New Grant Competition To Accelerate Evidence for Practice
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (ASHFoundation) is pleased to announce a new funding competition that will support researchers for one-two year clinical studies with a range of $50,000 to $75,000 per grant. These funds are meant to further the goal of building capacity within the discipline for investigators to develop and evaluate evidence-based practices.
By a deadline of June 2, eligible investigators may submit proposals in competition for up to four grants to be awarded in 2008 to support clinical research studies. These grants are intended to advance the field's knowledge of the efficacy of treatment and assessment practices in audiology and speech-language pathology. Priority will be given to proposals investigating promising approaches that have potential for improving the everyday functioning of individuals with or at risk for communication and related impairments.
The ASHFoundation is seeking to support new research ideas and directions for investigators. Encouraged are prospective experiments likely to progress to randomized clinical trials with potential to compete for federal funding. Investigators at different stages of their careers may apply for support for efforts ranging from innovative, small scale treatment efficacy studies of practices undergoing development or refinement to preliminary studies of well-developed (e.g., comprehensive treatment manual) treatments to demonstrate feasibility for randomized control trials. Projects proposing to evaluate assessments being developed or adapted to meet the needs for measuring outcomes in clinical trials also will be considered.
A unique feature of the grant competition is the type of support options available. Mechanism include 1.) mentored treatment research projects; 2,) independent treatment research projects; or 3.) collaborative treatment research projects.
President Dennis Hampton noted that the ASHFoundation "is able to offer this new funding over the next three years as a result of a $600,000 contribution from the ASHA Board of Directors in honor of the ASHFoundation's 60th Anniversary. This is a wonderful opportunity for our organization to help increase the number of investigators pursuing clinical research of this type and to improve their competitiveness for long term extramural support."
Grant guidelines [PDF] offer detailed descriptions of eligibility requirements and procedures for preparation of proposals. Deadline for receipt of applications is June 2, 2008, and selection of recipients will be completed in November. Official application packets will be available online soon—please check back. Or for more information, please phone 800-498-2071, ext. 8703.