Issue 2 (January 23)

Is this your first Social Science Advocacy Day? Do you have questions or are you curious about what to expect from the event? Join us for one of our informational webinars!

We will be hosting two sessions to provide an overview of Advocacy Day, how to register, answer any questions, and more. Both webinars will share the same information, so you will only need to attend one.

The first session will take place on January 25, 2024 at 10am EST and the second session will be on February 13, 2024 at 3pm EST.

Contact Elyse Bailey at ebailey@cossa.org with any additional questions.

As reported by COSSA, Congress previously passed two stop-gap measures to allow additional time to complete the fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations bills. On January 18, the day before the last continuing resolution (CR) deadline, the House and Senate struck a deal to extend funding to March. Like the previous CR, the new stop-gap measure includes “tiered deadlines” for the unpassed spending bills. The deadline for the first tranche of bills (the Military Construction-VA, Agriculture, Energy-Water and Transportation-HUD bills) has been extended to March 1. The remaining bills (including Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Commerce, Justice Science, which fund most science agencies) now have a deadline of March 8.

Lawmakers do not appear any closer to an agreement despite top-line spending levels agreed upon earlier this month at $1.66 trillion (see previous COSSA coverage). If Congress is unable to strike a funding deal for FY 2024, it is likely they will finish the year with a yearlong CR. If a yearlong CR is enacted, nondefense discretionary spending would see cuts of roughly 5 percent as a result of the previously passed Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (H.R. 3746) (see previous COSSA coverage). To complicate things further, as previously reported, the Biden Administration is expected to release its budget request for FY 2025 in February or March. With the 2024 elections around the corner, the appropriations process is anticipated to continue to be contentious for both FY 2024 and FY 2025.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage of the appropriations process. 

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is inviting submissions for lightning talks and research posters for their 2024 Research Conference: Advancing Justice Through Science. The conference will take place September 16-18 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

NIJ is welcoming proposals for 10-minute lightning talks on emerging issues and pioneering methods in research on safety and justice. Submissions for the poster session must focus on current issues and/or innovative methods that have an impact on the criminal or juvenile justice system in the United States and may involve social, behavioral, or forensic sciences; technology; and/or engineering.

Eligibility for both opportunities is open to both active NIJ grantees and non-grantees. Some space for the poster session will be reserved for students.

Submissions for both opportunities are due by March 1. Learn more about application details and the conference here. 

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is accepting nominations for an outstanding social-behavioral scientist as candidates for Distinguished Lecturer at the 17^th Matilda White Riley Honors.

The Matilda White Riley Honors are an annual event recognizing transformative work in the fields of social and behavioral science along with early-career researchers. Nominees should have a research career that has “advanced behavioral and social scientific knowledge in areas within NIH’s mission and that expands upon Dr. White Riley’s work.” Nominees need not have NIH funding. More information is available on the OBSSR website.

Nominee information should be saved as a PDF file and sent to Erica Spotts by February 9. Nominee information should include:

• Nominees’ full contact information
• A one-page statement demonstrating how the nominee’s research results and practice correspond with Dr. White Riley’s vision
• Nominees’ CV and/or NIH bio sketch

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has launched the Responsible Design, Development, and Deployment of Technologies (ReDDDoT) program, calling for multidisciplinary, multi-sector teams to explore responsible technological innovation. This program aims to embed ethical, legal, and societal considerations into the lifecycle of technology development, with an emphasis on the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 goal of fostering partnerships across academia, industry, and non-profits (see previous COSSA coverage).

With a budget of $16 million, subject to the availability of funds, the NSF anticipates making 28 to 36 awards through this program.

If interested in participating, learn more here.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a request for information (RFI) on their draft Strategic Plan for Data Science. As previously reported by COSSA, the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science was initially released in 2018. The plan is intended to address advances in data collection, including the increase in quantity and diversity within data, and support data science as a tool for understanding health sciences. In the draft, NIH outlines five goals, including aims to improve NIH policy for data collection, maximize data for research, expand opportunities in data collection services, including artificial intelligence (AI), support a federal biomedical research data infrastructure, and strengthen the data science community.

The RFI requests comments on the strategies and implementation tactics of the outlined goals as well as relevant topics that should be explored in the strategic plan. Comments are requested by March 15 and can be submitted here or emailed to strategic-plan-rfi@od.nih.gov. 

On January 16, the American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) hosted a webinar on “Civic Education in a Time of Democratic Crisis.” Esteemed panelists convened to address the pressing need for a revitalized approach to civic education.

Amidst deep political division, the webinar underscored the critical need to revisit and enhance the teaching of government, philosophy, and civics within our educational institutions. The panelists collectively called for a nationwide public dialogue aimed at redefining the content and methodology of student engagement in civic education. They stressed the importance of incorporating diverse historical perspectives and fostering an environment conducive to civil discourse, which they identified as foundational for promoting national unity and a positive cultural identity.

A significant portion of the discussion was dedicated to tackling what the panelists described as a “democratic crisis”. This crisis is characterized by a sense of disenfranchisement and the polarizing nature of civic participation, highlighting an urgent need for communities to play a more active role in shaping education.

For more insights, AAPSS elaborates further in their latest journal publication open to the public. AAPSS is a COSSA member organization. To view the webinar, visit here.