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Research Funding

US funding agencies move grant review panels online

NSF, NIH were prepared for the quick transition to virtual meetings

by Andrea Widener
April 24, 2020 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 98, Issue 16

 

Several US federal agencies are taking all their grant review panels online for the first time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation are going exclusively online for their grant review meetings, at least for now.

So far, the NIH’s Center for Scientific Review, which oversees most grant review at the agency, has scheduled 281 online panels through August. The agency expects that number to rise to almost 500. The agency was already running almost half of its meetings online, especially smaller ones, so “we’ve been able to quickly transition to all virtual,” says spokesperson Kristin Kramer.

At the NSF, the chemistry division has run meetings fully or partially online for 7 or 8 years. Doing so allows a more diverse panel to participate, including those with travel, teaching, or family obligations or those on the West Coast, says Carol Bessel, acting division director. “We think the community actually likes them better,” she says.

With all meetings online, the division is learning best practices. For one, start later. “We have to be kind to the people on the West Coast,” Bessel says. The leaders also schedule longer breaks that allow people to check on their families or students.

The disadvantage? “People are getting a little Zoomed out,” she says. NSF staff encourage panels to focus their time on proposals on the border between getting funding and not, Bessel says. “We’re trying to look at where the panel makes the most difference.”

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