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Listserv Message Center
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Status of NSF Social Psychology Program |
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| Posted by: | Amber Story |
| Title/Position: | Program Director, Social Psychology |
| School/Organization: | National Science Foundation |
| Sent to listserv of: | SPSP, SESP, SPSSI |
| Date posted: | February 17th, 2006 |
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Dear Colleagues:
It came to my attention at our recent SPSP conference that there was a great deal of unwarranted concern about the status of the Social Psychology program at the National Science Foundation. Specifically, I heard on multiple occasions that a) the Social Psychology program has no money and b) the Social Psychology program has been swamped with submissions.
Let me assure you that neither of these rumors is true. The program budget has hovered around the same point, approximately $4,000,000, each year for the past five years. We have no had a systematic increase in funding over that period, but neither have we had any decrease. Furthermore, NSF is requesting a 7.9% increase in funding for FY07, reflecting the Administration's commitment to doubling the NSF budget over ten years. The Social Psychology program is sure to benefit from this increase, so this is very good news!
With the re-organization of NIMH and the re-focusing of its mission, you might expect that NSF's Social Psychology program has experienced a sharp increase in proposal load. It is true, we saw one small blip up in the Fall of 2004, directly after the re-organization, but it now appears to be an anomaly. I have gone through our program's files and the NSF systems to find out how many proposals were submitted to the Social Psychology program each year for review, and of those submitted, how many were awarded funding. There are many types of proposals that the program considers and funds, in addition to standard research proposals, such as proposals for workshops and conferences, supplements to existing NSF grants, and SGER proposals. These other types of proposals are not included in the summary below. This summary reflects standard research proposals only. Also, note that the fiscal year begins on October 1, so, for example, proposals that were submitted on July 15, 2005 are considered to be a part of FY2006, because they were funded out of the FY06 budget. Award information is not included for 2006 because award recommendations from the fall cycle are still being processed.
Fiscal Year # Submitted # Awarded Funding Rate
2006 129 NA NA
2005 124 16 12.9%
2004 114 16 13.2%
2003 124 17 13.7%
2002 108 15 13.9%
2001 103 26 16.5%
As you can see from this table, there has been no significant increase in the number of proposals the Social Psychology program receives, nor has there been a significant decrease in the funding rate. Any trend is within the standard deviation.
I am a firm believer in data and hope that this information helps to allay your concerns about the status of the Social Psychology program at NSF. I hope that you consider submitting to NSF and that you also continue to submit to NIMH. Now that the Social Psychology program at NSF has two program directors, we have never been in a better position to handle an increase in proposal load, if one was to materialize. Indeed, I hope that we do see an increase in proposal load to accommodate the overall increase in funds available at the National Science Foundation.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Amber Story and Kellina Craig-Henderson
Program Directors, Social Psychology
Amber L. Story, Ph.D.
Program Director, Social Psychology
National Science Foundation
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
Suite 995
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
Voice: (703) 292-7249
Fax: (703) 292-9068
Email: astory@nsf.gov
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5712&org=BCS&from=home
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