A staple since COSSA’s earliest days, the biweekly COSSA Washington Update newsletter provides members and the public with comprehensive coverage of policy developments impacting social and behavioral science research.
AAPSS Inducts 2016 Fellows
The American Academy of Political and Social Science, a COSSA member, announced its 2016 class of Fellows. They include economists Esther Dunflow (MIT) and James J. Heckman (University of Chicago); Sherman A. James, a social psychologist at Duke University (emeritus) and Emory University; NYU social historian Thomas J. Sugrue; and Philip Tetlock, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. COSSA congratulates these distinguished individuals on their achievement. Click here to read more about the 2016 class. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
SPSSI Accepting Applications for Summer Minority Policy Fellowship
The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) is seeking applications for its Dalmas A. Taylor Memorial Summer Minority Policy Fellowship. The fellowship honors Taylor, a SPSSI president instrumental in establishing the Minority Fellowship at the American Psychological Association (APA). It is administered in conjunction with APA’s Minority Fellowship Office. The fellowship provides an opportunity for a graduate student of color to work on public policy issues in Washington, DC. Applications are due March 1. Information on applying is available on the SPSSI website. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
Funding Opportunity Announcements
NIA: Small Business Alzheimer’s Disease Research (R43/R44) (PA-16-091), (R41/R42) (PA-16-092) HHS Office of Minority Health: Communities Addressing Childhood Trauma (ACT) (MP-CPI-16-002) The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health (OMH) is seeking applications for its Communities Addressing Childhood Trauma (ACT) program (MP-CPI-16-002) for fiscal year 2016. ACT is “intended to test the effectiveness of innovative approaches to promoting healthy behaviors among minority and/or disadvantaged youth at-risk for poor health/life outcomes due to childhood trauma.” Specifically, the program “seeks to address unhealthy behaviors in minority youth and provide them with opportunities to learn coping skills and gain experiences…
Events Calendar
American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Denver, CO, March 9-12, 2016 COSSA Annual Meeting & Social and Behavioral Science Advocacy Day, Washington, DC, March 15-16, 2016 Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, March 22-27, 2016 Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 23-26, 2016 Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, March 28-April 2, 2016 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, March 29-April 2, 2016 Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, March 20-April 2, 2016 Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, March 31-April 2, 2016 Association for Asian…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 35 Issue 2
Featured News Legislative Action Freezes to a Halt Congressional News Senate HELP Committee Begins Consideration of Companion Legislation to the House 21st Century Cures Act Federal Agency & Administration News NIH Highlights FY 2016 Legislative Mandates in Effect for the Agency NSF Director Thanks Community for Support in FY 2016 NIH Office of Disease Prevention to Create an Electronic Directory of Prevention Experts National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council Approves Concept Clearances America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2015 Funding Opportunity Announcements Events Calendar
Legislative Action Freezes to a Halt
The Washington, DC region is still digging out from the historic snowfall it witnessed over the weekend. In the interest of safety, the federal government has been closed since noon last Friday. Countless hearings and events have been postponed, further contracting what is already expected to be a tight couple of months for policy making before Members of Congress head home to the campaign trails later this year. The challenging 2016 calendar coupled with new reports on the state of the federal deficit promise to further complicate the already complicated and contentious annual appropriations process. If history is any indication,…
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…
Events Calendar
Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention, San Diego, CA, January 28-30, 2016 American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Denver, CO, March 9-12, 2016 COSSA Annual Meeting & Social and Behavioral Science Advocacy Day, Washington, DC, March 15-16, 2016 Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, March 22-27, 2016 Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 23-26, 2016 Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, March 28-April 2, 2016 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, March 29-April 2, 2016 Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, March 20-April 2, 2016 Population…
Funding Opportunity Announcements
DOD: Minerva Research Initiative (WHS-AD-FOA-16-01) Department of Education, Office of International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE): Fulbright-Hays Group Programs Abroad, Short Term/Long Term (January) Fulbright-Hays, Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (January) Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (April) American Overseas Research Centers (May) NIH Opportunities: NCI: Feasibility Studies to Build Collaborative Partnerships in Cancer Research (P20) (PAR-16-084) NIA: NIA Clinical Research Project Planning Grant Program (R34), (PAR-16-085) NIH: Education and Health: New Frontiers (R21) (PAR-16-078), (R03) (PAR-16-079), (R01) (PAR-16-080), [OBSSR, NCI, NIA, NICHD, NIDA] NIH: International Research Ethics Education and Curriculum Development Award (R25) (PAR-16-081), [FIC, NHGRI, NIAID] NIH: International Bioethics Research…
Senate HELP Committee Begins Consideration of Companion Legislation to the House 21st Century Cures Act
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, recently announced that the committee will hold the first of three executive sessions to consider legislation to address biomedical innovation. The legislation affects the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bills would serve as the companion legislation to the 21st Century Cures Act passed by the House last summer (see Update, July 14, 2015). The executive sessions are planned for February 9, March 9, and April 6. Alexander stressed that the Committee worked throughout 2015 to produce the…
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.
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 35 Issue 1
Featured News Second Session of 114th Congress Gavels In, Funding Debates Quick out the Gate COSSA in Action COSSA and Members Comment on Proposed Revisions to the Common Rule Registration now OPEN for 2016 COSSA Annual Meeting & Advocacy Day Federal Agency & Administration News OBSSR Responds to Concerns about NIH Guidance on the Funding of Health Economics Research White House SBS Team Seeks Fellows NIA Director Expresses Appreciation for NIH and NIA FY 2016 Budgets NIH Discusses the Science of Self-Management Documenting Endangered Languages Webinar – January 19 BTS Releases 2016 Pocket Guide to Transportation President Obama Proclaims January…
Second Session of 114th Congress Gavels In, Funding Debates Quick out the Gate
The House and Senate have returned to Washington for the start of the second session of the 114th Congress. As previously reported, Congress was able to come up with a final agreement on fiscal year (FY) 2016 spending before leaving for the holiday break in December. Funding for agencies and programs important to the social and behavioral science research community was largely protected in the final bill, a positive outcome given the proposals that were floated earlier in the year. Now attention turns to FY 2017. The President will unveil his final budget request on February 9, which will officially…
COSSA and Members Comment on Proposed Revisions to the Common Rule
COSSA, in conjunction with the American Educational Research Association (AERA) (a COSSA governing association) and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, submitted comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects or the “Common Rule” (click here for context on the NPRM). Overall, the comments are supportive of the proposed changes affecting the social and behavioral sciences and urge that “major and substantial improvements… not be delayed or deferred even if it is determined that some issues require further analysis before some rule changes can be made.” The comments also points out several sections where additional clarification…
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.
NIA Director Expresses Appreciation for NIH and NIA FY 2016 Budgets
National Institute on Aging (NIA) director Richard Hodes acknowledged “exciting news” reflected in the FY 2016 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and specifically for NIA in a January 6 blog post. Noting the $2 billion (6.6 percent) increase for the NIH for FY 2016, Hodes underscored that the increase provided a boost of approximately 33 percent for NIA, including the $350 million in funding allocated for research on Alzheimer’s disease (see COSSA’s omnibus analysis). Notwithstanding the resources dedicated to Alzheimer’s research, NIA’s FY 2016 budget provides a 4.2 percent increase to the institute, “the largest increase to…