Collaborative Research Grants

Applications are due April 1.

Please read the full instructions below before starting your application.

Effective as of the 2026 Grants Cycle

Collaborative Research Grant proposals are submitted online through the Cadmium platform.

Click Here to Start Your Application in Cadmium

After you press "save application" upon completing all components of the application, please click the "submit" button at the top right of the screen to move your application from Active to Completed status. The action of clicking "submit" will prompt the system to email the applicant a confirmation of the submitted application. Clicking "submit" is the final step to submit your grant application for consideration.

A. Purpose

The Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) will offer research grants for collaborative projects during the 2025 grant cycle. This call is intended to support multi-investigator and multi-institutional collaborative research projects in applied sport and performance psychology, counseling, and other related fields. To achieve this aim, proposals are welcomed for projects that incorporate different disciplines; and, to align with current foci of AASP to address the research-to-practice gap, the grant team must involve at least one investigator who is primarily a researcher and one investigator who is primarily a practitioner and they are from at least two different institutions/organizations.

The Collaborative Research Grant call has the following aims:

To build collaborative research environments for AASP members.
To support existing or emerging collaborations between early career (e.g., within the first seven years of current profession as faculty/practitioner) or student AASP members, and mid-to-later career faculty/practitioner/researcher.
To develop relationships between researchers and practitioners from different disciplines or different institutions/organizations.
To accelerate interdisciplinary research and increase opportunities for AASP members to complete high-quality projects that advance the fields of sport, exercise, and performance psychology.

In addition to fostering collaboration, an important function of these research awards is to provide limited support to early career professionals (within first seven years of their career) or students for their research endeavors. Researchers submitting grant proposals are encouraged to discuss how their project supports early career professionals. Priority will be given to grant teams with students or early career professionals.

The total amount available for this call is $10,000 with grants ranging from $250-$5,000 for an individual grant. The committee will decide how many proposals to allocate the funding; all proposals up to the value of $5,000 that meet the call criteria are welcomed.

Submitted proposals must:

To align with current foci of AASP to address the research-to-practice gap, the grant team must involve at least one investigator who is primarily a researcher and one investigator who is primarily a practitioner and they are from at least two different institutions/organizations.
Integrate research and practice.
Demonstrate clearly articulated research questions, study design elements, etc.
Demonstrate research practices that align with the particular methodology.
Show potential for contributing to the knowledge bases in sport and performance psychology, counseling, and other related fields (e.g., via peer-reviewed publications and AASP conference presentations).
Clearly demonstrate the planned impact of the research.
Not exceed the stated word limits for each section.

B. Eligibility

Continuous membership of the AASP for at least three years
- If students cannot meet this requirement, they may act as joint principal investigators on the proposal with an AASP member who does meet this requirement.
Proposals may include multiple principal and or co-investigators but each individual’s contribution to the proposed research must be clearly articulated and justified.
If students from more than one discipline/institution/organization are included in an application, a co-investigator from each discipline/institution/organization is required.
The researcher listed as the lead investigator on the AASP research grant proposal may only receive funding in that role once every 3 years.
- Research teams are also strongly encouraged to bring on additional researchers should they want to submit in consecutive years, even when they have a different lead investigator within the 3-year timeframe. This allows for more researchers to be supported through these grants.
Projects may be funded through one of the AASP grant mechanisms (Research, Collaborative Research, or Community Outreach).
A person can only apply for one collaborative grant per year. Specifically, a researcher/faculty/practitioner/student cannot be lead on one submission and a co-principal investigator on another. In the event this occurs, all applications with that person as part of the grant team will be disqualified.

C. Application Procedure

All proposals must include the following components:

Investigator information. Any student/advisor teams should be clearly outlined.
Title & Abstract (300 words or less)
Specific Aims of the Project:
1. Clearly state the aim(s) and research questions.
2. Explain how the project integrates research and practice.
3. Detail how the work will contribute to knowledge in sport, exercise, and or performance psychology and by what means this will be achieved (e.g., peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, or other creative means).
4. Explain the planned impact of the research.
Background and Significance:
1. Include a theoretical framework where relevant.
2. Describe and evaluate existing relevant literature.
3. Clearly explain the originality of the project.
Research Design and Method:
1. Include sampling information and strategies for ensuring participant recruitment.
2. Describe the proposed methods (including but not limited to participants, procedures, techniques, data analyses) in detail
3. Clearly state the novelty of proposed methods.
Risks and Mitigation Strategies:
1. Describe potential risks to successful project completion and detail appropriate mitigation strategies.
2. Each Investigator’s Roles and Responsibilities
3. References (only those cited)
Budget and budget justification
1. Include an itemized budget with a justification for each expenditure.
Additional support (250 words or less)
1. Provide details on financial support that is being sought or has been awarded from other sources.
2. Describe the resources available at each institution/organization, including equipment, facilities, and support personnel.
Appendix must include the following supporting documents submitted as individual PDFs via upload in Cadmium:
1. A two-page curriculum vitae for each named applicant. The vitae should include academic degrees, positions held, awards, publications, presentations, and other information relevant to the current project.
2. Statements of support and intended contribution from applicants other than the principal investigator.
Submission Checklist

Failure to include all components listed above, or proposals that do not conform to length specifications, will not be reviewed.

D. Proposal Review Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated by the Research Development Committee against the following criteria:

Originality
Collaborative nature
Clearly stated and aligned aims and or research questions
Rigor, appropriateness, feasibility, and novelty of the proposed methods
Contribution to knowledge in sport, exercise, and or performance psychology
Planned impact within and beyond academia
Thoroughness
Appropriateness and justification of the proposed budget

E. Permitted Expenditure and Grant Timeframe

Awards will be paid to the lead investigator’s department or organization and can include but are not limited to equipment, hourly research assistance, and materials.
Budgets may not include indirect costs, salaries, travel to present the project findings, or equipment/sundries that are already available via the host institution/organization.
Grants are awarded for a one-year time frame beginning July 1. Funds will be released once evidence of institutional ethical approval for the project has been received by the AASP.
Unspent balances will revert to AASP unless a written request for extension is submitted six weeks prior to grant expiration and is approved by the Research Development Committee.
Unreasonable failure to complete the project may require reimbursement.
If any addendum or extension is to be requested from AASP, it must be submitted using the AASP Grant Addendum/Extension Form.

F. Obligations

Recipients must receive institutional ethical approval for the proposed research. Funds will be released once evidence of this approval has been received by AASP.
Recipients must submit a budget statement and summary of progress (less than 500 words) within three months of the end of the funding period. If the grant is not managed through the host institution’s/organization’s grants office, copies of receipts must be provided along with the final budget statement.
An abstract of the completed work will be submitted for consideration at the first eligible AASP national conference that follows the completion of the grant.
Any publication(s) resulting from the grant should acknowledge the funding from AASP (e.g., “This project was supported by a Research Collaboration Grant from the AASP”)
As organized by the Research Development Committee Chair, grant awardees agree to disseminate on AASP social media and other identified outlets the outcome of their grant funding.
Recipients agree to submit the AASP Addendum Form prior to making any changes to the funded project. Recipients can download the AASP Addendum Form by visiting the website linked above in the blue box. Please note that if the change to the funded project would require IRB approval, then the recipient would also need to provide AASP with a copy of the approval letter from the IRB.

Applications are due April 1.