CLINICAL RESEARCH GRANT: COLLABORATIVE

The ASHFoundation’s Clinical Research Grants are intended to encourage research that will impact the delivery of services to people with communication disorders, who are striving to communicate and connect. Research should directly advance knowledge of treatment efficacy and assessment practices in audiology and speech-language pathology, or investigate the implementation of evidence into practice.

For Clinical Research Grants, priority is given to proposals that:

• Investigate bold, forward-thinking solutions that could improve the everyday functioning of people with, or at risk for, communication and related impairments.
• Promote new directions for the discipline and likely would progress to future large-scale studies with the potential to compete for additional external funding. The grants are not intended to provide the investigator with additional or extended support for an existing study already supported through extramural funds. However, proposals will be considered if an early-career or mid-career investigator is proposing to join an established research team to develop a treatment-efficacy, implementation, or service-delivery study that holds promise for subsequent funding of the investigator.

Note for 2021: In preparation for the grant submission and review processes, the ASHFoundation requests that potential investigators complete an Intent to Submit Form by March 1 to provide information regarding their proposed studies. When investigators log in to the online submission system, they will be prompted to complete the Intent to Submit Form. This step must be completed before proceeding to the proposal submission process.

Collaborative Research Studies (one-year studies)

• Clinical Research Grants for collaborative research studies support a planning and preparation study for a potential large-scale collaboration study. Mid-career investigators, who may have an extensive research history, are good candidates for this grant mechanism. The investigator may need to work with another funded researcher to learn or hone an experimental protocol that holds promise for a collaborative research study proposal.
• must include a description of a pilot research study that can be completed in one year. The proposed research would be expected to provide preliminary data to demonstrate the feasibility and promise of a large-scale study.
• Interdisciplinary collaborations are encouraged. In addition to the quality of the proposed research study, the quality and record of the collaborator(s) will be evaluated.
• The maximum budget for collaborative research studies is $50,000.

Investigators must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the Clinical Research Grant.

• The investigator must have received a PhD or equivalent research doctorate within the discipline of communication sciences and disorders or a related field.

• The investigator must demonstrate the potential for, and commitment to, conducting independent research with a clear plan for applying for extramural research support.

• The research must have significance and direct application to the development and evaluation of audiology or speech-language pathology intervention or assessment practices.

• Experienced investigators should explain why the proposed work represents a new effort that is not fundable from existing research support or an extension of funding that is currently supporting or has supported related work.

• Proposals submitted to the 2021 Clinical Research Grant competition cannot be submitted to other 2021 ASHFoundation grant competitions. However, the investigator remains eligible to submit to other ASHFoundation grant competitions in the same year, if proposing to investigate a different topic.