On September 19, 2022, ISSR hosted two expert speakers on preparing to conduct ethical research with human subjects. Lynnette Sievert, of the UMass Amherst Institutional Review Board and Iris Jenkins, Associate Director, Human Research Protection Office, broke down what can feel like a daunting process into its essential ABCs.
This week, ISSR Director Joya Misra was one of the expert sources cited in the New York Times feature article on the COVID-19 pandemic's gendered impacts on faculty, and in particular the need for more thoughtful recognition in many institutions of the added burden of care that often falls to female faculty. Read the full story at The New York Times.
COSSA provides a wealth of information to help social scientists follow the changing landscape of rules and resources at the federal agencies that fund social science research, as the government responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.
See the highlights of the current issue below, and subscribe to the COSSA Washington Update to stay abreast this of fast-changing context.
NSF recently recorded a webinar about the requirement to use an NSF-approved format for both the biographical sketch and current & pending support documents as part of proposals submitted to NSF. The policy, outlined in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1), goes into effect for proposals submitted or due, on or after October 5, 2020. The two NSF-approved formats are SciENcv: Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae, and an NSF Fillable PDF.
The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (BSSR) at the National Institutes of Health has announced several new Notices of Special Interest (NOSIs) which wil be of interest to social scientists at UMass. Please see the announcment below. For more infomration on how NIH is adjusting its funding mechanisms, check out the Office of Extramural Research blog, or view all BSSR-relevant NOSIs.
In response to heightened concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and in keeping with the decision to transition to remote course delivery at the UMass Amherst campus , we are writing to share some of our ongoing efforts to promote excellence in the social sciences during this period.
ISSR is proud to congratulate Elizabeth Evans, ISSR Scholar and Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, on the $10.2 million center grant awarded for the proposal she developed in her 2018 ISSR Scholars year in support of vital research on opioid treatment with incarcerated populations in Massachusetts. The ISSR Scholars Program is a proven investment in the research and career development of promising UMass faculty, providing strategic grantsmanship mentoring and support to a growing cohort of social scientists across the UMass colleges and disciplines.
On April 4, the co-PIs presented the final report of a one-year project funded by the National Science Foundation's research program on the Future of Work at Human-Technology Frontiers. The project, Understanding Emerging Technologies, Racial Equity and the Future of Work, convened experts in the social sciences, computational sciences and engineering to articulate the knowledge needed to shape emergent techologies that are equitable and result in "good" jobs for a wider range of workers, and elicited broader stakeholder feedback on this academic conversation.
View the report here.
On April 19, 2019, Dr. Carol Bova, PhD, RN and IRB Chairperson at the UMass Medical School presented on the recent updates to Federal policy for the protection of human subjects.
