Presidential Research Grants

Presidential Initiative of ACA President, Christine Suniti Bhat, PhD, LPC, LSC, Ohio

Grants on Evidence-Informed Counseling Practice

Purpose of the Program: To support research by counselors that creates an evidence base for effective counseling practices, resulting in better outcomes for consumers. Ideally, funded research would provide a foundation for larger grant-seeking efforts.

Grant Awards: Three grants of $2,000 each are available for ACA members. Only research proposals that follow the identified guidelines will be considered.

Grant Award Period: Grants will be made for 12 months, beginning on June 20th, 2025, and ending June 20th, 2026.

Timeline

5/01/25 – RFP available online
6/15/25 – Proposals due
6/20/25 – Grants awarded
9/30/25 – Submit IRB and complete paperwork for allocation of the grant funds
6/20/26 – Complete the research within one year of receiving the grant funds
10/01/26 – Submit completed research for ACA 2027 Annual Conference
10/15/26 – Submit research manuscript for publication

Other Awards

Student Awards

Advocacy Awards

Research Awards

Publication Awards

Thomas Hohenshil National Publication Award

Service Awards

Human Rights / Social Justice Awards

Eligibility:

All individuals listed as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI must hold active ACA memberships at the time the research proposal is submitted, grant funds are awarded, research is completed, and completed research is submitted for presentation at the ACA Annual Conference and publication in either the Journal of Counseling and Development or an ACA Division Journal.
All ACA membership levels are eligible.
An individual may only appear on one grant proposal as PI or Co-PI.
Doctoral students working on their dissertation are not eligible.

Guidelines

Read the resources listed below in this call for proposals and use them as a guide as you develop your proposal.
Submit proposal in PDF format.
Include both a blinded copy for review and a separate, non-blinded, PDF copy.
Proposals should be no more than 5 single-spaced pages (excluding title page and references).
Proposals that do not follow the guidelines may be disqualified from review.

Information to Include in Proposals

PI and Co-PI qualifications and credentials to undertake the research project.
Description of the research
- Title page: Name(s), ACA member numbers for PIs and Co-PIs
- Research title and abstract
- Purpose statement
- Need for the research
- Brief overview of supporting literature
- Research question(s)
- Methodology (participant characteristics, procedure, data analysis, strategies to ensure ethical compliance of research)
- Compliance with ACA Code of Ethics and Office for Human Research Protections policies
- Conflict of interest
- Plan for dissemination of results
- Proposed timeline, including a statement regarding the likelihood of completion within the one-year time frame
Detailed budget outlining the allocation and utilization of the grant funds. No indirect costs are allowed. Professional memberships, conference, registration and travel costs are not allowed.

Requirements for Awardees

Complete paperwork to process allocations of funds, including submitting an IRB approval letter for the research within three months of the award announcement.
Specify if the check for the grant fund is to be written to the PI or the institution/organization. Funds released to PIs are subject to tax reporting and obligations.
Complete the research within one year of receiving the grant fund.
Submit completed research as a proposal for a research poster or presentation for the ACA Annual Conference.
Submit a manuscript for journal publication.

Inquiries and submissions should be emailed to the ACA staff liaison, Eddy Fagundo, PhD.

Resources and References

Evidence-informed research and Evidence-based research

“An evidence-informed approach to practice can be defined as the integration of research evidence alongside practitioner expertise and the people experiencing the practice…” (Alla & Joss, 2021, para 3).

“Evidence based refers to treatments that have been scientifically tested and subjected to clinical judgment and determined to be appropriate for the treatment of a given individual, population, or problem area.” (Sorensen et al., 2009).
“Quantitative designs, in particular, are particularly well-suited to generating the type of research that will empirically support treatments, but qualitative methods also can give powerful insight into the ways that different interventions may be impacting our clients and students.” (Wachter Morris et al., 2018, p. 11).

Alla, K., & Joss, N. (March 2021). What is an evidence-informed approach to practice and why is it important? Australian Institute of Family Studies. What is an evidence-informed approach to practice and why is it important? | Australian Institute of Family Studies

Sorensen, J. L., Jennifer E. Hettema, J. E., & Larios, S. (2009). What is evidence-based treatment? In P. M. Miller (Ed.), Evidence-based addiction treatment, pp. 1-20. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374348-0.00001-X.

Wachter Morris, C. A., Wester, K. L., Vaishnav, S., & Austin, J. L. (2018). Introduction. In K. l. Wester, & C. A. Wachterrris (Eds.), Making research relevant: Applied research designs for the mental health practitioner, pp. 1-13. Routledge.