The deadline for stage 1 applications is Sunday 29 June 2025 at 11.59pm (BST). The application portal will be open for submissions on Friday 16 May 2025. You won't be able to submit an application before this date.  

Our collaborative research grants are intended to support early career researchers to undertake high-quality, ethical research contributing to the evidence base for counselling, psychotherapy or coaching and conducted within new or existing collaborative research groups or networks.

For the purposes of these grants, 'collaborative research' is defined as research which involves a minimum of two different partners. An early career researcher is defined as someone who is either:

  • within eight years of their PhD award (this is from the time of the PhD viva oral test) or equivalent professional training
  • within six years of their first academic appointment (the first full or part time paid employment contract that lists research or teaching as the primary function)

These periods exclude any career break, for example, due to family care, health reasons, reasons related to COVID-19 such as home schooling or increased teaching load.

We're supporting grants of up to £50,000 per project and we also welcome applications for smaller amounts. Projects funded under this stream would not typically be expected to last longer than 24 months.

Eligibility criteria

Projects under this funding stream must: 

  • be led by an early career researcher, defined for the purposes of these grants as someone who is either within eight years of either their PhD award (this is from the time of the PhD viva oral test) or equivalent professional training, or within six years of their first academic appointment (the first full or part time paid employment contract that lists research or teaching as the primary function). Researchers who are not considered to be early career can be included as partners on the bid
  • include a minimum of two different partners (academic, non-academic, industry or those with lived experience of counselling, psychotherapy or coaching) from multiple UK or international academic institutions. Teams from across more than one department or discipline, but from the same organisation, would not be considered collaborative and therefore not eligible to apply for this grant
  • be led by a UK-based partner who has access to a formal research ethics committee
  • clearly demonstrate that the project team has the necessary skills and experience to be able to successfully deliver on the project
  • sit within BACP’s definition of client-focused research in counselling, psychotherapy or coaching
  • demonstrate clear alignment with BACP’s organisational strategy and research priorities
  • appropriately involve people with lived experience (PLE) of counselling, psychotherapy or coaching throughout the research process (not simply as research participants)

For full details of the application process and eligibility criteria, please see our BACP Collaborative Research Grant Funding (pdf).

How to apply 

The deadline for stage 1 applications is Sunday 29 June at 11.59pm (BST). Applications should be made through our BACP research grants submission portal which opens again from 16 May 2025. 

To submit your application, you'll need:

All applications are reviewed by our independent grants peer review panel and you might can read our BACP Collaborative Research Grants Stage 1 Review Form (Word)to understand more about the criteria applications are assessed on. 

Any queries about this funding opportunity should be sent to research@bacp.co.uk

For transparency purposes, you can also view copies of the BACP Collaborative Research Grants Stage 2 Application Form (pdf) and BACP Collaborative Research Grants Stage 2 Review Form (Word). Only those invited to complete Stage 2 application forms in August 2025 should do so. 

Timeline

 

Deadline for stage 1 applications 29 June 2025
Applicants notified of outcome of stage 1 26 August 2025
Deadline for stage 2 applications 3 November 2025
Applicants notified of outcome of stage 2 6 March 2026
Earliest project start date 1 September 2026

 

Please note: In the awarding of a research grant, the arising intellectual property rights developed with the grant funding will be owned exclusively by the grant holder, however they will grant an exclusive licence, in perpetuity, to BACP to use the arising intellectual property for non-commercial purposes. Under no circumstances, will any commercial use of the arising intellectual property by allowed by either party.