1. Nurses’ health, well-being, resiliency, and safety in the workplace
2. Developing and managing a nursing workforce to meet current and future healthcare needs
3. Healthy work and practice environments for direct care nurses
4. Healthy work and practice environments for nurse leaders
5. Quantification of nursing’s value across the healthcare delivery system
6. Nurse leaders’ development and essential competencies

A Delphi study conducted by the ALSN and American Organization of Nursing Leadership (AONL) Foundation unveiled key areas where nurse leaders lacked evidence to inform their decision-making during the pandemic: resiliency, trust, leader visibility, the role of the leader in disaster planning, and strategies for leading in crisis.2 Respondents identified the need for designing and testing innovations that leaders and organizations adopted, such as new care models, staffing models, and cross-training practices.² Findings of this study also revealed a need for nursing leadership science to move beyond descriptive research toward interventional research to understand what works, for whom, and under what conditions.³ These challenges and needs continue. Pilot studies are an essential foundation for advancing interventional research.

One grant will be awarded:

• One $10,000 (US Dollars) award funded by the ALSN Research Fund.

SUBMISSION DUE DATE: May 15, 2026, 11:59 pm Central Time

Eligibility:

• Applicants must be ALSN members, in good standing, and up-to-date with their membership dues.
• Open to researchers with a strength in nursing leadership science or novice researchers, including PhD students, interested in nursing leadership science who will be mentored by an experienced researcher.
• ALSN Board Members are not eligible to apply.
• ALSN Research Committee members who apply will be excluded from the review process.
• Not eligible to apply for grant if received an ALSN pilot Research Award grant in the past 3 years.

Requirements:

• Research must be completed within 18 months, with findings that are used to develop a larger study grant application.
• Recipients must agree to present at the 2027 or 2028 ALSN conference.
• All Institutional Review Board approvals must be received prior to release of funds.

Allowable Expenses:

• Salary support/consultant fees for research assistants, statistical analysis, or consultants
• Participant incentives
• Interview transcription services
• Conference registration and travel support to ALSN conference up to 10% of research budget
• Instrument licenses
• Supplies (not hardware or computers)
• Other things such as printing, postage, and materials that are needed for the research

Prohibited Expenses:

• University facilities and administrative fees
• Principal Investigator salary
• Computers/Hardware
• Travel to conferences other than ALSN

Notification of Award:

• Recipients will be notified in August 2026.
• The award recipient will be recognized on the ALSN website and at the annual conference.

Funding:

• Fifty percent of the grant will be disbursed in September 2026, contingent upon receiving documentation confirming Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Funds will be disbursed only upon IRB approval, no earlier than September 2026.
• The remaining 50% will be awarded after a mid-grant Interim Review or upon need-based petition by the Grantee.
• Payments will be made in US Dollars.

Application:

Applicants MUST adhere to the following guidelines. If guidelines are not followed or submitted after the deadline, the application will not be reviewed.

• Grant applications must be submitted electronically. Click here to submit. Submit the complete grant application as a two (blinded and non-blinded) electronic Microsoft Word documents to the designated ALSN website – No Exceptions. The non-blinded submission must include all documents for the grant, including the cover letter, research plan, references, appendices, curriculum vitae, letter of support etc. While the blinded submission must include the research plan, references, appendices etc. The research plan should not exceed six single-spaced pages, not including the cover page, reference list, and appendices, and must adhere to formatting guidelines: 0.5-inch margins and an 11-point font in Times New Roman or Arial.
• Cover Letter
• Project Title
• Investigator(s) name, title, department, affiliation(s), address, phone, and email address

Research Plan (6 pages max)

• Purpose of the project: including research question(s)/hypothesis and/or aim(s)
• Background and significance: Describe the most significant and current state of the research in this field of study. Articulate the study’s relevance to the ALSN research priority areas.
• Innovation: Describe how this study is innovative, how it will advance the field of leadership science, and the potential for future research.
• Methods:
• • Theoretical framework (if appropriate)
  • Research design
  • Sample and setting
  • Data collection, including measures
  • Data analysis
  • Methodological rigor – reliability/validity for quantitative studies, or trustworthiness for qualitative studies
• Plans for Protection of Human Subjects
• Plans for Dissemination and Future Study: Clearly articulate how the findings from this pilot study will be disseminated, e.g., presentation venue(s) and publications, and used to inform a larger, follow-up study. Indicate specific funder(s) you plan to submit the larger proposal and preliminary plans for the project.
• Projected Timeline for accomplishing the plan of action
• Detailed Budget and brief budget justification

Additional pages to be included:

• A list of references cited in the proposal
• Appendix with instrument(s) and/or interview guide(s) to be used in the study
• Proof of author permission for use of proposed instruments
• Brief (up to 5 pages) Curriculum Vitae (may use federal forms, such as the NIH biosketch form) for each investigator
• Identification of any other funding sources for this project
• Letter of support from the organization where research will be conducted

Review Criteria:

• Applications will be evaluated based on alignment with the ALSN research priority areas, study significance, methods, feasibility, budget, and potential for future funding.
• It is the researcher’s responsibility to present the proposal in a clear and logical fashion, to make a convincing case for the significance and the ability to secure future funding, and to present sufficient detail about the research plans so that an adequate evaluation of the proposal can be made.

Questions:

• For questions, contact Dr. Linda Roussel and Dr. Lisa Hedenstrom, Co-Chairs of the Pilot Grants Review Committee.

ALSN-funded Investigator Responsibilities: Research award recipients are required to:

1. Obtain IRB approval prior to conducting the research and file a copy of that approval with the ALSN Research Committee Chairperson.
2. Conduct the research as proposed.
3. Manage their budgets and expend the grant funds in accordance with the proposed budget and grant guidelines.
4. Submit progress report by May 1, 2027.
5. Submit final grant report at the end of the project or by February 1, 2028. ALSN strongly encourages publishing study findings to advance nursing knowledge. The final report should include a manuscript draft, a crucial first step toward publication.
6. Present findings to date (poster presentation or completed study as podium presentation) at the 2027 or 2028 ALSN Conference.
7. Awardees will acknowledge the ALSN Research Fund as appropriate as funding source on all publications and presentations related to the study.

References

1. Chipps EM, Joseph ML, Alexander C, et al. Setting the research agenda for nursing administration and leadership science: A delphi study. J. Nurs. Adm. 2021;51(9):430-438.
2. Hand MW, Alexander C, Lyman B, Parchment J, Joseph ML, Chipps E. Filling the knowledge gap for nurse leaders: Next steps following Covid-19. Nurse Leader. 2021.
3. Joseph ML, Nelson-Brantley HV, Alexander C, et al. Building the science to guide nursing administration and leadership decision making. J. Nurs. Adm. 2022;52(1):19-26.