New Investigators Research Grant

The New Investigators Research Grant, offered by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, supports emerging researchers by funding preliminary studies with a clinical focus in audiology and speech-language pathology. Proposals that incorporate Artificial Intelligence technologies for assessment and treatment are encouraged. Grants of $10,000 are available for one-year projects, fostering innovation and research in communication sciences. Eligible investigators must have completed their doctoral degree within the last five years and must not have received prior external funding.

Note : In preparation for the grant submission and review processes, the ASHFoundation requests that potential investigators complete an Intent to Submit Form by March 4.  This step must be completed before proceeding to the proposal submission process.
Supports new investigators by funding preliminary studies that could launch larger-scale research investigations.
Background
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (ASHFoundation) invites new researchers to submit proposals in competition for up to 10 research grants of $10,000 each.
The New Investigators Research Grant is designed to help further new investigators' research activities by funding one-year, preliminary studies that could launch larger-scale research studies. Research, while not limited in topic, should be focused on matching a one-year scope and should have clinical relevance to audiology and/or speech-language pathology.
Funding Opportunity for Artificial Intelligence Studies
The ASHFoundation is requesting proposals for studies that include Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for assessment, screening, diagnosis, and/or treatment in the communication sciences and disorders discipline. Some examples of possible application of AI methodologies include, but are not restricted to, supervised learning (classifiers - neural networks, decision trees, support vector machines, deep learning); unsupervised learning (dimensionality reductions, clustering, self-organizing maps); optimization (AI scheduling, prediction); natural language processing (NLP) models; large language models; chatbots; sentiment analyses; etc. While early-stage studies are welcome, there should be a connection to the clinical discipline clearly articulated in the proposal.
Funding Opportunity for Child Language Studies
One additional New Investigators Research Grant will be supported by the endowed Lois Bloom Language Development Research Fund, established by Dr. Lois and Robert Bloom, for the purpose of supporting research topics in the area of child language.

Eligibility

Investigators must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the New Investigators Research Grant.The investigator must have completed a PhD or equivalent research doctorate in communication sciences and disorders within the past five years (since 2020).The investigator must not yet have received external research funding since completion of the PhD; prior internal university funding is accepted. Note that training grants (for example, NIH F32) do not disqualify the investigator.
The proposal must be for research to be initiated, not currently in progress. The study should be completed in one year and the scope should align with the funding amount.
The proposal submitted to the current New Investigators Research Grant competition cannot be submitted to other current 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.Funding will be disbursed in U.S. currency to investigators in the United States or Canada.

Ineligibility

Due to the availability of other student research grant and scholarship funds through the ASHFoundation, students currently enrolled in a degree program are not eligible for this research grant.Funding will not cover institutional overhead and indirect costs. In addition, funding may not be directed to travel expenses for conventions or meetings.