BUzz Bits
- Last week, the White House and the National Institutes of Health released a summary of this summer’s 15 listening sessions regarding the proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). ARPA-H is the Biden Administration’s proposal to “drive transformational health research innovation and speed medical breakthroughs.” The feedback from the listening sessions will help shape ARPA-H’s scale, scope, and approach. Registration is currently open for another listening session to be held on October 20th.
- The Biden Administration unveiled climate adaptation and resiliency plans from over 20 federal agencies last week to demonstrate its commitment to a whole of government strategy to combatting climate change. Several research agencies and the U.S. Department of Education were among those that released their plans.
- The U.S. Senate confirmed Monica Medina as assistant secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State last month. Ms. Medina is a lawyer who served in a variety of environmental policy roles during the Obama Administration.
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) encouraging applicants for programs across the agency to pursue interdisciplinary research aimed at combatting climate change and reducing emissions. The Letter, titled “Critical Aspects of Sustainability (CAS): Innovative Solutions to Climate Change,” signals that NSF intends to create a path for sustainability, environmental, and climate change mitigation studies to have a role across NSF’s existing core programs. The letter calls for interdisciplinary workshops, high-risk high-reward Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals, and standard research projects, and encourages interested researchers to expand their scope to include climate change mitigation efforts. Applicants are encouraged to email cas@nsf.gov with a brief outline of the project to determine if the idea is suitable through the DCL.
EVENTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
Are you looking to engage with target research funders, collaborators, academic journals, media reporters and publications, or the general public? BU Public Relations and the Office of Research are hosting a workshop on how to use social media for your research on Wednesday, October 27th at 3 p.m. Dr. Matthew Partridge of Errant Science will share helpful tips and tactics for faculty members at every level of comfort on social media. This virtual workshop will cover the value and impact of different social media platforms, how to effectively communicate your work, how to engage with target audiences, how to develop and refine your strategy, and how to measure success.