AAA-EAA Collaborative Research Competition

AAA – EAA 2026 Collaborative Research Competition
Submission Deadline: April 15, 2026

 

The American Academy of Advertising – European Advertising Academy Research Competition aims to promote collaboration between the American Academy of Advertising (AAA) and the European Advertising Academy (EAA) scholars and advertising professionals, offering funding for research and travel to international conferences (AAA, ICORIA) to present research resulting from those collaborations.

Each award is 3,000 € ($3,250). Any topic that is appropriate for potential publication in the Journal of Advertising (JA), the International Journal of Advertising (IJA), Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising (JCIRA), or Journal of Interactive Advertising (JIA) is eligible for the competition.

Awards are based on a competitive review of research proposals. While members can submit as many single or joint proposals as desired within a given year, authors cannot receive funding for more than one proposal. Based on the reviews, if more than one paper containing an author’s name receives high rankings, only the highest-ranking one will be funded. Winners must comply with the following requirements:

• Submitting research teams must be comprised of at least (1) one current member of the AAA whose home conference is the AAA annual conference and (2) one current member of the EAA whose home conference is the International Conference on Research in Advertising (ICORIA). If funded, membership must also be maintained until the project is presented at the annual conference of AAA or at ICORIA.
• The lead AAA and EAA investigators must be regular, non-student members of their respective organizations.
• Funding can be used for research-related costs or travel costs to present the resulting research at either the AAA conference or ICORIA.
• At least one member of the team must travel to their non-home conference to present the resulting research (EAA member to AAA conference or AAA member to ICORIA). It is also highly encouraged that at least one member be present at the conference to accept the award when it is presented.
• Research fellows receive the first half of the award at the time of selection and the other half of the award when the completed paper is submitted to AAA or ICORIA.
• Winners must grant JA, IJA, JCIRA, or JIA the right of first refusal on any papers resulting from the funded research.
• Winners must complete the awarded research project within three years from the date the award is granted. Funds will be made available upon acceptance of the resulting paper for either the AAA annual conference or ICORIA.
• Winners must acknowledge that the project was funded by an AAA-EAA Collaborative Research award in all publications resulting from the project. Winners are also asked to publicize the award on their campuses and in their communities, seeking as much publicity as possible.
• Winners cannot apply for additional AAA-EAA Collaborative Research Competitions during the three-year period wherein their award is active, nor can the same proposal be simultaneously or subsequently submitted for other EAA or AAA grants or awards. Awards are active until winners complete the Fellowship by (a) submitting a manuscript to the annual conference of the AAA or ICORIA and (b) submitting a manuscript to one of the above-listed journals within the three-year time limit.

 

Requirements for Submission of Proposals

ALL SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT ELECTRONICALLY in MS Word format.

Submissions must include the following:

• A cover email, including the proposal’s title, with the names and addresses (including email addresses) and affiliations of all authors. This cover email is for record-keeping only and will be removed before submissions are sent out for review.
• Please designate a single point of contact and provide their phone and email address as well.
• Proposals are double-blind reviewed, so the researcher’s name, geographic location, or affiliation should not be revealed in the body of the proposal.
• To ensure that your paper is blind-reviewed, do not include a title page with your proposal (your cover email will serve as your title page). Additionally, per the instructions below, you must delete all properties from your proposal.

Submitters will receive an email acknowledgment shortly after submitting their material.

Procedure for deleting properties for e-mail submission (in MS Word):

• Click the Microsoft Office Button and point to Prepare.
• Click Inspect Document, and in the Document Inspector box, be sure that the Document Properties and Personal Information are checked.
• Click Inspect and then select Remove All for Document Properties and Personal Information.
• Save the document.

(For other versions (e.g., Word 2016), refer to the Microsoft Office website:  https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Remove-hidden-data-and-personal-information-by-inspecting-documents-356b7b5d-77af-44fe-a07f-9aa4d085966f)

The body of the proposal shall include:

• The body of the proposal should be no more than 10 pages, excluding tables, figures, budgets, and timetables (see the Proposal Format Requirement below for details).
• A literature review, including a statement of the substantive contribution and importance of the proposed research, and ending with relevant research questions or hypotheses.
• A methods section that succinctly outlines the research design, including the subjects (if any) and procedure. If relevant, please identify dependent and independent variables, treatment manipulations, experimental design, data analysis techniques, statistical models, etc., in this section.
• A conclusion, including expected results and implications.
• References

Proposal Format Requirements:

• 10-page limit, including references. Figures, tables, budgets, and timetables should be placed in an appendix and do not count toward the 10-page limit.
• Contents must be double-spaced
• 12-point Times New Roman font (or equivalent)
• One-inch margins on all four sides
• Title of proposal at the top of page one
• Page numbers
• An appendix that includes:
• A timetable for completion of the research
• A proposed budget, which should be both realistic and adequately detailed.
• In addition to the proposal, each author’s resume/curriculum vitae must be submitted.

Proposals must be received by the Chair of the Research Committee, Dr. Tobias Langner, no later than April 15, 2026. Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged via email. Fax or postal mail submissions are not accepted. Winners will be notified in May 2026. The award will be announced at the conference awards gala on June 26, 2026, at ICORIA 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.

Researchers who have previously received an AAA-EAA Fellowship are eligible for the award upon completion or termination of the previous award. Researchers who have submitted proposals that have not been awarded in the past may resubmit proposals for similar projects.

Please email your materials and all questions to:

Dr. Tobias Langner
Professor, University of Wuppertal
E-Mail: Langner@wiwi.uni-wuppertal.de