Executive Branch News

NIMH Seeks Input on Tasks and Measures for the RDoC

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking input from stakeholders, the scientific community, and the general public related to its Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework. RDoC is defined as a “new way of classifying mental disorders based on dimensions of observable behavior and neurobiological measures.” Specifically, the Institute is seeking input regarding “existing tests with known construct validity, and also general suggestions on the most important criteria to consider when selecting candidate tests.” NIMH’s National Advisory Mental Health Council will convene a workgroup “charged with the task of recommending a list…

DARPA Announces Next Generation Social Science Program; Abstracts Due March 31

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense has announced a new social science research effort – Next Generation Social Science (NGS2) – which seeks to “begin to assess the research opportunities provided by today’s web-connected world and advanced technologies.” NGS2 is looking to fund research that will enhance three core social science capabilities – predictive modeling and hypothesis generation, innovative experimental methods and platforms, and interpretation and reproducibility of research results. An initial focus of the program will be to “challenge researchers to develop and use new tools and methods to identify causal mechanisms…

HHS Seeks Members for Healthy People 2030 Advisory Body

On March 17, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it is establishing the “Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030 (Committee)” and is inviting nominations for membership. In 1979, HHS created Healthy People, an initiative “grounded in the notion that setting science-based, measurable objectives and monitoring progress can motivate action.” The new Committee is expected to provide relevant and objective advice around health determinants and risk factors. It will perform the “single, time-limited task” of providing advice regarding creating Healthy People 2030 and advise the HHS Secretary on the Healthy…

COSSA’s Analysis of the President’s FY 2017 Budget

President Obama released his fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget request to Congress on February 9. The request proposes increases for many of the federal agencies and programs important to the COSSA community. COSSA has prepared an in-depth analysis of the request as it relates to social and behavioral science research supported by the federal government. The report includes details on the President’s proposals for the dozens of departments, agencies, and programs of interest to social and behavioral science researchers. With the release of the President’s budget, the FY 2017 appropriations process heads into high gear. The big question now is…

NCHS Seeks Input on Update to NHIS

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) plans to update one of its major surveys, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), in 2018. The goals of the redesign are “to improve the measurement of covered health topics, to reduce respondent burden by shortening the length of the questionnaire, to harmonize overlapping content with other federal health surveys, to establish a long-term structure of ongoing and periodic topics, and to incorporate advances in survey methodology and measurement.” NCHS welcomes input from the scientific community on the proposed survey design and content. Instructions and more information are available on the NCHS website….

NIJ to Hold Webinars on Upcoming Solicitations

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has announced that it will be holding six webinars to discuss new or altered solicitations in 2016. Registration for the first webinar, on Elder Abuse Prevention, is currently open. The other topics to be covered by the webinars are Testing and Interpretation of Physical Evidence in Publicly Funded Forensic Labs; Violence Against Women Consortium; DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction; Building Knowledge About Preventing Domestic Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the U.S.; and New Investigator/Early Career Program in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. More information about the webinar series is available on NIJ’s website….

President Unveils FY 2017 Budget Request, Kicks Off Annual Funding Battle

The Obama Administration has started releasing details of its final budget request to Congress. Full details of the request for fiscal year (FY) 2017 will continue to roll out over the coming days. COSSA is preparing an in-depth analysis of the request as it pertains to social science programs across the federal government. It is important to note that the President’s request for FY 2017 includes new mandatory spending at several agencies, which would largely account for the increases to these agencies. Details so far include: The National Science Foundation (NSF) would receive nearly $8 billion in FY 2017 (including…

Human Subjects Advisory Committee Seeking New Members

The Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP), the advisory body to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary and the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP), is soliciting nominations to fill four vacancies in 2016, including the position of Chair. SACHRP provides scientific expertise and recommendation on matters related to the protection of human subjects in scientific research. The Committee will likely play an important role as OHRP finalizes its announced revisions to the Common Rule (see COSSA’s coverage). Experts are sought from fields including “public health and medicine, behavioral and social sciences, health administration, and biomedical ethics.”…

OBSSR Convenes Expert Panel to Provide Input into Strategic Plan

On January 19-20, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) convened an expert panel to provide input into the Office’s strategic planning process as it works to update the 2007 strategic plan for FY 2016-FY 2020. The meeting follows a series of internal meetings and a November 2015 request for information (RFI) (NOT-OD-16-018) seeking the broad input of the scientific community and the public, including academia, industry, health care professionals, patient advocates and advocacy organizations, scientific and/or professional organizations, and other federal agencies regarding the scientific priorities that should be considered in the update strategic….

NIDDK Publishes Annual Report of Recent Advances and Emergent Opportunities

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released its 16th annual compilation of the research and programs it supports. The report reflects the Institute’s broad research responsibilities. Included among the advances highlighted by director Griffin Rodgers in his introductory message is the finding that “overweight or obese preschoolers participating in Head Start programs were more likely to reach healthier weights by kindergarten age than other groups of overweight and obese children.” The full report is available on NIDDK’s website. Back to this issue’s table of contents.

NSF Releases 2016 Science & Engineering Indicators

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the 2016 edition of Science and Engineering Indicators. The congressionally-mandated report is produced under the guidance of the National Science Board (NSB) presents a collection of data “relevant to the scope, quality, and vitality of the science and engineering (S&E) enterprise.” The full report and additional resources are available on the S&E Indicators website. Back to this issue’s table of contents.

White House Announces National Cancer Moonshot Task Force

On February 1, the White House announced a new $1 billion initiative to jumpstart the new national “moonshot” initiative announced by President Obama in his 2016 State of the Union Address. The President established the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force via a presidential memorandum, which will be led by Vice President Biden. The goal of the initiative is “to eliminate cancer as we know it.” The Task Force’s membership will include the leadership of the Departments of Defense (DOD), Commerce (DOC), Health and Human Services (HHS), Energy (DOE), Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Office of Management and Budget, National…

FDA Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellowship Accepting Applications

The Center for Tobacco Products within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is accepting applications for its Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellowship. The year-long fellowship is open to mid-career professionals who have an advanced degree in fields including (but not limited to) behavioral science, communications, economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, public health, and public policy. Fellows work within the Center to “regulate the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products and educate the public about tobacco products and their dangers.” Applications are due on March 1, 2016. Back to this issue’s table of contents.

NIH Highlights FY 2016 Legislative Mandates in Effect for the Agency

Included in the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113) signed into law by President Obama on December 18, 2015 are a number of legislative mandates prohibiting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from using appropriated FY 2016 funding to support certain research areas (see Update, December 18, 2015). A number of the mandates are a continuation of previous statutory limitations on the agency’s funding and include the areas of gun control, anti-lobbying, restrictions and exceptions to restrictions on abortion, pornography on computer networks, needle distribution, dissemination of false or misleading information, and human embryo research. For…

NSF Director Thanks Community for Support in FY 2016

In her most recent newsletter, National Science Foundation (NSF) Director France Cόrdova reviewed the final funding outlook for NSF for fiscal year (FY) 2016 and thanked NSF advocates for their support in combating attempts to place restrictions on the agency’s funding: “Your strong support of NSF during this last year reinforced the importance of NSF’s mission to the nation and ensured that science, and scientists, will continue to drive where we fund research. With your help, language regarding directorate-specific allocations was not included in the final Consolidated Appropriations Act.” Back to this issue’s table of contents.

NIH Office of Disease Prevention to Create an Electronic Directory of Prevention Experts

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Disease Prevention (ODP), the lead NIH office “responsible for assessing, facilitating, and stimulating research in disease prevention and health promotion and disseminating the results of this research to improve public health,” is launching an initiative to enhance the scientific rigor of NIH-funded research projects. ODP is seeking the assistance of the extramural research community in “developing a database of experts in research methods relevant to prevention research that can help Scientific Review Officers (SROs) identify reviewers for NIH grant applications.” Prospective experts are asked to complete ODP’s Prevention Research Expertise Survey which…

America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2015

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a working group of 23 Federal agencies, recently released its annual compendium of indicators, America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-being, 2015. The 17th report in an ongoing series includes 41 key indicators “on important aspect of children’s lives” culled from the “most reliable Federal statistics.” The easily understood statistics in the report are “objectively based on substantial research.” The report also reveals trends over time that are “representative of large segments of the population” and include indicators seven domains: “family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and…

National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council Approves Concept Clearances

The National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council (NADCRC), the advisory body to the National Institute on Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), held an abbreviated session of its first quarter congressionally-mandated advisory council meeting to accommodate the East coast blizzard. The shortened session included a discussion of proposed research concept clearances to allow the Institute’s program staff to move forward to develop funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) around creation of a mentored translation program and an implementation science and oral health program.

OBSSR Responds to Concerns about NIH Guidance on the Funding of Health Economics Research

In November 2015, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued guidance Clarifying NIH’s Priorities in Health Economics. The notice was accompanied by blog post from Carrie Wolinetz, NIH Associate Director for Science Policy (see Update, December 1, 2015). In a recent blog post, NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) director William Riley responded to questions the office has received from the social and behavioral science community regarding the impetus for the NIH notice. Riley highlighted his participation in the guidance’s development and his desire to convey and assure the research community that “health economics research is alive…

White House SBS Team Seeks Fellows

The White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST), which uses insights from the social and behavioral sciences to improve federal programs, is accepting applications for new members to serve on the team as Fellows or Associate Fellows. The one-year fellowship begins in October 2016 and is open to PhD or Masters level scientists with expertise in one or more field in the social and behavioral sciences. The deadline for applications is January 24, 2016. More information on the fellowship is available here. Back to this issue’s table of contents.

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