SPA Dissertation Grants

The Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) will be making grants to support dissertation research in the area of personality assessment. These awards of up to $800 dollars must have an approved dissertation proposal before applying for the grant.

Although not required at time of application, to receive the grant, the student must hold an active student membership for the 2026 calendar year. It is expected that the findings of the dissertation will be presented at a forthcoming Annual Convention of SPA.

All applications, including supplemental materials, must be submitted by deadline October 15, 11:59pm (ET).

• Project Proposal
• Itemized Budget
• Projected Timeline
• Resume or CV
• Letter of Support 

Please reach out to info@personality.org with any questions.

A maximum of ten (10) double-spaced pages summarizing the proposed project. Please note the proposal should include the following sections: (a) purpose of the project, (b) a brief literature review specific to the study’s focus, (c) hypotheses, (d) methods, procedures, research design, and planned statistical analyses (these are key sections: be specific), and (e) a brief description of the study’s contribution to personality assessment.

Please upload as a PDF file and save as Last NameFirst Name_Proposal, i.e. DavidJasmine_Proposal.

This information is to assist the selection committee in understanding your itemized budget for your project.

You budget is an itemized list detailing allocation of grant funds to specific plan expense items, including justification. We also would like to know about other funding sources for the project. Below you will find examples of applicable and excluded expenses. 

Examples of Applicable Expenses

• Compensation of research participants
• Computer software (e.g., test scoring software not available through institution)
• Photocopying
• Postage
• Recording medium (e.g., DVD, Videotapes)
• Small equipment (e.g., tape recorders, cameras)
• Testing forms, materials, or required test scoring expenses (e.g., Rorschach protocols, MMPI-2 test scoring, drawing or play materials for children) 
• Travel costs to project site (only if other than the student’s training institution, practicum, or internship site); use your university’s travel (e.g., mileage) reimbursement rates 

Excluded Expenses

• Computer equipment
• Dissertation printing and binding costs 
• General living expenses
• Salaries or stipends
• Travel to conferences or between student’s residence and their training institution
• Tuition

Your project timeline outlines the timing of your project, including when you believe results would be able to be presented at an upcoming SPA conference.

Please upload your timeline as an word document, excel, or PDF file and save as Last NameFirst Name_Timeline, i.e. DavidJasmine_Timeline.

Please upload your resume or CV as a PDF file and save as Last NameFirst Name_CV, i.e. DavidJasmine_CV.

Please upload a letter of support from a research sponsor which addresses your research skills and the impact of the project. If the research sponsor would like to submit the letter directly to SPA, please have them email info@personality.org by the October 13 deadline.

If you can upload the letter, please do so as a PDF file and save as Last NameFirst Name_LoS, i.e. DavidJasmine_LoS.