Call for Proposals (2024-2025)

Call for Proposals

The Summit on Clinical Science Training held in May 2023, sponsored by the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science (APCS) and others was a watershed event. APCS continues to pursue the spirit of the Summit with this Call for Proposals.

APCS invites proposals to improve clinical science training and the factors that impact it. We want your brief proposal  if you believe that you can lead a team to make changes in one of the four theme areas delineated below. Your proposal should take the form of an email to the president of APCS, Tom Rodebaugh (tlr3@unc.edu or thomas.rodebaugh@unc.edu), who will forward it to the executive committee (EC). 

In your email you should explain what challenge you propose to tackle, how much money you would need to support the effort, what the money will be used for, and what the results will be. You should limit yourself to about two paragraphs, totaling 250 words or less. Longer proposals will be returned with a request that they be shortened. If the EC is interested in your proposal, they will start a conversation with you to determine whether your proposal is a high priority.

Your proposal should fall within one of the themes listed below, and might address one of the examples given below the themes. However, we want to hear about initiatives that can make a big difference, so don’t take the examples as limiting.

You might be thinking “what’s the catch?” Here are some things that might limit who will be interested in applying:

1. APCS has no more than $42,000 to spend on these initiatives. Although it is possible that the EC might choose to fund a single effort that uses all of that money, this is unlikely. 
2. The funding is not renewable; once it is spent, it is spent.
3. Accordingly, the EC is only interested in proposals that will either result in near-term change or can grow into long-term change without further investment. Accordingly, say how your proposal will do this.
4. It seems clear that important changes will require teamwork. The funding might support the time only of a coordinator or project manager, but a successful proposal will involve a team across levels of training or training sites. Potentially successful proposals will involve multiple programs, both PhD programs and internship programs, or multiple levels of programs (students and faculty; students and training directors).
5. Funding will take the form of one or more simple payments, preferably directly to an individual. APCS will attempt to provide the funding to your university if you prefer, but we cannot guarantee this will work depending on your institution's rules and responsiveness. In any case, APCS will not pay money beyond the amount we determine is needed to do the work (e.g., indirects). Please ensure your institution has no policies against you receiving such funding, and plan to work with us to make sure you obtain the funding.
6. Many smart clinical scientists think immediately of compiling or creating resources as a primary way to make things better (e.g., a resource repository webpage, a document with a list of relevant resources). However, the EC has noted that such resources often do not get to those who need them, can be overwhelming or difficult to digest (particularly when joined by various other pre-existing resources), or are too difficult to maintain or update. If you are proposing to create a set of resources, you should first check whether such resources already exist; if they really don’t exist, you should explain how you will disseminate and maintain the resources, as well as how you will ensure they can lead to implemented change. 
7. Those individuals or teams funded will provide the EC with one or more dates at which reports of progress will be made. These reports will be simple and based on things accomplished.
8. Neither the president of APCS nor any of the EC are permitted to receive any funding; if they are involved in any funding proposals as team members who do not themselves receive funding, they will be recused from conversation regarding the proposals. Generally we recommend avoiding involving the EC, which will have enough to do reviewing the proposals.
9. For full consideration, please send your initial email before November 2024. However, if your idea takes longer to develop, please email Tom Rodebaugh to determine whether funds are still available.

Here are the themes. Note that these themes arose organically from the Summit; some involved planned programming at the Summit while others impressed the EC with their relevance as the Summit progressed. The theme list has been revised based on initial funding of projects and further input from member programs. You can find out more about funded programs here: https://www.acadpsychclinicalscience.org/fundedsummit.html 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ)

Improving the ability of clinical science training programs to produce graduates from a wide variety of backgrounds for the betterment of our field and a model for future clinical scientists. Additionally, such efforts can successfully address problems and incorporate strengths related to DEIJ more broadly. Examples:

• Create APCS-sponsored Q&A or virtual panel event for under-represented students on hidden curriculum and invite multiple DCTs, faculty to attend; produce a recording and follow a plan to disseminate it across multiple application cycles
• Identify an APCS network for scholars across programs whose scholarship focuses on meeting needs of those from under-represented or under-served populations and develop a sustainable way to improve the impact of these scholars on clinical training. For example, monthly highlights of scholars and listing of work that APCS programs could incorporate into syllabi or other training experiences.
• APCS-sponsored virtual event on strategies to promote retention of under-represented students and faculty; produce recording or other dissemination materials and a plan to provide this information repeatedly and/or in various formats.
• APCS-facilitated plan to establish and maintain relationships between APCS programs and historically Black colleges and universities to improve recruitment, with acknowledgement that such a plan will require several steps (the first of which is likely determining which APCS programs are already pursuing such a strategy) and require maintenance over time. Thus, be sure to incorporate recommendations for maintenance in the future.

Internship 

Improving the relevance of internship training to clinical science and easing the burden currently borne by students. As examples:

• Develop guidance for APCS programs, whether PhD programs or internships, on adoption of competency-based evaluations to be implemented within 5 years. This would include a careful analysis of the roadblocks and clear guidance to the programs as to how to approach this pragmatically. Many directors of programs like this general idea, but become paralyzed when contemplating how to pursue it.
• Consult with all involved parties (including both APCS and non-APCS internships) to determine the likely effects of various solutions to the “hours arms race” (e.g., enforcing hours caps, implementing a clinical competency rating system, others) and disseminate a report to APCS membership and the public regarding best next steps. 
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• Establish an APCS-affiliated network of interns/post-docs/intern applicants (and potentially some DCTs and internship training directors) to help pass down knowledge and provide support about applying and completing internship. Many programs have internal guides that might be included in a repository, but conversation is likely to be needed to really get students engaged. Develop a plan to maintain activity and direct students to the resource over time.  

Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) 

Maximizing the impact of clinical science training on mental health burdens by improving the ability of future graduates to translate their work to real-world impacts. As examples:

• Notably, we funded a major D&I initiative on the first round of proposals that addressed most of the EC’s initial ideas. We remain open to additional D&I proposals, however! For example…
• Develop a D&I metric that captures public health impact of APCS programs and provide programs this metric to feature on their websites; provide programs guidance as to how they can increase their public health impact according to this index.

Curriculum

Aid APCS member programs to increase efficiency, create impactful curricula that will aid students in their research and application efforts now and in the future, and minimize redundant effort across programs.

• Develop a recommended “skeleton” clinical science curriculum, including generalist courses, that represents not the entirety of any given program’s curriculum but rather the outline of best practices that all programs can follow in addition to their unique training opportunities. Include a plan to disseminate and maintain this as a living document.
• Establish a repository of curriculum best practices and innovative solutions along with a plan to disseminate and maintain.