The Financial Planning Education Council (FPEC) has announced the two winners of the 2015 FPEC Academic Research Grants to academics at Deakin University and the University of Western Sydney (UWS).

The FPEC Academic Research Grants are sponsored by the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) and they recognise those that have demonstrated a commitment to encouraging the development of financial planning as an academic discipline in its own right.

Recipients of the grants will be awarded $5,000 each to support the research they are doing to further grow relationships between the tertiary sector and the financial planning profession.

The project from Deakin University is titled: "The costs, benefits and trade-offs associated with professionalising the Australian Financial Planning industry", and is led by Dr Adrian Raftery.

The project from UWS is led by Sharon Taylor and it is titled: "Can a link be established between ultimate success in the CFP Certification Program and any specific demographic factor of the participant?"

Presentations of both projects will be made at the academic Personal Finance and Investments Conference (PFIS), to be held in November 2015.

Outcomes from the two inaugural grants awarded in March of this year will be presented at the Personal Finance and Investment Symposium at Flinders University on 11 November.

Mark Rantall, CEO of the FPA said, "I am delighted to see that there are now four research projects that have been supported by FPEC Research Grants. They are evidence of a genuine partnership between academia and the profession."

The FPEC plans to award annual Research Grants and a call for submissions for the 2016 grants will occur in May 2015. The scheme is open to higher education providers with an FPEC-approved degree.

For more detail on the FPEC Research Grants Scheme, please refer to: www.fpa.asn/fpec

Original article published on Professional Planner on 7 November 2014