Educational psychology is a field that focuses on studying educational and learning methods, cognitive assessments, and aptitude testing for children in an educational setting. Educational psychology strives to understand how different learning approaches impact the development of a student body, essentially attempting to answer the "why" behind certain educational philosophies and policies. The majority of opportunities in this field become available once you have attained your Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, as it allows you to work on various research projects and inform education policy on an administrative level. Because educational psychology is a multi-disciplinary field, educational psychology graduates are open to a wide variety of opportunities.
Finding Research Opportunities
Most universities will provide existing research opportunities to grad students or at least grant money/funding to help develop one, so it's important to make sure you speak with your professors to inquire about any available opportunities at your university. If you're looking for opportunities outside of your specific university, there are various psychological organizations that offer research grants for those in the field. One of the most prominent is the American Psychological Foundation. Every year, they offer thousands of dollars in grants and fellowships for a wide variety of psychological fields, including topics that focus on education. You can see a list of education focused grants here. A recent development in various research fields is the idea of open source research projects. Frontiers is an academic publisher designed to help improve access to knowledge and opportunities in the education industry. As part of their platform, they have open research topics, where experts from various fields can contribute insight and their own research to specific topics. You can see a complete list of their open topics here. For those interested in getting a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at FSU, our Learning and Cognition program places a strong focus on developing a healthy research acumen and strong critical thinking skills so that you're ready for the 21st century workplace. Anyone who graduates from FSU with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology: Learning and Cognition is more than capable of pursuing various research opportunities. Learn More About Our Learning and Cognition Program You can also peruse the list of funding organizations below.
Federal Funding Resources:
- National Science Foundation: Social Psychology Program
- National Science Foundation: Searchable Database of Awards
- National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Grants
- OppNet: Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network
- Funding Opportunities from the Centers for Disease Control
- ResearchResearch
- Department of Health & Human Services
- National Endowment for the Humanities: Apply for a Grant
- Department of Energy Office of Science Grants and Contracts
- Federal Money Retriever
Grantmaking Foundations
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- American Psychological Foundation
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Benton Foundation
- Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Charles A. Dana Foundation
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- Foundation for Psychocultural Research
- Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
- Glaser Progress Foundation
- Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
- The Haynes Foundation
- James McDonnell Foundation
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- John and Mary R. Markle Foundation
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
- John Templeton Foundation
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- Russell Sage Foundation
- Turner Foundation
- William T. Grant Foundation
- W. W. Kellogg Foundation
