Research awards and grants
Encouraging research into counselling and psychotherapy

BACP research grants are offered to support high-quality ethical research that contributes to the evidence base, and which is relevant to the fields of counselling, psychotherapy or coaching. We’re offering two grant types both aimed at supporting projects that align with BACP's organisational strategy and our over-arching research priority of client-focussed research. We’re currently offering grants to support collaborative research and secondary data analysis. 

The deadline for applications for these grants has now passed and details on how to apply for future grants will be available here in due course.

Are you currently doing research as part of your training? Or have you completed a research project within the last 24 months?

Research that is relevant to practice is vitally important in our field. Don’t let your research sit on a shelf and gather dust. Share your work and let your contribution to counselling and psychotherapy be better known. Why not submit your research for the 2025 BACP new researcher award?

Eligibility

Submissions are invited from individuals who are current full-time or part-time registered students, or those who have graduated in the last 24 months. Submissions may be co-authored (e.g. with a research supervisor) but you must be the first author and a previously unpublished researcher in our field at the time of submission for the award.

You may submit research that is under consideration or accepted for publication in a scholarly journal (you will be asked to verify this at submission).

All submissions must adhere to the word limit and guidelines below.

How to apply

The deadline for submissions for the 2025 award is 23:59, Sunday 3 November 2024. For full eligibility and submission guidelines go to New Researcher Application (pdf 199KB).

The CPCAB counselling research award is designed to raise awareness of research that has important implications for counselling training or practice. By publishing videos about the award-winning projects on the Counselling Channel, it aims to make research more accessible and engaging.

All relevant abstracts submitted to the BACP Research Conference are considered for this prestigious award from the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB).

For a full description go to the CPCAB research award application information (PDF 209KB). 

How to apply

The deadline for applications for the 2024 award is 23:59, Sunday 3 November 2024 through the BACP Annual Research Conference submission process. 

This annual award aims to:

• reward excellence in counselling and psychotherapy research
• increase awareness of the evidence base of counselling, psychotherapy and its guiding principles
• improve the overall quality of counselling and psychotherapy research by example
• encourage and inspire future research in counselling and psychotherapy

Eligibility

This award is open to anyone who has undertaken research into counselling and psychotherapy within the last three years (36 months). 

You may submit a paper that has already been published or an original paper.

It is not restricted to any particular methodology, group or setting, and entries can be submitted by an individual, a research team, or a researcher on behalf of an organisation. Or, you can nominate another party.

How to apply

The deadline for submissions for the 2024 award is 23:59, Sunday 3 November 2024. For full eligibility and submission guidelines go to BACP Outstanding Research Application (Word 36KB).

In 2024 BACP partnered with the Community Trauma Conference UK to offer this award. All relevant abstracts submitted to and accepted by the BACP conference peer review panel were considered.

The award winner received a free place to present their research at BACP’s annual international research conference in May 2024, where they were presented with the award and received a £500 prize.

There will be no award in 2025.

We occasionally provide financial support for students undertaking part-time PhD research on counselling and psychotherapy. Unfortunately we’re not able to run a studentship competition in this academic year.