Fund for Psychoanalytic Research
Fund for Psychoanalytic Research supports researchers and beginning scholars with research, pilot studies, consultation, and career development to test psychoanalytic ideas and advance the field.
This grant was recently updated
Funding priorities shifted from broadly defined scholarly and empirical research toward rigorous empirical projects testing psychoanalytic hypotheses, with particular support for experimental work. Proposals should now explicitly connect their aims and significance to uniquely psychoanalytic positions, questions, and theories; intellectual history, philosophy, and other scholarly work remain eligible.
Funder: American Psychoanalytic Association
Due Dates: December 31, 2026 (Winter review) | May 1, 2027 (Spring review)
Funding Amounts: Research: up to $20,000 annually; pilot: $5,000; consultation: $3,000; career support: $15,000 (duration details below)
Summary: Supports psychoanalytic research, scholarship, pilot studies, consultation, and the development of beginning investigators.
Key Information: Applicants must hold a master’s degree or higher and propose work relevant to psychoanalysis.
Description
Established in 1976, the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Fund for Psychoanalytic Research supports basic and applied research and scholarship while nurturing psychoanalytic investigators. Its primary emphasis is rigorous empirical research testing psychoanalytically based hypotheses, including studies linking psychoanalysis with developmental psychology, neuroscience, and related disciplines. The Fund also helps beginning scholars gather pilot data, consult experienced investigators, and develop research careers.
Supported work includes psychoanalytic and psychodynamic treatment processes and outcomes, reliable and valid measures, infant through adult development, and unconscious processes. Intellectual history, philosophical studies, and psychoanalytic scholarship in history and literature are also within scope. The Fund particularly encourages experimental work addressing what is distinctive about psychoanalysis; proposals should explicitly connect their aims and significance to psychoanalytic positions, questions, and theories.
