Over four days in November, nine physical therapists came together with seven mentors and consultants to learn how to hone their grant writing skills obtain funding at the national level for education research.  The centerpiece of the workshop was the one-on-one mentoring and the opportunity for participants to interact with a community of scholars and representatives from organizations that fund education research.  

The experienced faculty guided the participants to:

• Develop robust and theoretically-grounded research agendas.
• Explore research design and analysis methods.
• Identify “best-bet” funding sources.
• Learn about building their research portfolio/biosketch to best be prepared to show they are eligible for particular funding.
• Learn grant-writing and budgeting.
• Create intra- and inter-institutional collaborative research networks and projects.

The participants feedback included:

"The workshop was extremely helpful in understanding the various sources of funding that could be applicable to educational research.  Prior to the workshop, I was only aware of the PT-specific funding which is quite limited although is expanding.  However, an opportunity to have a broader understanding of funding sources outside of PT was very helpful.  In addition, the specific feedback from all the mentors to improve my grant proposal helped me to understand how to improve my writing skills."

"I really felt like my mentors met me where I was and were supportive and nurturing."

"The pre-readings were very helpful to review beforehand and we were given plenty of time to prepare."

Look for your opportunity to apply for the Grantsmanship and Mentorship in Education Research (GAMER) in May 2020. The workshop is a collaborative effort of the Education Leadership Partnership, including APTA, the American Council of Academic Physical Therapists (ACAPT) and the Academy of Physical Therapy Education (APTE).