Government Research, Funding, & Policy Webinars

Learn about APS Government relations webinars, read reports, and register for events here!

Government Research, Funding, & Policy Webinars

Learn about APS Government relations webinars, read reports, and register for events here!


Past Webinars

Facets of Funding: U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program

August 19, 2022

The purpose of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP) is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The program recognizes and supports outstanding individuals in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in any of the eligible fields and subfields at accredited U.S. institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $37,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution. NSF has a strong commitment to diversity and actively encourages women, persons who are members of groups historically underrepresented in STEM, persons with disabilities, veterans, and undergraduate seniors to apply.

This webinar will provide the audience a brief overview of the NSF-GRFP, including its goal, eligibility requirements, application process, and timeline. The last part of the session will be reserved for Q&A.

This webinar is ideal for undergraduate and graduate-level students based in the U.S., plus other psychological scientists who mentor or advise U.S.-based students at the undergraduate or graduate level.  

Speaker: Jong-on Hahm, National Science Foundation


Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Funding for Psychological Scientists

September 14, 2021

A copy of the webinar slides is available here:

As a Canadian psychological scientist, it’s certain you’ve heard of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), one of Canada’s premier funders of social and behavioral science and a frequent supporter of authors published in APS journals. But if you’ve been looking to get to know SSHRC funding opportunities better and dig deep into the nitty gritty of SSHRC-funded science, you won’t want to miss this hourlong webinar.

In this special event for APS members and other psychological scientists, you’ll hear from experts who oversee crucial psychological science funding opportunities at SSHRC and will have a chance to ask questions. Topics to be discussed will include recent updates to the Insight Grants 2022 competition, including the inaugural year of the Tri-agency Interdisciplinary Peer Review Committee (TAIPR).

Panelists:

  • Patricia Emery, PhD, Program Officer, SSHRC
  • Emma Yoxon, PhD, Program Officer, SSHRC

Program Primer: NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Funding

August 11, 2021

Read a summary of the webinar here:

A Closer Look at NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program

A copy of the webinar slides is available here:

Did you know that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has special funding opportunity for “outside-the-box” ideas—and that it’s seeking applications from psychological scientists like you? Learn more about the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program in a recording of an hourlong webinar for APS members and other psychological scientists. Hear about four initiatives—supporting both early-career scientists and established investigators alike—that fund promising ideas in line with NIH’s mission.

In the video, you’ll hear from the scientists who lead this innovative program, and you’ll hear about the four different funding opportunities and get a sense of which opportunities might be right for you. You’ll learn about how researchers of all career stages, backgrounds, scientific areas, and eligible institutions are welcome—what matters most is the innovativeness and potential for impact of the scientific proposal.

Panelists:

  • Ravi Basavappa, Ph.D., Program Leader
  • Becky Miller, Ph.D., Program Officer
  • Makyba Charles-Ayinde, Ph.D., Health Science Policy Analyst
  • Ellie Murcia, M.Ed., Operations Team Program Specialist

All speakers were from the NIH Office of Strategic Coordination – The Common Fund.

All U.S.-based APS members in graduate school and beyond are encouraged to view this video recording.


Psychological Science and Education Research Funding Opportunities at NSF and IES

April 27, 2021

Read a summary of the webinar here:

Million-Dollar Missed Opportunities? Tips for Getting Education Research Funding From NSF and IES

View the webinar here:

A copy of the NSF EHR slides is available for download here:

A copy of the IES slides is available for download here:

Program directors from the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the Department of Education (ED) discuss intellectual, sociological, and practical issues that arise at the intersection of education and psychological science. Program directors advise researchers on topics and procedures for research practices, create funding solicitations, oversee the review process for hundreds of proposals a year, and manage portfolios of ongoing research projects.

In this session, presenters highlighted relevant funding opportunities, as well as the grant application, review, and funding processes at each agency, providing hints for successful grant writing along the way. They discuss where their programs are placed in relation to one another in the federal landscape and along the continuum from the most basic to the most applied research – and the extent that such a distinction is meaningful. They also contrast their agencies’ funding emphases and the implications those emphases have both for the fates of grant proposals and for the kinds of projects that can be engaged. Throughout, the presenters discuss the challenges and opportunities that particularly face psychologists as they work on complex, multi-disciplinary educational problems. 

Panelists:

Erin Higgins (IES)

Robert Ochsendorf (NSF)

Gregg Solomon (NSF)

More Reading:

Higgins, E. J., Dettmer, A. M., & Albro, E. R. (2019). Looking Back to Move Forward: A Retrospective Examination of Research at the Intersection of Cognitive Science and Education and What It Means for the Future. Journal of Cognition and Development, 20(2), 278–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2019.1565537

King, K. D., Ochsendorf, R. J., Solomon, G. E. A., & Sloane, F. C. (2020). Posing Fundable Questions in Mathematics and Science Education. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 18(S1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-020-10088-4

Solomon, G. E. A., Youtie, J., Carley, S., & Porter, A. L. (2019). What people learn about how people learn: An analysis of citation behavior and the multidisciplinary flow of knowledge. Research Policy, 48(9), 103835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.103835


Meet the Program Officers: NSF Perception, Action, & Cognition

March 31, 2021

View the webinar here:

A copy of the presenter slides is available here:

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Perception, Action, & Cognition program is one of the most influential funders of psychological scientists. In this session, hear from two of the program officials that oversee this program, and learn the nitty-gritty of how to discuss your potential project with NSF staff, find the right funding program for your work, strengthen your proposal, and understand the guidelines for submission. Plus, you’ll be able to sign up for a one-on-one conversation with the presenters at a later date.

This special event is ideal for postdoctoral fellows to full professors at U.S. colleges and universities, although advanced U.S. graduate students may also benefit from learning what’s involved in submitting a proposal to NSF.

Speakers:

Betty K. Tuller, PhD, Program Director

Michael Hout, PhD, Program Director


SOBC 101: The Science Of Behavior Change for Psychological Scientists

February 3, 2021

Read a summary of the webinar here:

SOBC 101: Measuring the Mechanisms of Behavior Change

View the webinar here:

A core principle of the National Institutes of Health’s Science Of Behavior Change (SOBC) initiative is that a causal understanding of the means of shifting behaviors may be achieved by following the systematic scientific approach used in experimental medicine: focusing on how a behavioral intervention (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy) can engage a hypothetical psychological mechanism (e.g., worry) that can be assessed with a valid and reliable measure.

In this webinar, we provide an overview of select SOBC projects that investigate a variety of health behaviors using a variety of interventions and hypothesized mechanistic targets. We describe the fundamental steps of applying the SOBC approach, current and planned electronic resources for conducting rigorous behavior change research, current grant mechanisms that support this approach, the wide variety of existing and potential SOBC projects, and the expanded scope of the next phase of SOBC that has just begun.

Speakers

Michael W. Otto, PhD, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University

Jeffrey L. Birk, PhD, Instructor in Medical Sciences, Columbia University Irving Medical Center


National Research Mentoring Network Resources for APS Members

January 27, 2021

Read a summary of the webinar here:

When the Perfect Mentor Is Outside Your Network

View the webinar here:

The National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) is an NIH funded initiative to diversify the STEMM fields by providing mentoring, networking, and professional development resources. Katie Stinson, NRMN’s Virtual Engagement Strategist, introduces APS members to NRMN’s diversity initiative, demonstrates the provided resources, and answers questions. Learn more about NRMN here.

Speaker:

Katie Stinson, NRMN Virtual Engagement Strategist


Clinical Psychological Science Through the Lens of RDoC: New Advances and Future Directions

October 20, 2020

Read a summary of the webinar here:

RDoC at 10: Sharpening the Science of Mental Health Disorders

View the webinar here:

Learn about a special webinar from APS featuring the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Unit. To commemorate the initiative’s 10th anniversary in 2020, the event will feature RDoC-informed research conducted by clinical psychological scientists and a special presentation by an RDoC representative.

The RDoC research framework integrates many levels of information that spans the full range of human behavior to better understand the nature of mental health and illness. The goal of RDoC is to provide information on basic biological and cognitive processes that lead to mental health and illness—insights which may help inform development of mental health screening tools, treatments, and diagnostic systems. Learn more about RDoC by clicking here.

Speakers:

  • Autumn Kujawa – Vanderbilt University
  • Annmarie MacNamara – Texas A&M University
  • Vijay Mittal – Northwestern University
  • Sarah Morris (National Institute of Mental Health)
  • Uma Vaidyanathan (National Institute of Mental Health)

NIH-Funded Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH): Registration and Results Reporting

August 26, 2020

Read a summary of the webinar here:

Register and Report: Challenges in Bringing Basic Experimental Studies with Humans to ClinicalTrials.gov

View the webinar here:

Presented by the National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) and National Library of Medicine (NLM) in partnership with APS, the webinar on the topic of publicly disseminating information about basic behavioral science studies and other Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) funded by NIH. Hear from OBSSR Director and psychological scientist William Riley; NLM Acting Director, ClinicalTrials.gov Rebecca Williams; and NLM Results Team Manager, ClinicalTrials.gov Elisa Golfinopoulos on the following topics:

  • NIH’s Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) set of funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), and what they mean for APS members
  • Expectations regarding registration and results reporting of NIH-funded BESH research
  • Analyses conducted by NLM staff related to reporting information about BESH to ClinicalTrials.gov
  • Key factors to consider for disseminating clinical trial information about BESH

This webinar is designed for psychological scientists conducting research within NIH’s mission and for those with an interest in learning more about this important research area.


Applying Methods from Psychological Science to Experiments in Government

July 29, 2020

Read a summary Observations piece on the webinar here:

Federal Agents of Change: Behavioral Insights Power Evidence-Based Efforts to Improve Government

This free virtual workshop was presented by the Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES) in partnership with APS.

Learn how psychological scientists can help apply research insights to government programs and policies. The workshop covered:

  • Methods for designing, analyzing, and building reproducibility and transparency into large-scale field experiments on government programs and policies
  • How psychological scientists can get involved in applied research to support evidence-based policymaking

The workshop was for established psychological scientists and scientists in training who have experience with methods for reproducible research in the laboratory and would like to extend those methods to large-scale field experiments in the government context.