Issue 4 (February 20)

Early bird registration for COSSA’s tenth annual Social Science Advocacy Day is still OPEN! The event will be taking place April 8-9, 2024 in Washington, DC. Don’t wait, register here before the price increases.

Social Science Advocacy Day is open to anyone affiliated with a COSSA member organization or university. Not a member? Learn how here.

If your organization is interested in becoming a sponsor of Social Science Advocacy Day, learn more here.

Visit the COSSA website for the latest information on Social Science Advocacy Day and to view the recording of the recent informational webinar.

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

COSSA’s Headlines Webinars have returned! For 2024, Headlines will feature discussions with leaders of federal science agencies, providing opportunities for the social and behavioral science community to learn about agency research programs, funding opportunities, and priorities.

The series kicks off this month with a discussion about the research and data activities within the National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics. RSVP and learn more here.

Headlines is a webinar series available to COSSA member organizations.

As previously reported, Congress is slowly inching closer to the end of their continuing resolution (CR) that expires on tiered deadlines in the first two weeks of March. While House Appropriations subcommittees have received their allocations for their respective bills, it’s still unclear whether Congress will produce the required twelve bills by the deadlines, produce a large or partial omnibus package, or extend the current CR.

In past weeks, Congress has been working to pass a National Security supplemental funding package to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and the border crisis. However, this bill has been highly contentious and, while the Senate has passed a version that does not include funding for the border, the House unveiled their own funding package on Friday. It’s crunch time on Capitol Hill as Congress attempts to pass both the supplemental funding package and the fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget.

As for FY 2025, the Presidential Budget Request (PBR) is anticipated to be released March 11 following the Presidential State of the Union Address on March 7. Appropriators are expected to begin working on the twelve appropriations bills for FY 2025 following the release of the PBR. Appropriators will have to finalize FY 2024 numbers before starting the process for the FY 2025 budget.

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

On February 15, Congress held a Full Committee hearing on “Examining Federal Science Agency Actions to Secure the U.S. Science and Technology Enterprise,” which addressed the balance between protecting the university research community from foreign interference while finding ways to ensure an environment free from bias and discrimination. The session brought together high-ranking officials and experts including Arati Prabhakar, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Rebecca Keiser, Chief of Research Security Strategy and Policy (NSF), Geri Richmond, Under Secretary for Science and Innovation (DOE), and Dr. Michael Lauer, Deputy Director for Extramural Research (NIH).

The hearing emphasized the need for agencies to create improved disclosure protocols to secure national research security facilities. This is crucial in the global economic competition, particularly with China. Witnesses highlighted the search for guidance in research security measures to protect the nation’s research and development (R&D) and innovation enterprises from foreign threats. NSF was noted for focusing on data security implementations and is in the process of developing an Information Sharing Analysis Center to protect research from inappropriate foreign interference.

There’s a growing concern about adversaries taking pre-publication research and using it for military or civil purposes in adversarial nations. Moreover, the demonization of certain groups within the academic community has led to a chilling effect, impacting economic competitiveness by potentially discouraging valuable international collaboration.

One significant concern raised was the use of “comfort letters” by foreign institutions, which share information with American universities and government agencies that are demonstrably false, intended to mislead. Since 2018, NIH has received allegations involving 600 scientists, with findings showing that over 250 had likely concerns related to foreign intervention. Since the increase of disclosure requirements agencies have noted a substantial decrease in interventions.

This hearing highlighted the agencies’ continued efforts towards striking a delicate balance in protecting the U.S. S&T enterprise against real and potential threats while maintaining an inclusive environment that fosters innovation and collaboration.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has officially announced the Call for Nominations for the National Medal of Science.

The National Medal of Science is the highest recognition the nation can bestow on scientists and engineers. The presidential award is given to individuals deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, or social and behavioral sciences, in service to the Nation.

Nominate colleagues and peers who have made extraordinary contributions that have advanced the scientific enterprise. Nominations are due by May 3. Learn more about the nomination and review process here.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) has released its third and final report in an ongoing series of data infrastructure reports intended to modernize and enhance data collection (previous COSSA coverage).

This latest report, Toward a 21st Century National Data Infrastructure: Managing Privacy and Confidentiality Risks with Blended Data, builds off the previous two reports on mobilizing data and blending data from various sources by addressing concerns about mitigating privacy and confidentiality risks within the data infrastructure. The report provides potential policy approaches to protecting data privacy as well as a suggested framework for agencies to use. The report also acknowledges that further research is necessary on this topic to better understand how to protect data privacy in the modern world. 

COSSA, a member of the steering committee of the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, has signed on in support of a funding request of “at least $51.303 billion” for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fiscal year (FY) 2025. The request would represent a $3.579 billion or 7.5% increase over the level included in the Senate bill for FY 2024.

Other organizations wishing to lend their support to the NIH funding request for FY 2025 are encouraged to sign-on by March 1.