Massage Therapy Foundation: Research Awards

Guiding Principles

The Massage Therapy Foundation commits to:

• Upholding the principles of philanthropy
• Contributing to the understanding and appreciation of massage therapy
• Increasing the Foundation’s influence, credibility, and visibility in health and wellness
• Sustaining the Foundation’s organizational effectiveness
• Fostering the spirit of collaboration

Goals

• Advance research on therapeutic massage and bodywork.
• Foster massage therapy initiatives that serve populations in need.
• Promote research literacy and capacity in the profession.
• Support the evidence-informed practice of therapeutic massage and bodywork based upon available research, client factors, and practitioner experience and judgment.
• Fortify the Foundation’s financial resources and organizational effectiveness.

Research Grants

The Massage Therapy Foundation now offers two types of research grants: [Research Support Grants]() (up to $30,000) and Research Awards (over $30,000).

Massage Therapy Foundation research grants are awarded to individuals or teams conducting studies that promise to advance our understanding of specific therapeutic applications of massage, public perceptions of and attitudes toward massage therapy, and the role of massage therapy in health care delivery.

MTF research grants support high quality, independent research that contributes to the basic science of massage therapy application, including applied research investigating massage therapy as a health/mental health treatment and/or prevention modality. The research grant is available to investigators who have experience in the relevant field of research, and are presently associated with a university, independent research organization, or other institution qualified to act as Sponsoring Organization.

Objectives

Awards are granted to support high quality, independent research which contributes significantly and directly to the knowledge of massage therapy and/or its application. Basic, applied, and translational research studies which investigate massage therapy as a wellness, medical, or health/mental health treatment and/or prevention intervention are supported.

Funding

Amount awarded is between $30,000 to $300,000 and must be used in the specific time period for which it has been awarded (can be used over the course of multiple years).

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Requirements:
  • Applicants must demonstrate experience in the relevant field of research;
  • The applicant must have access to the necessary resources (including the proposed patient population), facilities, and other resources.
  • Letters of institutional support are required.
  • Applicants outside the US are eligible to apply; however, payment of award funds must be accepted by the institution in US dollars.
  • Applicants must be currently associated with or have secured the cooperation of a university, independent research organization, health center, or other institution (the “Sponsoring Organization”).
  • A Sponsoring Organization must have sufficient facilities as well as human and informational and Institutional Review Board (IRB) resources available to support the proposed research project and to perform the proposed work and expected outcomes.
  • Newer investigators without prior research experience must document support from an experienced investigator willing to act as a collaborator.
  • Collaborators should be actively involved in the development and execution of the proposed research project and should be identified as such in the staffing plan.
• Use of Funds
  • Awarded funds must be used for research expenses such as:
  • salary support (commensurate with current stipends or salaries),
  • participant costs,
  • equipment and supplies,
  • dissemination expenses;
  • travel and subsistence towards attending the American Massage Therapy Association convention to present project results (required).

Ineligibility

• Applicants who are the Principal Investigator on a currently-funded MTF are not eligible to apply.
• Research Grants are not awarded to individuals.
• Research Grants will not be awarded to Sponsoring Organizations which employ or otherwise have an ownership or contractual relationship with officers or trustees of the Massage Therapy Foundation, members of the Research Proposal Review Committee or any spouses, domestic partners, children, descendant, spouses of descendants or any other individual related to any officers or trustees of the Massage Therapy Foundation or to members of the Review Committee.