Funding Opportunities
Violet and Cyril Franks Scholarship
The APF Violet and Cyril Franks Scholarship supports graduate-level scholarly projects that use a psychological perspective to help understand and reduce stigma associated with mental illness.
The APF Violet and Cyril Franks Scholarship supports graduate-level scholarly projects that use a psychological perspective to help understand and reduce stigma associated with mental illness. The scholarship helps address research which shows that stigma is a significant barrier to treatment and recovery for many of the 50 million Americans living with mental illness.
The amount of the scholarship is $5,000. The Franks Scholarship is made possible by the generosity of Violet Franks, PhD, and Cyril Franks, PhD.
Eligibility
APF encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds with respect to age, race, color, religion, creed, nationality, ability, sexual orientation, gender, and geography.
Applicants must:
- be graduate students in good standing at accredited universities.
- have demonstrated commitment to stigma issues
Application Instructions
Application Materials:
- project proposal
- project timeline
- detailed budget and justification
- CV
- letter of recommendation from faculty advisor (requested through application portal)
Evaluation Criteria
Applications will be evaluated on:
- conformance with program goals
- quality of proposed work
- applicant’s demonstrated scholarship and competence
Please be advised that APF does not provide feedback to applicants on their proposals.
Please review our Program FAQs for important details on the application process.

Recent Recipient
Savannah Roberts
University of Pittsburgh
“Proud To Be Me: Examining the Impact of Stigma on LGBTQ+ Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Eating Disorder Prevention”
Past Recipients
2023
Savannah Roberts, University of Pittsburgh
“Proud To Be Me: Examining the Impact of Stigma on LGBTQ+ Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Eating Disorder Prevention”
2022
Eliza Godfrey, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Mixed methods investigation of a mental health literacy intervention with middle school educators on mental health knowledge, stigma, and self-efficacy”
2021
Gabriella T. Ponzini, West Virginia University
2020
Daniel Saravia, California State University, Northridge
2019
Jessy Guler, University of Kansas
2018
Patrick Heath, Iowa State University
2017
Kelly Whaling, University of California, Santa Barbara
2016
Megan Rogers, Florida State University
2015
Ian Stanley and Melanie Hom, Florida State University
2014
Ruth Firmin, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
2013
Matthew Lebowitz, Yale University
2012
Hannah Weisman, University of California, Santa Barbara
2011
Benjamin Dickstein, Boston University
2010
Luma Muhtadie, University of California, Berkeley
2009
Lindsey Monteith, University of Houston
2008
Yura Yasui, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2007
Anne Krendl, Dartmouth College