A staple since COSSAâs 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.Â
Events Calendar
How Evidence Can Transform the Fight Against Poverty â The Lunch @ DC with Jim Sullivan, July 20, 2017, Washington, DC Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting, July 27-30, 2017, Columbus, OH Joint Statistical Meetings, July 28-August 3, 2017, Baltimore, MD American Psychological Association Annual Convention, August 3-6, 2017, Washington, DC American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 12-15, 2017, Montreal, Canada American Political Science Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition, August 31-September 3, 2017, San Francisco, CA A list of COSSA members’ annual meetings and other events can be found on the COSSA events page. COSSA members who have an upcoming event they would like to see…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 36 Issue 13
Featured News FY 2018 Funding Bills Off to a Slow Start COSSA in Action The Crime and Justice Research Alliance Answers âWhy Social Science?â Congressional News Senate Subcommittee Discusses FY 2018 NIH Budget, Pledges Support Federal Agency & Administration News Agriculture Research Board Seeking Representatives from Social Science Associations National Endowment for the Arts Releases Program Solicitation for Research Labs Publications & Community Events Podcasts Highlight the Impact of Congressional Wastebooks on Researchers COSSA Member Spotlight Society for Research in Child Development Announces Next Executive Director Events Calendar
FY 2018 Funding Bills Off to a Slow Start
The House and Senate are heading down different paths as they attempt to kick-start the fiscal year (FY) 2018 appropriations process before the new fiscal year begins on October 1. As previously reported, the annual appropriations process is significantly delayed this year with the Presidentâs budget request having been transmitted to Congress just last month (it is usually due in early February). Appropriations subcommittees in both chambers have begun holding their annual hearings to discuss the budget requests for agencies under their purview (see related article on the NIH budget hearing). Some subcommittees have begun writing their appropriations bills, even…
Agriculture Research Board Seeking Representatives from Social Science Associations
The National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board is seeking nominations to fill nine vacancies, including a slot reserved for a representative from a national social science association. The NAREEE Advisory Board is comprised of 25 members, each representing a core stakeholder group for agricultural research, extension, education, and economics, and advises the Secretary of Agriculture on policies and priorities related to those domains. In addition to seeking to fill a vacancy for the National Social Science Association category, the Board is seeking nominations for the National Food Science Organization, National Nutritional Science Society, and 1862 Land-Grant…
National Endowment for the Arts Releases Program Solicitation for Research Labs
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has released a program solicitation for its Research Labs program. NEA Research Labs extend the research agenda of the NEA by cultivating transdisciplinary research partnerships, grounded in the social and behavioral sciences, to produce insights about âthe arts for the benefits of arts and non-arts sector alikeâ. The deadline for proposal submissions is July 18, 2017. The complete solicitation and instructions can be found here. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
Podcasts Highlight the Impact of Congressional Wastebooks on Researchers
A recent episode of the new PRI podcast Undiscovered (from the team behind Science Friday) focuses on how the publication of Congressional âwastebooksâ affects the researchers whose grants are ridiculed. The episode, entitled âThe Wastebook,â features the 2016 event, âWastefulâ Research? Looking Beyond the Abstract, during which researchers whose grants were singled out by wastebooks had the opportunity to more fully explain their researcher to Members of Congress and their staff. The event was hosted by the Coalition to Promote Research (which COSSA co-leads) and the Coalition for National Science Funding (more information is available here). The podcast episode highlights…
Society for Research in Child Development Announces Next Executive Director
The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), a COSSA Governing Member, has announced the appointment of Laura L. Namy, Ph.D. as its next Executive Director. Namy served for 19 years in the Psychology Department and Linguistics Program at Emory University where she founded and supervised the Language and Learning Laboratory and directed the interdisciplinary Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture. She will begin her tenure at SRCD on September 5, replacing Lonnie Sherrod who has served in the position since 2007. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
Senate Subcommittee Discusses FY 2018 NIH Budget, Pledges Support
On June 22, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget request for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Appearing before the committee were NIH Director Francis Collins and six institute and center directors, including Douglas Lowy of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Gary Gibbons of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Richard Hodes of the National Institute of Aging (NIA), Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug…
Events Calendar
Hotspot Policing: Results from Colombia â The Lunch @ DC with Don Green, July 6, 2017, Washington, DC How Evidence Can Transform the Fight Against Poverty â The Lunch @ DC with Jim Sullivan, July 20, 2017, Washington, DC Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting, July 27-30, 2017, Columbus, OH Joint Statistical Meetings, July 28-August 3, 2017, Baltimore, MD American Psychological Association Annual Convention, August 3-6, 2017, Washington, DC American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 12-15, 2017, Montreal, Canada American Political Science Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition, August 31-September 3, 2017, San Francisco, CA A list of COSSA members’ annual meetings and other…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 36 Issue 12
Featured News National Academies Highlights the Value of Social Science COSSA in Action The National Communication Association Answers âWhy Social Science?â COSSA Senate Testimony Calls for Funding for NIH, AHRQ, CDC, Education Programs Congressional News House Subcommittee Discusses FY 2018 NSF Budget Federal Agency & Administration News NIH Suspends Recently-Announced Grant Support Index Policy, Launches âNext Generation Researchers Initiativeâ Collins to Stay on at NIH; Two Other Leadership Positions Announced Advisory Council on Alzheimerâs Research Care, and Services Seeks Members NIH-Supported Dissemination and Implementation Research Training Institute Seeks Applications Publications & Community Events Coalition to Promote Research Launches Petition Drive:…
National Academies Highlights the Value of Social Science
At the request of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an expert committee, chaired by Alan Leshner, CEO Emeritus of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to study the contributions of the social, behavioral, and economic (SBE) sciences to the national interest. The committeeâs report, The Value of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences to National Priorities, published last week, is a ringing endorsement of the importance of these fields to addressing ânearly every major challenge the United States faces.â The report draws three conclusions: (1) SBE sciences âproduce a…
COSSA Senate Testimony Calls for Funding for NIH, AHRQ, CDC, Education Programs
On June 2, COSSA submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The testimony calls for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Institute for Education Sciences (IES), and International Education and Foreign Language Programs (Title VI and Fulbright-Hays). Back to this issueâs table of contents.
House Subcommittee Discusses FY 2018 NSF Budget
On June 7, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) held a hearing on the fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget request for the National Science Foundation (NSF), featuring NSF Director France CĂłrdova. Subcommittee Chairman John Culberson (R-TX) opened the hearing by recognizing the important role NSF plays as the sole federal funder of basic research across all fields of science. Culberson also added that the subcommittee is going to work in a bi-partisan fashion to ensure that NSF is âappropriately fundedâ despite the tough budgetary environment and the appropriations process getting off to a slow…
NIH Suspends Recently-Announced Grant Support Index Policy, Launches âNext Generation Researchers Initiativeâ
On June 8, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins announced that based on feedback from the scientific community in response to the May 2 proposed policy change to use a Grant Support Index (GSI) as a means to âoptimize stewardship of tax payersâ dollars,â NIH has decided to take âa more focused approach to increase the number of NIH-funded early-staged an mid-care investigators (ESI).â Instead of the GSI, Collins announced the agency will implement a âNext Generation Researchers Initiative (NGRI).â The issue was discussed at the June 8 NIH Advisory Committee to Director (ACD) meeting following a presentation…
Collins to Stay on at NIH; Two Other Leadership Positions Announced
On June 6, the President announced that National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins will stay on as NIH director. As previously reported, Collins was asked to remain in the position in January by the new administration. Collins continues to enjoy support of the Republican leadership of committees with jurisdiction over the NIH. He was officially appointed to the post despite a May 22 letter from 41 conservative House members urging the President to appoint someone whose views are more aligned the Administrationâs âpro-life direction,â citing embryonic stem cell research and human cloning as examples. In addition, NIH recently…
Advisory Council on Alzheimerâs Research, Care, and Services Seeks Members
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking seven non-Federal members for the Advisory Council on Alzheimerâs Research, Care, and Services. The 22-member Council consists of 12 non-federal members who fall within six categories: dementia caregivers; health care providers; researchers with dementia-related expertise in basic, translational, clinical, or drug development science; voluntary health association representatives; representatives of state health departments; and dementia patient advocates, including an advocate currently living with the disease. Nominations are due June 16, 2017. For more information, see the announcement. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
NIH-Supported Dissemination and Implementation Research Training Institute Seeks Applications
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), led by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is supporting a training institute designed to provide participants with a âthorough grounding in conducting D&I [dissemination and implementation] research in health across all areas of health and health care.â The Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH) is open to investigators at any career stage interested in conducting D&I research. The training will be conducted both online and a during two-day in-person training session in Bethesda, MD, from August 14 through December 1,…
Coalition to Promote Research Launches Petition Drive: âAdvancing Principles of Scientific Stewardshipâ
On June 12, the Coalition to Promote Research (CPR), which is co-led by COSSA and the American Psychological Association (a COSSA member), launched a petition drive, Advancing Principles of Scientific Stewardship. The effort is designed to make evident the support of the general public as well as the scientific community for Americaâs premier federal research enterprise, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The organizers hope to showcase the enormous unseen support for the peer/merit review process. The CPR petition highlights the general publicâs and scientific communityâs recognition that âEffective policy planning and appropriate, stable…