The Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association sponsors an annual competition for dissertation research funding. The purpose of the Dissertation Research Award program is to assist science-oriented doctoral students of psychology with research costs. The current program offers up to fifteen grants of up to $5,000 to students whose dissertation research reflects excellence in scientific psychology.
Deadline: March 1, 2025
Eligibility Requirements
- Applicants must have psychology as the primary focus of their graduate studies (even if they are receiving training in other fields as well).
- Applicants must be in good standing in their graduate programs.
- Applicants must be enrolled full-time or working on their dissertation research for an equivalent of full-time enrollment regardless of actual registration status.
- Applicants may be citizens or residents of any country and their institutions may be located and accredited/recognized in any country.
- Applicants must be graduate student members of the American Psychological Association. Applicants who are not members must apply for APA Graduate Student membership when submitting materials for the Dissertation Research Award. If you are newly applying, please include a copy of the confirmation page receipt with your award application.
- Applicants must have had their dissertation proposals approved by their dissertation committees prior to application.
- Applicants must have not yet successfully defended their dissertations at the time of the application deadline.
- Each psychology department (i.e., not individual programs within a department) may endorse no more than three (3) students per year for the APA Dissertation Research Award. If more than three students from a department wish to apply for these funds, the department must perform an initial screening and forward only three applications.
- Students in graduate departments other than psychology are eligible to apply for the Dissertation Research Award only if they demonstrate that they are writing a psychological science dissertation and their graduate course of study has been primarily psychological in nature.