Resesarch Grant and Fellowship Programs

AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship

The AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship provides financial support for PAs with a strong interest in research about PA education and the profession. A grant covering 20 percent of the recipient’s base salary up to $30,000 will be allocated to the fellow’s institution to permit a 20 percent time release from teaching and other activities to allow them to focus on scholarly activities of interest to the PA profession and PA education. There is no allowance for institutional indirect costs. Fellows are expected to use the release time to complete their research project, develop their skills under the guidance of a mentor, engage in educational activities, and broaden their knowledge of PA education and the PA profession. By the conclusion of the fellowship, fellows should be finished or near completion of their project and preparing the findings for publication and presentation. It is the funders’ expectation that by one year after the end of the fellowship, a research manuscript describing and analyzing the results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication.Applications will be accepted from April 23 unitl 11:59 pm ET on June 3, 2024 through online application portal.

Career Advancement Scholarship

In response to PAEA’s strategic plan objective to “increase educators engaged in research and scholarly activities,” the PAEA Research Team has rebranded the Scientific Meeting Scholarship as the PAEA Career Advancement Scholarship. The PAEA Board of Directors has established a fund of $10,000 per fiscal year to award scholarships of up to $2,000 to PA faculty and full-time PA program staff presenting research posters or presentations at scientific meetings with a preference for meetings and conferences other than the PAEA Education Forum or the AAPA Conference. This scholarship is intended to stimulate faculty and staff to work toward developing research suitable for presentation at national meetings and increase the visibility of PAs and PA faculty researchers at meetings where high-level health care decision makers are present. Recipients of these awards will serve as representatives of PA profession, PA educators, and the Association in addition to their programs or institutions.  

In addition, we are extending funding to other professional development opportunities such as webinars, skill building courses, and certificate programs Because the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled many conferences and the number of opportunities for remote presentations were limited, PAEA reassessed its priorities and would like to offer support for faculty members to enhance their research skills by learning new research methods, software, or research models, build their leadership skills and teaching competencies, and pay for article processing fees or publication fees to publish their work in research journals. Applications must be submitted through the online application platform.

Don Pedersent Research Grants Program

The Don Pedersen Research Grants Program, formerly known as the Association of Physician Assistant Programs (APAP) Research Institute Small Grants program, initially began in 1997. The Don Pedersen Research Grants Program awards several grants of up to $7,000 with a total possible allotment of $21,000.The Don Pedersen Research Grants program is intended to foster PA faculty development in the area of research. The program encourages research about both PA education and PA workforce issues. Applications will be accepted from March 5 until 11:59 pm ET on September 30, 2024 through the online application platform.

Faculty-Generated Research Grant

The Faculty-Generated Research Grant Program funds projects that propose rigorous, sophisticated methods and analyses to address novel research questions. To accomplish these goals, PAEA provides a substantial investment of up to $50,000 for a study that meaningfully expands the existing body of knowledge on PA education and/or the PA profession.This funding can be used for expenses such as supplementing personnel salary to protect dedicated time for their research, collecting data, traveling to a clinical site, funding a student research assistant (including work-study student), or purchasing materials needed for research. The application cycle is closed.

Support to Adavnce Research (STAR) Award

The Support to Advance Research (STAR) Program allows PA faculty researchers to submit no more than 10 survey questions to be included in the PAEA Program Survey, PAEA Student Surveys, and the Faculty and Directors Survey. The goals of the program are to:

• Increase the quality and frequency of research and scholarly activity among faculty of PAEA member institutions
• Improve the process for surveying constituents with better questions and fewer surveys
• Provide a clearinghouse of data that faculty of PAEA member institutions can use to produce scholarly work

If selected, STAR researchers may be asked to fine-tune their survey questions in collaboration with PAEA research staff, based on reviewer comments. Following the close of the 2023 Student Surveys, STAR researchers will receive de-identified data from their questions. As part of the submission, faculty members may request other variables from the 2023 Program Survey and Student Surveys to be included in their dataset. However, the data requested must be directly related to the proposal’s research question(s), must not identify programs, and will be issued at the discretion of PAEA Research Team and the Research Mission Advancement Commission. The application cycle is currently closed.

If you have any questions about any of our grant programs, please contact us at Research@PAEAonline.org or 703-651-8540.