The National Science Foundation, the largest government funder of basic social and behavioral research in the United States, is changing how it “positions” some of its research programs in those fields. While the changes are meant to better highlight the value of social science, not everyone is pleased by the changes.

The threat by Donald Trump to shutdown the U.S. federal government if he doesn’t see funding for a border wall could delay the 2019 budget for the National Science Foundation, a budget that is expected to include an increase in funding for NSF relative to the current year. Meanwhile, the president has named five new people to the National Science Board,.

When the National Science Foundation tabbed Arthur “Skip” Lupia to head its Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), it was making a statement whether it meant to or not. Lupia, officially the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, has been one of social science’s ablest defenders — and occasional critics.

Noted science communicator and political scientist Arthur ‘Skip’ Lupia will take the reins of the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences starting in September.

One of the most important issues facing Congress this year is the opioid epidemic that has touched on the lives of so many Americans. On May 17, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved a package of 57 bills designed to address the crisis of health and behavior, and the full House is expected to debate these bills later this month.

Congressman Daniel Lipinski says “we should encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, but we must also maintain support for core social science research.” He will moderate the congressional briefing on “Social Science Solutions for Health, Public Safety, Computing, and Other National Priorities” on Wednesday.

In a budget year where the U.S. Congress is far behind where it would usually be in appropriating decisions, the social, behavioral and economic directorate at the National Science Foundation is seeing normal funding, while the Census Bureau is feeling some pressure.

The National Science Foundation can do a lot more to articulate the transcendent value of the social, behavioral and economic sciences in both its portfolio and its outputs, says a new report from the National Academies.

This election season, spare a thought for the travails of the American national Election Study and two other data-rich surveys promoted — and protected — by the National Science Foundation’s Social, Behavioral and Econoic directorate.

Picking up where Tom Coburn left off, the new U.S. senator from Oklahoma has released a punny compendium of what he sees as wasteful federal spending , including the inevitable shots at social and behavioral science grants.

The latest re-authorization of the America COMPETES bill that dramatically reduces funding for social science (and geoscience) may very well pass Congress. Will the president be willing to veto an important bill that contains these unwelcome provisions?

A bill which essentially halves National Science Foundation spending on the social sciences passed its first legislative test Wednesday on a party-line vote.