Grants
Grants programme for scientific research
Grants for Scientific Research 2024/2025
With the aim of fostering research into the healthy human being, both from the physical and spiritual point of view and particularly in themes largely still unexplored but which warrant further and rigorous scientific analysis, BIAL Foundation opens a new call of its Grants Programme for Scientific Research with the following characteristics:
1. Scope and purpose - Only the fields of Psychophysiology and Parapsychology shall be covered by this Programme. The goals to be met by the applicants shall be set out by the Research Project under application.
2. Addressees - All scientific researchers will be admitted as applicants, either individually or in groups, except those working for BIAL Foundation or for any of the companies belonging to BIAL Group. The Principal Investigator and the co-Principal Investigator with ongoing Research Project(s) funded by BIAL Foundation may also apply; however, they shall only benefit from new grants under this Programme after the successful completion of those Research Project(s).
3. Duration and commencement - Total duration of the grants under the Program shall not exceed 3 years and shall commence between 1st January and 31st October 2025.
4. Total amount and payment’s periodicity - Approved applications shall benefit from grants with a total amount of up to €60.000 (sixty thousand euros). The specific amount shall be determined at BIAL Foundation’s sole discretion in accordance with the needs of the Research Project under application.
The amount awarded to each Research Project shall be understood as a maximum amount, which shall be paid by BIAL Foundation upon verification of the documents of expenses submitted, under the terms of the Regulation.
The payments shall be made annually or bi-annually. This periodicity shall be defined in accordance with the schedule of the Research Project.
5. Applications - Applications should be submitted in English no later than 31st of August 2024, in accordance with the Regulation of Grants for Scientific Research of BIAL Foundation, via the BIAL Foundation Grants Management System (BF-GMS). Applications regarding the following projects will not be considered eligible:
a) Projects from Clinical or Experimental Models of Human Disease and Therapy;
b) Projects whose main scope is eating behaviour, sexual behaviour or physical exercise;
c) Projects of fundamental neuroscience (cellular, molecular and biochemical mechanisms of brain functioning) that are not directly and unequivocally associated with a psychophysiological measure.
BIAL Foundation reserves the right to refuse the application of former Grant Holders who have repeatedly violated their legal and contractual obligations with BIAL Foundation.
6. Assessment of applications and notification of decision - Applications shall be assessed by the Scientific Board of BIAL Foundation. The decision shall be disclosed, by notice to the applicants, within 4 (four) months from the final deadline for submission of applications.
7. Regulation – The submission of an application implies and means the full acceptance without reservations by the applicant of the terms and conditions set out in this announcement and in the Regulation of Grants for Scientific Research of BIAL Foundation, which governs the present call.
The Regulation of Grants for Scientific Research of the BIAL Foundation is available below:
Announcement Grants 2024/2024Grants Management System
Since 2014, the BIAL Foundation Grants Management System (BF-GMS) has been the system used for the full management of applications and supported projects.
You can register to BF-GMS, by using the link below, complete your profile, create and submit a new application - when a new Grants programme is available - as well as manage supported projects, e.g. submit scientific and financial progress/final reports.
We remind you that you can only register once in the BF-GMS. If you have lost and forgotten your login credentials please use the automated recovery tool.
If you still have any doubts, please contact info@bialfoundation.com or +351 229 866 150.
GRANTS
In 1994 the BIAL Foundation launched a Grants programme for scientific research with the aim of encouraging the research into healthy human being’s physical and mental processes, namely in fields still largely unexplored but which warrant further scientific analysis, as Psychophysiology and Parapsychology.In total, in the 15 editions already held, the Foundation has approved for funding 865 projects, involving 1702 researchers from 30 countries.
The approved applications will benefit from grants up to a maximum amount of €60,000. The amount to be granted is fixed by the Scientific Board according to the needs of each project.
Among the researchers supported by the BIAL Foundation, is worth highlighting the presence of scientists from prestigious universities from Europe, United States, Australia, Russia, and Japan, among others.
Testimonials about some Supported Projects
Mónica Santos
Role of NT3/TrkC in the regulation of fear
Helané Wahbeh
A telephone telepathy study: Does genetic relatedness influence psychic abilities?
Kenneth Drinkwater
Neuropsychological and cognitive-perceptual characteristics of mediums and psychics
Dean Radin
Analysis of an entropic anomaly in 23 years of truly random data
Zoltan Kekecs
A fully transparent pre-registered replication study of precognitive detection of reinforcement using an expert consensus design
Marc Wittmann & Damisela Linares Gutiérrez
Changes in the temporal width of the present moment after meditation
Julia Mossbridge
A trait-and-state analysis of precognitive remote viewing focusing on gender, emotions, and pregnancy status
Ana Teixeira Santos
Getting the aging brain to train: A working memory and neurostimulation approach
Miguel Farias
The mind possessed project: Mapping the varieties of possession experiences
Stephen Baumgart
Signal or noise? Using a psychophysical approach to investigate the effects of attention and neurofeedback
Caroline Di Luft
Two-brain directed synchronization during eye contact
São Luís Castro
The impact of music training on reading and mathematical abilities of normal and reading disabled children
Nolween Marie
Phenomenological experience and neurophysiological correlates of shamanic trance in healthy individuals
Rui Alves and Teresa Jacques
Mind-Body Interactions in Writing (M-BW)
Elena Antonova
EEG microstates in experienced meditators, from letters to grammar
Anna Ciaunica
Estranged from oneself, estranged from the others
Dean Radin
Psi, nonlocality and entangled photons
Julie Beischel
Correlating accurate intuition with learning styles and sensory modality preferences
Devin Terhune
Atypical metacognition and time perception
Christine Simmonds-Moore
Correlates and nature of subjective apparitional experiences
Clara Pretus
A neuroimaging study of religious and nationalist radicals
Amir Raz
Consciousness training
Marilyn Schlitz
The role of beliefs in psi in a precognition study
Stephen Badham
Age-related changes in brain
Sofia Machado
Producing a Near-Death Experience like through hypnosis
Nicholas Furl
Brain encoding of the distinctive movements of facial expressions
Arnaud Delorme
A study about anomalous psychological phenomena
Thilo Hinterberger
Paced Breathing
Jennifer Kim Penberthy
Extraordinary experiences
Lénia Amaral
Episodic memory enhancement
Mark Blagrove
Electrophysiological correlation
Helané Wahbeh
Full-trance channeling
Aaron Koralek
Dopamine in behavior & action
Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
Consciousness and selfhood
Joana Coutinho
Empathy in couples
Miguel Farias
Neural stimulation & paranormal
Jason Braithwaite
The dissociated self
Julie Beischel
Information reception in mediums
John Kruth
Mood and emotion
Catherine French
Conditional Foxp2 deletion
Veena Kumari
The mindful eye
Etzel Cardeña
Alterations of consciousness
Stefan Schmidt
Libet revisitedNumbers & Statistics
Throughout several editions, the Grants for Scientific Research of the BIAL Foundation have been increasingly recognized. In the first edition, in 1994, the BIAL Foundation received a total of 48 applications and supported 10 projects. In the last edition, in 2022, 318 research projects involving 900 researchers were received, out of which 75 projects were approved for funding. The graph shows the percentage of the approved projects according to the total number of applications received in each edition.
The approved projects are equivalent to 26% of total applications, and are divided in the fields of Psychophysiology (50%), Parapsychology (30%) and both (20%).
Reflecting the increasing awareness of the BIAL Foundation, supporting research in psychophysiology and parapsychology within the international scientific community, the most significant numbers of applications come from Portugal, UK, USA, and Italy.
The research funded by the BIAL Foundation in the areas of Psychophysiology and Parapsychology from 1994 to November 2023 has resulted in the publication of 1874 articles in indexed journals (in Scopus or Web of Science), 1658 of which in journals with an average impact factor of 4.2 and 372 in journals with an impact factor greater than or equal to 5. Almost half of the articles were published in journals belonging to the first quartile (Q1) in their respective scientific field. By August 2023, there was a substantial number of citations (43.246), with 560 publications cited more than 20 times.
Globally, the researchers supported by the BIAL Foundation published 3458 scientific papers, chapters, book chapters, conference abstracts and master and doctoral theses.
A study conducted by Cordeiro, Marinho, Guedes and Sousa, presented at the 13th Symposium of the BIAL Foundation, held in Porto from April 6 to 9, 2022, gives an overview of the changes in the number of publications from 1994 to March 2022 and can be accessed at the following link. In addition, the Foundation provides an open online database that can be accessed by the scientific community and by the general public here.
Approved Projects