Request for Information (RFI):
To Solicit Input and Ideas on Priorities in Basic
Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Notice Number: NOT-OD-08-008
Key Dates
Release Date: October 22, 2007
Response Date: November 26, 2007
Issued by
National Institutes of Health, Office of the
Director, Office of Portfolio Analysis and
Strategic Initiatives (OPASI),
http://opasi.nih.gov; and the Office of
Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), http://obssr.od.nih.gov/.
The NIH is seeking input from the scientific
community, health professionals, patient
advocates, and the general public about current
and 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 at http://www.bBSSRresponse.com/
Background
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the
world leader in funding biomedical and behavioral
research to improve health. It consists of 27
Institutes and Centers (ICs) and the Office of
the Director, which includes several programmatic
Offices, each of which coordinates NIH activities
in cross-cutting areas that are important to the missions of all the ICs.
The Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic
Initiatives (OPASI) provides NIH and its ICs with
the methods and information necessary to manage
their large and complex scientific portfolios,
identifies – in concert with multiple other
inputs – important areas of emerging scientific
opportunities or rising public health challenges,
and assists in the acceleration of investments in
these areas, focusing on those involving multiple
ICs. The Office currently has three divisions
tasked with coordination, resource development, and evaluation.
The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Research (OBSSR) serves as the NIH focal point
for research on behavioral, social, and lifestyle
factors in the causation, treatment, and
prevention of diseases. As such, the Office
advises and consults on these topics with NIH
scientists and others within and outside the
federal government, and plays a key role in
promoting and enhancing basic and applied
behavioral and social sciences research across all of NIH.
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
Nation¹s 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. The range of
focus includes different "granularity" or levels
of complexity. Basic behavioral and social
sciences research involves both human and animal
studies and spans the full range of scientific
inquiry, from processes within the
intra-individual level ("under the skin"), to
mechanisms "outside the skin" that explain
inter-individual, group, organizational,
community, population, macroeconomic and other
systems level patterns of collective behavior.
While the primary focus of basic BSSR must
ultimately be directly relevant to behavioral and
social factors, the domains and units of analysis
can include intra-organismic as well as
inter-organismic factors ("cells to society"),
over varying units of time from nanoseconds to
centuries, and including lifespan developmental
phases and phenomena that may occur within and
across generations. An expanded definition of
bBSSR can be found here: http://www.bBSSRresponse.com/.
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
ICs' 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 at http://www.bBSSRresponse.com/.
Information Requested
This RFI invites the scientific community, health
professionals, patient advocates, and the general
public to respond to the following questions:
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 Nations health and well-being?
We welcome identification of priority areas that
cut across the missions of multiple NIH
Institutes and Centers (e.g. understanding
fundamental mechanisms in human motivation and
goal directed behaviors), as well as specific
examples of basic research that fit the mission of a particular IC.
Responses
Responses will be accepted through November 26,
2007 and can be entered at the following web site:
http://www.bBSSRresponse.com/. Formal
acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not
be made beyond that provided by the survey utility.
This RFI shall not be construed as a solicitation
for applications or as an obligation on the part
of the government. The government will not pay
for the preparation of any information submitted.
Responders should be aware that the information
provided will be analyzed and may appear in
various reports. Additionally, the government
cannot guarantee the confidentiality of the information provided.
Inquiries
Questions about this request for information may be directed to:
Deborah H. Olster, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, Room B1C19
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-2027
Tel: 301-402-1147
FAX: 301-402-1150
E-mail: OlsterD@od.nih.gov
James P. Stansbury, Ph.D., M.P.H.
AAAS Fellow
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, Room B1C19
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-2027
Tel: 301-402-3930
FAX: 301-402-1150
E-mail: stansburyj@od.nih.gov
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