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.
Academies Releases Report on Science Literacy
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released findings and conclusions from the Board on Science Education’s review of science literacy in the U.S. The Board on Science Education analyzed science literacy at the societal, community, and individual level. They found that adults in the U.S. have comparable levels of science literacy to adults in other economically developed countries and that there is a small, positive relationship between science literacy and support for science. Additionally, the Board found that an individual’s support of science in general does not predict his or her support or attitude for a specific scientific…
Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) Program to Hold Technical Assistant Webinar
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) Common Fund Program recently announced a pre-application technical assistance webinar for a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for administrative supplements to active NIH-funded clinical research. The SOBC Program “seeks to accelerate investigations of common mechanisms of behavior change applicable across a broad range of health behaviors, including medical regimen adherence.” The webinar specifically addresses the Science of Behavior Change: Use-inspired Basic Research to Optimize Behavior Change Interventions and Outcomes FOA (PA-16-334), and is scheduled for Thursday, September 8 at 2:00 pm ET. Registration is required to participate. Back to this…
International Panel on Social Progress Releases Draft Report for Comment
The International Panel on Social Progress (IPSP) is an organization comprised of scholars in the social sciences and humanities from around the world with the goal of synthesizing the current scientific evidence on social change. The Panel has released 14 of 22 chapters of its draft report for public comment. The chapters cover topics such as “Social Justice, Well-Being and Economic Organization,” “Inequality as a Challenge to Democracy,” “Religions and Social Progress: Critical Assessments and Creative Partnerships,” and “How Can Education Promote Social Progress?” Feedback may be submitted on IPSP’s commenting platform. The Panel plans to collect comments through the…
Funding Opportunity Announcements
NIFA: Army Family Advocacy Program: Research and Prevention (USDA-NIFA-EXCA-006025) NIH: Global Noncommunicable Diseases and Injury Across the Lifespan: Exploratory Research (R21) (PAR-16-052) [FIC] NIH: International Research Scientist Development Award (IRSDA) (K01) (PAR-15-291) [FIC] NIH: Health Services Research on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01) (PAR-16-221), (R21) (PAR-16-222)[NIMHD, NIAAA, NIDA] NIH: Information Resource Grants to Reduce Health Disparities (G08) (RFA-LM-17-002) [NLM] Back to this issue’s table of contents.
Events Calendar
Economic History Association Annual Meeting, Boulder, CO, September 16-18, 2016 Golden Goose Award Ceremony, Washington, DC, September 22, 2016 Congressional Briefing on Violence Prevention from the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy and WestEd’s Justice and Prevention Research Center, Washington, DC September 27, 2016 Evaluation 2016, Atlanta, GA, October 22-30, 2016 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Annual Convention, New York, NY, October 27-30, 2016 A list of COSSA members’ annual meetings and other events can be found on the COSSA webpage. COSSA members who have an upcoming event they would like to see listed in the Events Calendar and on our website should send an email to jmilton@cossa.org. Back…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 35, Issue 16
Featured News HOT TOPIC: Reducing the Regulatory Burden on Federally-Funded Researchers Federal Agency & Administration News Joshua A. Gordon Named Director of National Institute of Mental Health NIDCR Seeks Input on Proposed FY 2018 Research Initiatives National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease Updated; NIH Releases FY 2018 AD Bypass Budget Publications & Community Events Academies Release Workshop Proceedings on “Framing the Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity to Advance Health Equity” New Academies Report on Parenting Offers Recommendations for Future Research Funding Opportunity Announcements COSSA Member Spotlight SBM/NCI to Host Webinar Highlighting Six New NCI Funding Opportunities Events Calendar
HOT TOPIC: Reducing the Regulatory Burden on Federally-Funded Researchers
COSSA has released a new publication in its HOT TOPICS series, Reducing the Regulatory Burden on Federally-Funded Researchers. HOT TOPICS are periodic, featured articles prepared by COSSA staff members offering insights into timely issues important to the social and behavioral science community. This edition was written by Camille Hosman, who joined the COSSA team earlier this year. The report provides an overview of some of the major efforts made in recent years to better understand issues of regulatory burden and to begin to develop roadmaps for addressing it. While there is no shortage of ideas, given the complexity of the topic and…
Joshua A. Gordon Named Director of National Institute of Mental Health
On July 28, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins announced the appointment of Joshua A. Gordon as director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Gordon is currently an associate professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Additionally, he is an associate director of the Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute Adult Psychiatry Residency Program. His lab studies genetic models of psychiatric diseases from “an integrative neuroscience perspective and across multiple levels of analysis, focused on understanding how a given disease mutation leads to a particular…
NIDCR Seeks Input on Proposed FY 2018 Research Initiatives
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking the input of the extramural scientific community, interested organizations, and the public to assist it in identifying “topical themes for development into research initiatives.” According to NIDCR Director Martha Somerman, as part of its budget planning process, the Institute begins its “initiative development process each year by identifying broad research topic areas, or themes.” FY 2018 themes include: Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancers Implementation Science and Oral Health Oral HIV Vaccine-induced Immunity Craniofacial Bones and the Nervous System The Oral Microbiome…
National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease Updated; NIH Releases FY 2018 AD Bypass Budget
On August 1, the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services under the auspices of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) discussed a draft of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease: 2016 Update. At that same meeting, National Institute on Aging (NIA) Director Richard Hodes presented the NIA’s fiscal year (FY) 2018 Alzheimer’s Disease (and related dementias) Bypass Budget, “Stopping Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: Advancing Our Nation’s Research Agenda.”
Academies Release Workshop Proceedings on “Framing the Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity to Advance Health Equity”
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement recently released the proceedings of a workshop titled, Framing the Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity to Advance Health Equity. The workshop was designed to share “strategies for individuals, organizations, and communities to advance racial and health equity.” It addressed such topics as “increasing awareness about the role of historical contexts and dominant narratives in interpreting data and information about different racial and ethnic groups, framing messages for different social and political outcomes, and readying people to institutionalize practices, policies, and partnerships that advance racial and health equity.”…
New Academies Report on Parenting Offers Recommendations for Future Research
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently released a report, Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8, which compiles evidence on how demographic changes and advances in technology are changing parenting practices. The report reviews current research on effective parenting and offers ten recommendations for federal agencies and organizations at state and local levels to improve their efforts to educate parents on the means of effective parenting. While the report acknowledges that there is no single approach to best reach and educate parents on how to raise children, it offers guidelines and methods for agencies to follow to…
Funding Opportunity Announcements
NAS/ RWJF: Enhancing Coastal Community Resilience and Well-being in the Gulf of Mexico Region NIH: Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders (R21) (PA-16-386), (RO1) (PA-16-388) [NIMH, NICHD, NIEHS, NINDS] NIH: Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders (R03) (PA-16-387) [NIMH, NICHD, NIDCD, NIEHS] NIH: NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Enhancing Diversity in Biomedical Data Science (R25) (RFA-MD-16-002) [NIMHD, NIAMS, NIDCD, NIEHS, NCCIH, ORIP] Back to this issue’s table of contents.
SBM/NCI to Host Webinar Highlighting Six New NCI Funding Opportunities
The Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), a COSSA member, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), will host a webinar on Friday, August 12 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. designed to share information about new priorities in behavioral research from NCI in areas such as cognition, integrated data analysis, and cancer communication in new media. Associate Director of the NCI Behavioral Research Program William Kleinwill provide an overview the funding opportunities. To view the webinar register here. The associated NCI Funding Opportunity Announcements are: Leveraging Cognitive Neuroscience Research to Improve Assessment of Cancer Treatment Related Cognitive Impairment RO1…
Events Calendar
Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, August 16-19, 2016 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, August 20-23, 2016 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA, September 1-4, 2016 Economic History Association Annual Meeting, Boulder, CO, September 16-18, 2016 Evaluation 2016, Atlanta, GA, October 22-30, 2016 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Annual Convention, New York, NY, October 27-30, 2016 A list of COSSA members’ annual meetings and other events can be found on the COSSA website. COSSA members who have an upcoming event they would like to see listed in the Events Calendar and on our website should send an email to jmilton@cossa.org. Back…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 35 Issue 15
Featured News State of Play: FY 2017 Funding for Social Science Research COSSA in Action New COSSA Resource: Setting the Record Straight on “Wasteful Research” Federal Agency & Administration News NIFA Seeks Feedback on Childhood Obesity Prevention Scientific Priorities National Institute of Justice Seeking Applications in Forensics and Violence Research NIH Aging Institute Seeking to Fill Vacancies Publications & Community Events Nominations Open for New National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences Congressional Briefing Highlights Research for Fighting the Opioid Epidemic Funding Opportunity Announcements COSSA Member Spotlight CASBS Seeks Fellowship Applications Events Calendar
State of Play: FY 2017 Funding for Social Science Research
Congress has adjourned for a seven-week recess and will not be returning to work until after Labor Day. Despite promises for a return to “regular order” in the annual appropriations process, we find ourselves in familiar territory with none of the 12 annual spending bills expected to be enacted into law before the new fiscal year begins October 1. In fact, none of the bills that fund research agencies and programs (the Commerce, Justice Science bill and the Labor, HHS, Education bill) have yet to make it to the House or Senate floors for debate. Upon returning to work in…
New COSSA Resource: Setting the Record Straight on “Wasteful Research”
Support for fundamental, basic research has been an essential function of the federal government for decades. The National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies invest in scientific research that has led to some of our country’s most important innovations. Support for basic research has the potential to change the way we live, create new knowledge, solve societal challenges, and help us to better understand our world. Still, some policy makers routinely dismiss projects as “wasteful” without attempting to fully understand their potential benefits to society or the progress of science. In a new monthly series, Setting…
NIFA Seeks Feedback on Childhood Obesity Prevention Scientific Priorities
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is seeking stakeholder input on the scientific priorities for its Integrated Approaches to Prevent Childhood Obesity programs. NIFA’s current childhood obesity prevention RFA is active and accepting applications through August 4. The feedback received will be considered as the agency develops future RFAs. The program’s current priorities are to “Generate new knowledge of the behavioral (not metabolic), social, cultural, and/or environmental factors, including the food and physical activity environment, that influence childhood obesity and use this information to develop and implement effective family, peer, community, early care and education settings, and/or school-based interventions…
National Institute of Justice Seeking Applications in Forensics and Violence Research
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is seeking social science researchers to fill two positions to support forensics and violence research in the Office of Research and Evaluation. Both positions are temporary, two-year details with the opportunity to extend for an additional year. The first detail will coordinate intermural and extramural research projects on sexual assault and forensics. The second detail will conduct and support research and evaluation activities in the NIJ’s violence against women research portfolio. Applications for both positions are due by July 28. Back to this issue’s table of contents.