Professional Connection Grants

The Australian Pain Society offers up to $4,000 per year (in total across both categories) to sponsor Professional Connection Grants.  Individual applications are capped at a maximum of $2,000.  These grants are designed to support members working in the areas of nursing, allied health and research (trainee/early career) to undertake targeted activities to inform their pain-related practice.

Clinical Professional Connection Grants for Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and Trainee/Early Career Researchers

The Clinical Professional Connection Grant is designed to support APS members in the following ways:

• Nursing or allied health clinicians from non-metropolitan locations to visit a major metropolitan multidisciplinary pain centre, for the duration of generally one (1) week.  Visits are intended to support professional learning (including the exploration of new models of care) that can inform service development in non-metropolitan services with single or limited discipline profiles;
• Trainee/early career researchers (i.e., researchers currently undertaking their PhD, or within five years of PhD conferral) to visit a major metropolitan multidisciplinary pain centre for the purpose of conducting/initiating a clinically-oriented research project that involves the development of a new partnership/collaboration with allied health, nursing or medical pain specialists. Projects can use basic science or applied methods, but the clinical relevance of the project must be clearly articulated.

Translational Professional Connection Grants for Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and Trainee/Early Career Researchers

Translational Professional Connection grants are designed to support APS member clinicians, managers, or trainee researchers to participate in activities that support the translation of evidence into improved health care for pain, or communication of research evidence to end users.  The end goal of the Translational Professional Connection Grant is to support APS members to develop and implement high quality evidence into practice, and to develop skills in communicating evidence to policy and health system stakeholders. The Translational Professional Connection Grant is specifically for APS members who have not previously had the opportunity to participate in a research translation, policy-oriented activity who can clearly articulate how they intend to implement the skills in their research, practice or advocacy work.

Eligibility Criteria

• Current membership of the APS (you can join now at: APS Membership). Applications from non-members will not be considered.
• Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents, based in Australia.
• Applications to connect with a pain centre within the applicants’ city of residence will generally not be considered.

 Terms and Conditions

• Professional Connection Grants will be awarded at the discretion of the APS Board.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• Grant payment will be made by EFT after the Professional Connection activity has been completed.
• Receipts must be provided for all expenses claimed, apart from the per diem allowance.
• An APS approved expense claim form must be used to claim funds, please contact the APS Secretariat.
• After the Professional Connection activity has been completed, the APS requires a 500-800 report (with images).
• The report is to be suitable for both publication in the APS newsletter/blog and for the APS Board to evaluate the Professional Connection activity.  

How to Apply

The APS is not involved in the coordination or facilitation of grant activities. It is the responsibility of the applicant to:

• Identify clear learning objectives and plan how these objectives will be met during the professional connection activity.
• For Clinical Professional Connection Grants, the applicant must contact the service that they wish to visit/collaborate with in order to determine the feasibility of such a connection.
• For Translational Professional Connection Grants, the applicant must provide evidence of their intended participation in the translational activity, as well as a statement about the anticipated end goal or outcome of their participation.
• Complete the Professional Connection Grant Application Form (button below) and provide the APS with:
  1. Letter of support from their employer and/or research supervisor (as appropriate); and
  2. Letter of support from the proposed site of connection (Clinical Professional Connection Grant); or
  3. Application/acceptance letters for a translation/policy activity (Translational Professional Connection Grant)

AFTER the application is approved, the successful applicant must make all the necessary arrangements for their visit.

A list of Pain Management Facilities is available on this website. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Secretariat.

To apply for this grant please complete and submit the

Professional Connection Grant       Application Form