Grants: Parapsychological Association Research Endowment

Research Grants

Parapsychological Association Research Endowment (PARE)
The Parapsychological Association (PA) received a generous donation from Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler to establish an endowment for scholarships and grants-in-aid. Its purpose is to encourage parapsychological research by students and other researchers. Dr. Schmeidler is one of parapsychology's leading researchers and educators, and with this endowment she continues and broadens her contributions to scientific parapsychology. The awards are administered by the Board of the Parapsychological Association through a committee that evaluates the grant requests. One or more awards are made each year, and the Board's preference is to enable two or more projects that require on the order of US$2,000 to US$5,000. These awards are primarily intended to pay for direct costs of conducting research, but may also be used to help defray other expenses provided the applicant is able to document the relevance of such support to parapsychological research. Ordinarily upon award, 90% of the funds are provided. After the awardee sends a final report to the committee detailing the results of the project and how the money was spent, the final 10% of the grant is disbursed. Under exceptional circumstances the grant committee may decide to disburse the entire amount before the final report is submitted, but a report is still required. In accordance with the goals of the Parapsychological Association to achieve a scientific understanding of psychic phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition, experimental research is a primary target for support, but proposals addressing phenomenological, sociological, historical, and other approaches will be considered. Applications for renewal of grants are also acceptable. The committee will accept brief, formal proposals (less than 3,000 words), in either plain text or an MS Word document, preferably submitted electronically. The proposal should have a cover page with the Title and a Brief Abstract of the research, contact information for the applicant, and a short statement of personal qualifications. The latter should include indication of student status or a degree from an accredited university. The body of the proposal should describe the proposed research with a clear statement of the hypothesis or other focus of the work, a short summary of the relevant literature, some information about methodology, a statement of the resources needed along with a budget, an expected time-line for completion, and plans for formal presentation and/or publication of the work. Letters of support from people who will be involved in supervising or helping with the work, or other relevant documentation, will substantially assist the committee in its deliberations. Judgments will be made based on the quality of the proposal and its prospects for completion as a useful contribution to the field. Applications must be submitted by June 30, and awards will be announced at the PA's Annual meeting. Please send all materials and inquiries to: Dr. Harvey Irwin, hirwin2@une.edu.au ---------
Robert L. Morris Student Travel Grant Program [updated 25 Feb 2009]
The Parapsychological Association received a generous donation from Joanna Morris in a memorial of her late husband Robert L. Morris, who held the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology from 1985 to 2004. The PA Board of Directors considered how best to use this donation and believed that Bob Morris would have most liked for the funds to be used to encourage student participation in the PA. It was thus decided to earmark the funds for a new program to be called the Robert L Morris Student Travel Grant Program. Applicants for this grant must be student affiliate member of the PA in good standing and participate in the PA Annual Convention in some form (accepted paper, panel presentations, etc.). Student affiliate members who have recently graduated are still eligible provided that they graduated within 12 months of the convention for which they are applying for a grant, and that their convention submission relates to work completed while they were a student. A student may receive funding once in his or her career. The maximum total amount to be awarded will be decided by the Board each year. Students can apply for the Robert L. Morris Travel Grant by downloading and completing the application, which is for PA Student Members ONLY. The application should be included with their convention submission and sent to the Program Chair. ---------
Gilbert Roller Grants
The Parapsychological Association (PA) recently received a generous donation to establish a new endowment for research. The Gilbert Roller Fund supports scientific field investigations into macroscopic psychokinetic phenomena such as those reported in sitter-groups, séances, and poltergeist activity, and/or theoretical approaches to help explain the nature of such large-scale effects. The awards are administered by the Board of the PA through a committee that evaluates the grant requests. One or more grants may be given each year, with a maximum total disbursement of $10,000 per year until the full amount of the donation is exhausted. Applicants should demonstrate that they are qualified to conduct such research and have a good knowledge of past investigations of this type. Awardees will initially be provided with 90% of the funds. A final report detailing the results of the project and how the money was spent must be received by the grant review committee before the final 10% of the grant is disbursed. Under exceptional circumstance the committee may disburse the entire amount before the final report is submitted, but a report will still be required. The committee will accept brief, formal proposals (less than 3,000 words) in either plain text or as a Word document, preferably submitted electronically. The proposal should have a cover page with the Title and a Brief Abstract of the research, contact information for the applicant, and a short statement of personal qualifications. The latter should include indication of student status or a degree from an accredited university. The body of the proposal should describe the proposed research with a clear statement of the hypothesis or other focus of the work, a short summary of the relevant literature, some information about methodology, a statement of the resources needed along with a budget, an expected time-line for completion, and plans for formal presentation and/or publication of the work. Letters of support from people who will be involved in supervising or helping with the work, or other documentation, will assist the committee in its deliberations. Judgments will be made based on the quality of the proposal and its prospects for completion as a useful contribution to the field. Applications should be submitted by June 30, and awards will be announced at the PA's Annual meeting. Please send all materials and inquiries to: Dr. Harvey Irwin, hirwin2@une.edu.au ---------
Parapsychological Association Career Award
Awarded to a PA member or associate member for sustained (20 years or more) research or service contributions that have advanced the discipline of parapsychology. Recipient receives a plaque at the annual convention. The recipient is invited, if he or she wishes, to present an Invited Address (30 minutes maximum), preferably at the Parapsychological Annual Convention in the year following the award, or, if it be preferred by the awardee, no later than at that Convention the second year following the award. The willingness to give such an address is not, however, a condition for receipt of the award.

Full List of Career Award Recipients

The Charles Honorton Integrative Contributions Award (established 2008) Awarded to a PA member or associate member who has made significant research contributions that integrate parapsychology and mainstream science, and thereby has advanced the discipline of parapsychology. Recipient receives a plaque at the annual convention. The recipient is invited, if he or she wishes, to present an Invited Address (30 minutes maximum), preferably at the Parapsychological Annual Convention in the year following the award, or, if it be preferred by the awardee, no later than at that Convention the second year following the award. The willingness to give such an address is not, however, a condition for receipt of the award.

Honorton Award 2008
Dr. Charles T. Tart



PARE Grant

PARE Grant 2008 Awardees
Renaud Evrard received a PARE grant for a proposal entitled “Differential clinical approach to exceptional experiences : from traumatic to growth processes in teenagers and adults.” Alexander Batthyany was granted for “Retroactive Priming: The Impact of the Need to Evaluate and Affective States.” David Luke received funding for “The effects of mescaline-containing cacti (San Pedro) on psi: A pilot study Ecuador.”

PARE Grant 2007 Awardees
Fiona Campbell received a grant to study “Social interaction in the Sitter Group Environment.” The study includes 3 kinds of sitter groups, and will focus on their interpersonal interactions and the effect that may have on their anomalous experiences. David Wilde will receive a grant to pursue “The Occurrence, Phenomenology and Psychological Correlates of Out-Of Body and Near Death Experiences.” He will study OBE experiences, bottom up, preparing for larger program of assessments. Peter Bancel will receive a PARE grant for “Measuring Global Consciousness: Statistical Valence of Global Events.” Random Event Generator (REG) data recorded during the World Cup games of 2002 and 2006 have shown marginal or null significance despite huge public interest. A refined valence measurement will be applied, seeking better understanding of correlations with this class of engaging events.

PARE Grant 2006 Awardees
Nicola Holt proposed to extend and improve her PDA based ESP study, which is intended to develop methods for natural environment research. She was granted funds to help defray expenses for the project, “Developing experience-sampling methodology to explore psi in ‘every-day life’ ”. Richard Knowles applied for funds to acquire equipment needed for his ongoing OBE studies and was granted part of his request in recognition of his strong commitment. His project is called, “Induction, Correlation, and Validation of the Out-of-Body Experience” David Luke also was partially funded in his proposal to defray expenses in his study of “Luck Beliefs and Psi-Mediated Instrumental Response (PMIR)”. Devin Terhune and Annalisa Ventola received full funding of a modest proposal for support of their project, "Evaluating photographic anomalies: Examining the roles of photographic expertise, context, paranormal belief, and tolerance of ambiguity”. It is Devin's second award, and it supports a continuation and extension of last year's work.

PARE Grant 2005 Awardees
The PARE committee received five proposals for the 2005 funding cycle. Most were of sufficiently high quality they could in principle be funded, and the committee decided to partially fund one project and wholly fund two. Sergio Schilling received funding to support his project, “An inheritance model for spontaneous and experimental psi experiences”. It is a well-researched and documented proposal with interesting ideas. Devin Terhune was granted funds requested for his study of “Individual differences in the visual phenomenology of out-of-body experiences and the determinants thereof”. It addresses background questions that appear to be foundational for OBE research. David Wilde also is looking at the OBE experience in his research, “Do Out-of-body Experients Have Better Visual Imagery Skills Than Non-Experients?” His appears to be an innovative approach, with sound methodology and manageable goals.

PARE Grant 2004 Awardees

The first grant has been made from the Parapsychological Association Research Endowment created by Prof. Gertrude Schmeidler. The award will support research by Suneetha Kandi, Ph.D., from the Institute for Human Science and Service, Visakhapatnam, India. She proposes to explore the efficacy of various yoga practices in developing psi, based on ancient techniques described in the yoga treatises. Few studies have been conducted on yoga in parapsychology, although effects of meditation have been explored to some extent. Numerous techniques of yoga are regarded as preliminary but important in accessing the higher levels of consciousness by the individual. In this study, subjects will be given training in four different yoga techniques. Data will be collected in forced-choice and free-response ESP tests and personality tests will be used for broader perspective. Dr. Kandi is herself a student of Yoga, and has published a number of papers on that and related topics. She intends to broaden her range to work in the challenging area of parapsychology. She is currently on the faculty of the Institute for Human Science and Service.