The purpose of the SIOP International Research and Collaboration Small Grant program is to support and encourage research of an international or cross-cultural nature. The aim of the IRC Small Grant is to encourage not only international collaborations but collaborations on international research projects (using data from different cultural groups). Proposals can be made in any field of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, as long as the main research topic is approached from an international or cross-cultural lens.
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The proposal must include an international or cross-cultural research partnership involving collaborators from at least two different national cultures with preference given to collaborations of researchers from at least two different continents and two different languages. The proposal also must include data collection from at least two (more are preferred) different cultural populations in different nations (e.g., indigenous people in Canada and Euro Canadians, indigenous people in New Zealand and Euro New Zealanders, or Germans in Germany and Chinese in China).
The International Affairs Committee will review and administer the IRC Small Grant. Given the specific objective of fostering international cooperation, this subcommittee will include SIOP members from various international locations.
General Procedures and Policies
The overarching goal of the IRC Small Grant Program is to provide funding for international, global, or cross-cultural collaboration. Research projects from any area of I-O psychology (e.g., leadership, selection, performance management, motivation, job satisfaction) would be appropriate as long as they have both a significant international element and include significant international collaboration. (Example: A cross-cultural study of the antecedents of job satisfaction by a team from Africa, Europe, and Asia.)
The grant submission package must include a grant proposal (see formatting guidelines below).
The principal investigator of the project must be a SIOP Fellow, Member, Associate, or Student. Proposals submitted with a Student as the principal investigator must include a letter of endorsement from a SIOP professional member.
In order to encourage wide participation and a large variety of individuals and institutions involved in the program, an individual can only be involved in one proposal per review cycle per grant. In addition, individuals who received an IRC grant within the last 2 years are ineligible. Before submitting a grant proposal, check with each of your co-authors to ensure that neither of these requirements are being violated.
Guidelines for Proposal Budgets
It is the explicit policy of the SIOP IRC Grant Program that grant funds may not be used for overhead or indirect costs. In the committees’ experience, most universities will waive overhead and indirect costs under two circumstances: (a) the grant is relatively modest in size, and/or (b) the awarding institution (i.e., SIOP) does not allow it. If the above statement disallowing funds to be used for overhead is insufficient, the chair of the IRC Small Grant Subcommittee will provide additional documentation and evidence explicitly recognizing this policy.
The IRC Small Grant can be used in conjunction with other funding for a larger-scale project. If this is the case, the proposal should describe the scope of the entire project, the entire budget, and the portion of the budget for which SIOP grant money will be spent.
In addition, grant funds should not be used to pay for ancillary costs related to the project (publication or presentations at conferences, such as open access and registration/ travel costs).
Size of Grant
SIOP provides $5,000 to support the IRC Small Grant Program.
Criteria for Selecting Award Winners
The following criteria will be used to evaluate each proposal:
- Topic choice: the research examines an I-O psychology relevant topic from an international or cross-cultural perspective, focusing on important practical and/or theoretical implications. The proposal includes an international or cross-cultural research partnership involving collaborators from at least two different national cultures with preference given to collaborations of researchers from at least two different continents and two different languages.
- Introduction: Introductory section and the literature review are comprehensive, relevant, and current, with gaps to be filled clearly documented. Problem statements, research questions, and/or hypotheses are correctly formulated and consistent with the gaps documented in the introduction. Relevance for the research is clear (i.e., the rationale for why this research is important is made evident through the literature review).
- If applicable, the names of all participants must be entered during the online nomination/application process. Please ensure that all participants in your nomination have current information in their siop.org profiles. All nonmembers should create an account at siop.org (creating accounts is not equivalent to applying for membership).
- Methods: Research design has internal validity, addressing potential biases and/or confounded effects. Research design has external validity (consideration given to a range of participants, settings, and conditions). Procedure(s), measurements, and/or qualitative methods are appropriate and aligned with the research objective(s). Adequate statistical or other data analytical procedures will be used in order to analyze data associated with the proposed topic.
- Impact: The proposal clearly outlines how the pursued research contributes to an international or cross-cultural perspective on a topic in I-O psychology. The proposal describes the expected impact at both theoretical and practical levels. The proposal includes a detailed understanding of current research constraints and limitations. The proposal must demonstrate the potential contribution of the proposed study or studies to the literature.
- Budget: The proposed use of the grant funds must be essential to the research project (examples of appropriate use of funds include but are not limited to: purchase of research materials, participant incentives, faculty release time, summer support, translation services, travel related to data collection & collaboration, stipends to support a research assistant. When funds are being used for participant incentives, researchers must demonstrate an understanding of the contextual implications of the funding amount and distribution plan.
Format of the Proposal
The proposal should adhere to APA formatting guidelines and should include the following sections:
- Title Page
- Abstract
- Literature review and rationale for the project
- Method—including information about the sample, measures, data collection strategies, and analytical strategies
- Implications for both academicians and practitioners
- References, Tables/Figures and Appendices
- Budget and justification for expenditures of the grant funds
Proposals should not exceed 10 pages of text (this does not include: title page, abstract, references, tables and figures, and appendices). The proposal should be double spaced and use a 12-point font and 1” margins. The proposal must be a single document, either a Word document or a .pdf file.
All proposals need to certify, by signature or other means, that the research will be carried out in compliance with ethical standards with regard to the treatment of human subjects (e.g., institutional review board or signed statement that the research adheres to the accepted professional standards regarding the treatment of human subjects).
Deliverables
All grant recipients will be required to deliver a final report to SIOP within 1 year of the date of the grant. Recipients should be aware that synopsis of their research will be placed on the SIOP Web site. This synopsis will be of such a nature so as not to preclude subsequent publication of the research. It is strongly encouraged that the results of the research be submitted for presentation at the annual SIOP conference.
The winners will also be invited to give an (a) short IGNITE presentation that summarizes their final research report at a future SIOP conference with other previous grant winners and (b) 10 to 15-minute presentation of the purpose and key findings of the study during SIOP’s International Reception. Both presentations are optional and are not a requirement for accepting the grant.

Updated: March 21, 2023