiliation: (Required)

Availability of Resources

Please ask your department or program chair to send a letter that confirms the availability of space and/or any other resources required to conduct the proposed research, such as specialized equipment, computer and university account, standardized tests, or facilities. This letter should be emailed by your chair no later than February 5, 2025, to saba@abainternational.org. Letters received after this date will not be accepted.


Please provide the following information about your department or program chair:

Name: (Required)
Email: (Required)
Affiliation: (Required)

Note: Submissions that do not meet the specified requirements or that are incomplete will not be reviewed.

Checklist
 (Required)
 (Required)
 (Required)
 (Required)

Confirmation Code