Research Grants

Applications are due April 1 of every year.

>> Click here to access the 2025 AASP Research Grant Application

A. Purpose

The Association for Applied Sport Psychology offers "seed grants" for research projects. Grants range from $250 to $5,000, recognizing that the total funds available in one year are $35,000. An important function of these research awards is to provide limited support to students or early career professionals (e.g., within the first seven years of their current profession as faculty/practitioner/researcher) 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 proposals with grant teams that include an early career professional and/or student.

In general, proposals must:

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 Association for Applied Sport Psychology [AASP] conference presentations).
Not exceed the stated word limits for each section (see section “C. Application Procedure”).

B. Eligibility

Any person who has been a continuous member of AASP for at least 3 years is eligible.
If students cannot meet this requirement, they may co-author the proposal with a member (typically their advisor) who does meet the requirement. However, it must be clear that it is the student's - not the advisor's - project. If the advisor needs to be the first author for a university’s purposes, even though it’s the student’s work, please denote it is the student’s project on the application.
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 only be funded through one of the AASP Grant mechanisms (Research, Collaborative Research, Community Outreach, or Oglesby-Snyder).
A person can only apply for one research 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

Proposals must include the following components:

Investigator information (250 words per named applicant)
Title & Abstract (300 words or less)
Specific Aims (500 words or less), Background and Significance/Importance (1,000 words or less), Research Design and Methods (1,500 words or less)
References (only those cited)
Budget and budget justification
Appendix must include the following items submitted as individual PDFs via upload on the application in Google Forms:
1. Approval for the Use of Human Subjects by an Institutional Review Board. Applicants must provide evidence that the project has received approval for the use of human subjects, or is in the process of being reviewed by an Institutional Review Board. If the review is in process, approval must be documented before funds can be released.
2. Participant informed consent form.
3. Vitae for the lead investigator and biosketch for the faculty advisor if the lead investigator is a student. Applicants' vitae must not exceed three single-spaced pages and should include academic degrees, positions held, awards, publications, presentations, and other information relevant to the current project.
Submission Checklist

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

D. Budget and Time Frame

Budgets must fall between $250 and $5,000.
Awards will be paid to the lead investigator’s department or organization/company, if one exists, and can cover costs such as equipment, hourly assistance, materials, incentives, and supplies.
Budgets may not include indirect costs, salaries for the investigator(s), or travel to present the results.
Grants are awarded for a one-year time frame beginning July 1.
Unspent balances will revert to AASP unless a written request for extension is submitted 6 weeks prior to grant expiration and is approved by the Research Development Committee.
Failure to complete the project may require reimbursement.

E. Proposal Review Criteria

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

Fit with the AASP mission
Clarity and originality of study aims
Background and significance of the study
Clearly stated research question(s) and research design elements
Feasibility as demonstrated by the methods
Integration of research and practice
Writing quality and thoroughness
Appropriateness and justification of the proposed budget.

F. Obligations

Recipients must submit a budget statement and summary of progress of 500 words or less within 3 months after the end of the funding period. If the grant is not managed through an organizational grants office (e.g., University 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.
As organized by Research Development Committee Chair, grant awardees agree to disseminate on AASP social media and other identified outlets the outcome of their grant funding.

Applications are due April 1 of every year.

>> Click here to access the 2025 AASP Research Grant Application

Other information:

This grant application is to be submitted via Google Forms. We recommend having all of your responses prepared prior to beginning the application in a locally saved Word document and then copying the information in when you are ready to submit. Follow through the form and complete all required items as well as any other relevant or necessary information. The appendices (Human Subjects Approval, Consent Form, and CVs) should be submitted by uploading PDFs to the Google Form. You will not be able to save an incomplete application and return to it; however, if you do not know the answer to a question, you may enter some text as a placeholder, and then you will have the opportunity to make any edits after initially submitting the complete application. Please note that all applications will be considered final at the time of the deadline. Contact emily@hollandparlette.com if you have questions.