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The Grants-In-Aid Program

The SPSSI Committee on Grants-in-Aid (GIA) wishes to support scientific research in social problem areas related to the basic interests and goals of SPSSI and particularly those that are not likely to receive support from traditional sources. The Committee especially encourages proposals involving (a) unique and timely research opportunities, (b) underrepresented institutions, graduate students, and junior scholars, (c) volunteer research teams, and (d) actual, not pilot, projects. Funds are not normally provided for travel to conventions, travel or living expenses while conducting research, stipends of principal investigators, costs associated with manuscript preparation, or the indirect costs of institutions.

ELIGIBILITY

The applicant must be a member of SPSSI. Applicants may submit only one application per deadline. If an applicant has applied to the Clara Mayo Grant in the same award year (July 1 – June 30), she or he is not eligible to apply for GIA. Individuals may submit a joint application.

AWARDS

Funding up to $1000 is available for graduate student research.  In the case of graduate students, strong preference is given to applications from students at the dissertation stage of their career. Funding up to $2000 is available for research by SPSSI members who already have a Ph.D. Applicants can be at any stage of their academic work at any type of institution.  However, in case of proposals of comparable quality, preference is given to applications from scholars working in circumstances where research support is limited. Documentation of submission to the applicant’s Institution IRB must accompany every submission. In exceptional circumstances the amount may exceed $2000. The usual grant from SPSSI is for up to $2000 for post-doctoral work and up to $1000 for pre-doctoral work.

The Application should include:

  1. A cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and title of the proposal.
  2. An abstract of 100 words or less summarizing the proposed research.
  3. Project purposes, theoretical rationale, and research methodology and analytical procedures to be employed.
  4. Relevance of research to SPSSI goals and Grants-in-Aid criteria.  Applicants are encouraged to describe why SPSSI funding is useful for their research.  
  5. Status of human subjects review process (which must be satisfactorily completed before grant funds can be forwarded).
  6. Resume of investigator (a faculty sponsor’s recommendation must be provided if the investigator is a graduate student; support is seldom awarded to students who have not yet reached the dissertation stage).
  7. Specific amount requested, including a budget. For co-authored submissions, please indicate only one name and institution to whom a check should be jointly issued if selected for funding.

A recommended length for the combined Points (1) through (4) of the proposal is 5-7 double-spaced, typed pages.

HOW TO APPLY

Apply online now! Online submissions are the preferred method.  Please limit the number and size of files uploaded when applying online.   

**Recommendation letters may be uploaded with your application or emailed to awards@spssi.org. 

DEADLINE

Grants-in-Aid are awarded twice each year.  

The annual deadline for the Spring round is May 15th. Winners will be announced by July 20th.

The annual deadline for the Fall round is October 15th. Winners will be announced by December 15th. 

Late applications may be held until the next deadline. Proposals for highly timely and event-oriented research may be submitted at any time during the year to be reviewed within one month of receipt on an ad hoc basis. To submit a time-sensitive application, indicate this in an email to to awards@spssi.org and copying jbelsley@spssi.org.

Sponsored by: The Sophie and Shirley Cohen Memorial Fund and SPSSI membership contributions.

Click here to view current and previous Grants-In-Aid Program Award Winners!