2.0 What We Fund

We are particularly interested in applied outcome studies that demonstrate the effectiveness and value of using the MBTI^® instruments and system in helping people across many areas of life. Our focus is on real-world results in real-world situations where the MBTI instruments are used or can be used.

However, we recognize that other study designs are relevant and powerful as well, such as qualitative explorations in new areas of theory or practice, or empirical correlations with other theories, assessments, and systems, experimental methodologies, and others. One-year and multi-year studies are considered as well as longitudinal designs.

The Research Grant Program (RGP) does not fund studies that seek to update the psychometric properties of the MBTI assessment, e.g., item testing or scoring methods, as this is the responsibility of the publisher, The Myers-Briggs Company.

Types of Grants

All grants provide the MBTI instruments (Step I^™ or Step II^™), MBTI reports and support materials, MBTI certification training, and supportive guidance for free. In the onboarding process for approved studies, we work with Principal Investigators and their teams to assess education and training needs, the appropriate MBTI instruments and reports to use, and other support materials.

MBTI Resource Grant

MBTI Resource Grants are available to professors, faculty, researchers, and post-docs affiliated with a nonprofit U.S. college or university. If the research team does not have an MBTI-certified member, we will provide certification training for free. We also provide a large collection of education and support materials to be used in studies.

The MBTI Resource Grant provides resources in the form of MBTI certification training, MBTI instruments and reports, and various psychological type support materials. This grant does not provide funding or compensation for study participants, recruitment costs, salaries, travel, operational or indirect costs, etc. Please review the pages Call for Proposals and Apply for a Grant for more details before applying for a grant.

Dissertation Grant

Dissertation Grants are available to doctoral students in any field in a U.S. college or university who are at least in their third and/or last year of coursework, have a Committee Chair, and want to use the MBTI instruments in their study. Dissertation Grants provide the same resources as the MBTI Resource Grant: MBTI certification training for the dissertation student, MBTI instruments and reports, and education and support materials for free.

We accept applications from students in any field that uses or can use the MBTI instruments, in a range of methodologies, and students are not required to be MBTI-certified or knowledgeable. This grant does not provide funding or compensation for study participants, recruitment costs, salaries, travel, operational or indirect costs, etc. Please review the pages Call for Proposals and Apply for a Grant for more details before applying for a grant.

Mary McCaulley Dissertation Grant

Each year, Myers & Briggs Foundation awards the Mary McCaulley Dissertation Grant to one dissertation student applicant from the Psychology program at the University of Florida.

This grant is available to doctoral students who are at least in their third and/or last year of coursework, have a Committee Chair, and want to use the MBTI instruments in their study. The Mary McCaulley Dissertation Grant awards $1,000 to the doctoral student applicant in addition to the MBTI certification training, MBTI instruments and reports, and education and support materials for free.

The Mary McCaulley Dissertation Grant is in honor and recognition of Mary McCaulley, PhD, a former clinical psychologist and tenured professor of psychology at the University of Florida, who worked closely with Isabel Briggs Myers to develop and distribute the MBTI instruments.

In the 1970s, McCaulley established the Type Laboratory at UF to test, study, refine, and improve the MBTI instruments and practice. In 1975, McCaulley left UF to lead the nonprofit Center for Applications of Psychological Type in Gainesville, Florida, until her death in 2003. In 2023, the Center for Applications of Psychological Type merged with Myers & Briggs Foundation.

The application deadline for the Mary McCaulley Dissertation Grant is by 5pm (EST/EDT) on April 15th each year. Since only one McCaulley grant is awarded each year, additional applications will automatically be reviewed under the Dissertation Grant awards. Please review the pages Call for Proposals and Apply for a Grant for more details before applying for a grant.