RFI: Priorities in Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

Request for Information: To Solicit Input and Ideas on Priorities in Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

Supplemental Materials
House Appropriations Committee Request
bBSSR Recommendation Supplement
Expanded bBSSR Definition

Purpose:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) and Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI) are seeking input from the scientific community, health professionals, patient advocates, and the general public about emerging priorities in basic Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (bBSSR) that may offer potential for improving and accelerating health research and its impact on the health of the Nation. This information will aid OPASI, working with OBSSR expertise, in developing a congressionally-requested strategic plan for bBSSR at the NIH. Relevant text from the House Appropriations Committee request is available here.

The current request for information supplements previous efforts to identify bBSSR priorities, including reports from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences, and most notably, a report from the Working Group of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director on Research Opportunities in the Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences (2004), which includes descriptions of the individual NIH Institute and Center portfolios in bBSSR and identifies future bBSSR opportunities for NIH. These sources and a summary of the Working Group’s identified priorities can be viewed here.

Basic research in the behavioral and social sciences is designed to further our understanding of fundamental mechanisms and patterns of behavioral and social functioning relevant to the Nation's health and well-being, and as they interact with each other, with biology and the environment. As is the case with basic biomedical research, basic behavioral and social sciences research is designed to elucidate knowledge about underlying mechanisms and processes, knowledge that is fundamental to improving the understanding, explanation, observation, prediction, prevention, and management of illnesses, as well as the promotion of optimal health and well being. An expanded definition of bBSSR can be found here.

The Request for Information session has closed.

1) What are the existing essential/foundational research topics already being supported and in need of continued support or further development (i.e. core areas of bBSSR)? What existing areas need to be phased out or dropped?

2) What exciting new emergent areas of bBSSR are likely to significantly advance the NIH mission and address pressing biomedical and public health needs? What areas are not being addressed that ought to be addressed because they will likely lead to important or perhaps even breakthrough insights that will ultimately improve the Nation’s health and well-being?

Specific questions about this RFI should be directed to:

Deborah H. Olster, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, B1C19
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-2027
Tel: 301-402-1147
Fax: 301 402-1150
Email: OlsterD@od.nih.gov

James P. Stansbury, Ph.D., M.P.H.
AAAS/NIH Fellow
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, B1C19
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-2027
Tel: 301-402-3930
Fax: 301-402-1150
Email: stansburyj@od.nih.gov