Grants
Grants programme for scientific research
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 16 editions already held, the Foundation has approved for funding 946 projects, involving around 1900 researchers from 31 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.
Some of the Research Centres supported by BIAL FoundationGrants 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.
BIAL Foundation Grants Management System (BF-GMS)
At the moment, it is not possible to create an account in the BF-GMS, since the Grants Programme for Scientific Research is not open to applications.
Testimonials about some Supported Projects
Corinna Haenschel
Can the time needed to process visual information following a saccade be used to predict variations in neural measures of working memory and well-being?
Arnaud Delorme
Large scale online testing of psi abilities to identify and test talented individuals
Samantha Galluzzi
Effect of mindfulness on EEG brain activity for cognitive and psychological well-being in the elderly
Michelle Fauver
Psi performance in attenuated electromagnetic fields
Yair Dor-Ziderman
Meditation-induced neuroplasticity of the embodied-self and its role in social processing
Ugo Giulio Pesci
Beyond your own body: Extending the bodily self to the neuroaesthetics of interactions
Teresa Sousa
The neural circuitry underlying error monitoring during social cognition
Maria Spinelli
From inner to dyadic connection: The effect of mindfulness intervention on mother-infant bio-behavioural synchrony
Marieta Pehlivanova
Comparing cognitive styles among parapsychology researchers, psi-believers, and skeptics
Mark Wetherell
Anticipation and experience of stressful situations and their psychobiological impact on providing pre-hospital emergency medicine care
Althea Frisanco
In God's shoes: Embodying the avatar of the supreme moral authority modulates psychophysiological indices of one's own morality
Inês Mares
Investigating the role of expertise in the predictive coding framework combining time resolved neural and behavioural evidence
J. Kim Penberthy
A randomized trial: Extraordinary experiences and performance on psi tasks related to meditation
Alexa Morcom
Temporal decoding of selective recollection with psychophysiology
Irene Sperandio
Electrophysiological correlates of size-distance integration
Alexander Moreira-Almeida
National survey of "Cases of Reincarnation Type" in Brazil
Carlotta Fossataro
How body ownership shapes tactile awareness: inducing phantom sensations and measuring their electrophysiological correlates in immersive virtual reality
Suvo Mitra
Age-related changes in motor-cognitive dual-tasking: An electrophysiological investigation of interference at the level of sub-task elements
Morris Freedman
Mind-matter Interactions and the Frontal Lobes of the Brain
Luca Simione
Assessing static and dynamic effects of mindfulness meditation on peripersonal space
Luísa Lopes
The physiological role of circadian rhythms in memory
Joana Arantes
The implicit cognition of interpersonal attraction
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
Devin Terhune
Atypical metacognition and time perception
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
Stephen Baumgart
Signal or noise? Using a psychophysical approach to investigate the effects of attention and neurofeedback
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
Rui Alves and Teresa Jacques
Mind-Body Interactions in Writing (M-BW)
Clara Pretus
A neuroimaging study of religious and nationalist radicals
Arnaud Delorme
A study about anomalous psychological phenomena
Marilyn Schlitz
The role of beliefs in psi in a precognition study
Stephen Badham
Age-related changes in brain
Amir Raz
Consciousness training
Thilo Hinterberger
Paced Breathing
Jennifer Kim Penberthy
Extraordinary experiences
Christine Simmonds-Moore
Correlates and nature of subjective apparitional experiences
Nicholas Furl
Brain encoding of the distinctive movements of facial expressions
Lénia Amaral
Episodic memory enhancement
Helané Wahbeh
Full-trance channeling
Aaron Koralek
Dopamine in behavior & action
Sofia Machado
Producing a Near-Death Experience like through hypnosis
Mark Blagrove
Electrophysiological correlation
Joana Coutinho
Empathy in couples
Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
Consciousness and selfhood
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
Stefan Schmidt
Libet revisited
Etzel Cardeña
Alterations of consciousnessNumbers & 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 2024, 432 research projects involving 1252 researchers were received, out of which 80 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 25% of total applications, and are divided in the fields of Psychophysiology (51%), Parapsychology (29%) 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 February 2025 has resulted in the publication of 2141 articles in indexed journals (in Scopus or Web of Science), 1897 of which in journals with an average impact factor of 4.1 and 389 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 February 2025, there was a substantial number of citations (54.359), with 691 publications cited more than 20 times.
A study conducted by Marinho, Guedes and Sousa, presented at the 14th Symposium of the BIAL Foundation, held in Porto from April 3 to 6, 2024, gives an overview of the changes in the number of publications from 1994 to March 2024 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