A staple since COSSAās 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.Ā
National Academies Launch Study on COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has launched a fast-track study to develop a framework for planning the equitable distribution of vaccines against COVID-19. The study, which is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is responsible for producing a consensus report that considers the following questions: āWhat criteria should be used in setting priorities for equitable allocation of vaccine? How should the criteria be applied in determining the first tier of vaccine recipients? As more vaccine becomes available, what populations should be added successively to the priority…
AAAS Issues Draft Plan to Address Systemic Racism in the Sciences
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has released the first of three draft plans intended to address systemic racism in the sciences, Holding up a Mirror: Demographic Representation in AAAS Functions that Advance Careers. The plan outlines AAASās commitment and proposed actions to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion within its operations. Forthcoming draft plans will focus on AAAS programs and initiatives to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in science and engineering and on AAAS actions to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion with the AAAS as an organization. They are expected to be released by mid-September. Comments and…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 39 Issue 16
Featured News Congress Struggling to Reach Agreement on COVID-19 Relief, Potentially Delaying August Recess Notable COVID-19 Resources COSSA in Action COSSA Board Seeks Nominations for At-Large Seat August Headlines Webinar to Feature Deep Dive Discussion on the āPsychology of COVID-19ā with Dr. Stephen Reicher Kenneth Prewitt Answers āWhy Social Science?ā Letters & Statements Congressional News Controversial Research Security Legislation Could Move Forward in COVID-19 Relief Package Defense Authorization Bill Goes to Conference with Minerva Funding Intact Federal Agency & Administration News Census Announces Early End to 2020 Operations, Jeopardizing Accuracy of the Count NIDA Seeking Comments on 2021-2025 Strategic Plan…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 39 Issue 15
Featured News House Appropriations Committee Approves FY 2021 Funding Bills Notable COVID-19 Resources COSSA in Action Letters & Statements Congressional News House Budget Committee Holds Hearing on Federal R&D Spending Federal Agency & Administration News HHS Bypasses CDC in COVID-19 Data Collection, Sparking Concerns NIH Releases Agency-Wide Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research NIMHD Funding Research on Digital Interventions to COVID-19 Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Community News & Reports Nomination Opportunities Recent Reports COSSA Member Spotlight APA Seeks Nominations for Climate Change Task Force Nomination Opportunities Events Calendar
House Appropriations Committee Approves FY 2021 Funding Bills
During the week of July 13, the House Appropriations Committee completed its marathon markups of its 12 annual appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2021, making way for consideration by the full House of Representatives; the relevant subcommittees advanced their respective measures the week prior. Despite the semblance of āregular order,ā the outlook for final FY 2021 spending bills is still very much up in the air as lawmakers continue to grapple with pandemic relief negotiations and as the November elections approach. In addition, the House billsāwhich were written by the Democratsāinclude several funding and policy provisions that will be…
House Budget Committee Holds Hearing on Federal R&D Spending
On July 8, the House Committee on the Budget held a hearing focused on the federal role in research and development (R&D) in fueling American innovation and recovery in light of the effort to combat the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee heard testimony from several experts on the research and development enterprise including CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Sudip Parikh, Professor at New York University Paul Romer, President and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness Deborah Wince-Smith, and Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School Willy Shih. The Committee questioned…
HHS Bypasses CDC in COVID-19 Data Collection, Sparking Concerns
On July 10, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released new guidance that instructed hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in reporting COVID-19 data and instead send the information directly to the Department through a relatively new system called HHS Protect. The change has raised concerns among many public health and science stakeholder groups that it could signal an effort to sideline the CDC in responding to the pandemic and to limit the data available to the public. Prior to the change, hospitals submitted COVID-19 information to the CDCās National Healthcare Safety Network…
NIH Releases Agency-Wide Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research
On July 13, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released an agency-wide strategic plan on how NIH intends to direct research in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan is intended to provide a framework of new research programs and repurposing of existing programs that would assist in mobilizing the research community in developing treatments, prevention methods, and vaccines. The strategic plan cites five overarching priorities for NIH in responding to COVID-19: Improve fundamental knowledge of COVID-19 disease progression, outcomes, and recovery. Advance research to improve detection by developing and validating new assays and retooling existing diagnostic platforms. Support research…
NIMHD Funding Research on Digital Interventions to COVID-19
The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) within the National Institutes of Health has released a funding opportunity seeking research applications on digital healthcare practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding announcement cites the primary focus of the research to be the role of digital health interventions like telehealth, mobile health, health information technology, and wearable devices in addressing health disparities that may be caused or exacerbated by the pandemic. Applications will be accepted through August 20, 2020. More information is available on the NIH website. Back to this issueās table of contents.
APA Seeks Nominations for Climate Change Task Force
The American Psychological Association (APA), a COSSA governing member, has announced the opening of nominations for individuals to serve on a new APA Task Force on Climate Change. The task force, which was authorized by APAās Council of Representatives in February 2020 as part of a greater APA policy resolution responding to climate change, will focus on how the academic discipline of psychology can better address climate change and will produce a report to be shared publicly. Nominees should be willing to self-nominate and be able to serve a full year on the task force. Nominations will be accepted through…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 39 Issue 14
Featured News Federal Research Agencies Release Guidance on OMBās Administrative Flexibility Changes Notable COVID-19 Resources COSSA in Action Julyās Headlines Webinar to Feature Deep Dive Discussion on NSF/NASEM Network to Answer COVID Policy Questions āWhy Social Science?ā Features Experts on Policing Congressional News Funding for DOD Social Science Research Restored in House and Senate Defense Authorization Bills RISE Act Would Provide Relief Funding for Federally Funded Scientists House Committee Releases Climate Policy Report, Recommends Strengthening of Research Enterprise Recent Reports Federal Agency & Administration News Census Releases Updated Demonstration Data Products PCAST Holds Virtual Meeting, Swears in New Members from…
Federal Research Agencies Release Guidance on OMBās Administrative Flexibility Changes
In response to a June 18 memo (M 20-26) issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extending certain administrative flexibilities to federal grant recipients as relief for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, federal research agencies have released guidance statements clarifying the memoās implications for recipients of research grants. On June 25, both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) released nearly identical sets of guidance in response to the OMB memo explaining how the changes to the flexibilities will specifically affect recipients of their grants. The flexibilities include an allowance to continue…
Julyās Headlines Webinar to Feature Deep Dive Discussion on NSF/NASEM Network to Answer COVID Policy Questions
COSSA members are encouraged to sign up for the monthly Headlines webchat on Thursday, July 9 at 2:00 pm Eastern Time. The COSSA team will break down the most important social and behavioral science news from the past month, followed by a deep dive discussion with Dr. Monica Feit, Deputy Executive Director of the Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) on the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN), an initiative of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to deploy the social sciences to answer urgent COVID-19 policy questions….
Funding for DOD Social Science Research Restored in House and Senate Defense Authorization Bills
Both the House and Senateās drafts of the annual authorization bill for the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), include language preventing the elimination of funding for DODās basic social science research program, the Minerva Research Initiative, as proposed in the Administrationās budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2021. Both bills propose a total of $17 million in the Defense-Wide funding line for the Minerva initiative, which if enacted would be a sizeable increase over the $11.4 million the program received in FY 2020. While the Minerva Initiative receives some funding from the Navy and Air…
RISE Act Would Provide Relief Funding for Federally Funded Scientists
On June 24, Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) introduced the Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act (H.R. 7308), which would authorize $26 billion in relief funding for federal science agencies to support researchers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds could be used to enable graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and Principal Investigators to complete work that was disrupted by COVID-19, or extend the training or employment of researchers on an existing research project for up to two years because of the disruption of the job market. The bill follows a similar Dear Colleague Letter led…
House Committee Releases Climate Policy Report, Recommends Strengthening of Research Enterprise
On June 30, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis majority staff released the report Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America, a sweeping set of policy recommendations to address and combat climate change. The report recommends several initiatives to be taken by the U.S. government that would expand the federal science and technology sectorās ability to address climate change, including strengthening the research enterprise. Some of the recommendations that are relevant to the social and behavioral science research enterprise include: Expanding and sustaining funding for…
Census Releases Updated Demonstration Data Products
The Census Bureau has released a new set of demonstration data products that show how its new disclosure avoidance strategy (DAS) will impact the quality of its 2020 Census data products (see previous coverage). The Census Bureau is releasing a set of benchmark metrics to track the impact of the ongoing development and improvements to its privacy-protecting algorithm on data accuracy. These metrics will be updated every six weeks so data users can track the ongoing improvements Bureau staff are making to the algorithm. In addition, the Census Bureau has released a set of privacy-protected microdata files (PPMF) to allow…
PCAST Holds Virtual Meeting, Swears in New Members from Academia
On June 30, the Presidentās Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) held a virtual meeting during which two new members of PCAST were sworn in. Abraham āAviā Loeb, Professor and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, and Daniela Rus, Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were sworn in after being nominated in April amid discussions that new PCAST nominees would represent academia given that representatives from industry have already been appointed (see previous COSSA coverage for more details). Much of the meeting was dedicated to discussing…
NIMHD Seeking Research Applications Addressing COVID-19 Consequences on Vulnerable Populations
The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new funding opportunity for community interventions to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic among health disparity and vulnerable populations. The announcement specifically encourages applicants to address adverse psychosocial, behavioral, and socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic on the health of these populations. Applications open on July 28 and will be accepted through August 28. More information is available on the NIMHD website. Back to this issueās table of contents.