The 2021 B. F. Skinner Foundation Research Award for Students in Europe

Application Deadline: 26 November 2021

The B. F. Skinner Foundation sponsors this award for student research. Two awards of $500 each are available. Winners will receive their awards at the European Association of Behaviour Analysis (EABA) 2022 conference in Tampere.

Purpose of the Award

  • To support and encourage research efforts in behaviour analysis among students in Europe
  • To promote behaviour analytic science
  • To boost the overall quality of academic research in behaviour analysis
  • To provide recognition for students conducting behaviour analytic research

Criteria

  1. Applicants must be attending an undergraduate or graduate-level program in Europe. Applications will be evaluated without respect to the applicant´s level of education.
  2. Applicants must be members of EABA.
  3. The proposal must be for a student-driven research project, thesis or dissertation approved by their department of study.
  4. Applicants do not have to be in a behaviour analytic program or course, but the research must be behaviour analytic in nature. Consideration will be given to proposals that describe research with a focus on observable and measurable behaviour (or the products thereof) as the dependent variable and the manipulation of well-defined environmental events as independent variables. Both applied and basic research award proposals are encouraged. Applied research proposals should correspond to the guidelines suggested by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968, 1987). Basic research proposals should correspond to the criteria set forth in Sidman (1960/1988). Applied research applicants should describe the basic science roots of their work and basic science applicants the translational aspects of their work.

In Order To Be Accepted, The Packet Must Contain:

  1. A cover letter with the student's contact information, where they are attending school, their program of study, and how they intend to use the funds from the award. The award can be used to cover any research-related expense, but preference will be given to direct research-related use, such as equipment, software, paying data collectors, purchasing reinforcers for participants, etc. Please justify each expense with an explanation of why it is essential to the project. Please note that EABA does not fund conference attendance for presentation of the award. (One page)
  2. A research proposal that includes:
    1. A title and abstract (250 words or fewer).
    2. An introduction to the research that explains how the project fits within or fills a gap in the current literature and how it relates to Baer et al. (1968, 1987) or Sidman (1960/1988). The introduction should conclude with a statement of the research question(s) (No more than 3 pages).
    3. A methods section indicating the number and type of proposed participants, dependent measures, a general overview of procedures, research design, and a timeline for the research. The method need not be technological (Baer et al., 1968), but the reviewer should be able to determine the feasibility of the study from the information provided (No more than 3 pages).
    4. A list of references that informed the design of the study (cited in the introduction and method).
  3. A letter of support from a supervising faculty. The letter should confirm that the research replicates or expands knowledge in the field of behaviour analysis and that the student has the skills and supervisory support to competently carry out the project.

The cover letter and research proposal should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman with standard margins.

Submission Procedures

  1. The cover letter and research proposal should be sent by the applicant to Sabrina Leibich (EABA Secretary) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  2. The faculty letter of support should be sent to Sabrina Leibich (EABA Secretary) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. from the supporting professor’s email address.

References

Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1(1), 91-97. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1987.20-313

Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1987). Some still-current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20(4), 313-327. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1987.20-313

Sidman, M. (1960/1988). Tactics of scientific research: Evaluating experimental data in psychology. New York, NY: Basic Books. Boston, MA: Authors Cooperative (reprinted).