FPA seeds research grants

The Financial Planning Association will provide seed money to fund a number of research grants to university academics as part of efforts to deepen its relationship with the higher education sector.

The Financial Planning Education Council, in conjunction with the Financial Planning Association, will award the first round of grants in March 2014. The size of individual grants will be evaluated based on project needs and funding availability, and will initially be worth up to $5000 each.

Mark Rantall, FPA chief executive, announced the grants at the second Personal Financial and Investments Symposium held at Griffith University on Thursday.

He said the initiative would start a strong investment in universities by the financial planning profession that would boost awareness of the Certified Financial Planner designation and ultimately ensure more Australians had access to quality advice.

“Our consultation with senior academics from across Australia has made it quite clear that the existence of academic research is essential to underpin quality university education in the financial planning discipline,” he said. “In turn, financial support from the profession is the missing piece in the equation. Therefore, we have initiated the seed funding for this inaugural round of research grants and invite our professional partners to join us in this important initiative.”

Associate professor Mark Brimble, who is chair of the Financial Planning Education Council and co-chair of the Financial Planning Academics Forum, said the scheme would be a “critical part” of efforts to turn financial planning into a genuine profession.

“There are significant benefits for all parties to engage in a program of rigorous, independent and timely research to inform practice and policy development,” he said.