The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) reconstituted the Subcommittee on Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) in June of 2022 (see the Subcommittee Charter), having been originally chartered in 2004. Since that time, an interagency working group of federal employees from the behavioral and social sciences has collaborated formally and informally, sharing information and developing methods, to support evidence-based policies to advance the goals of the federal government. These disciplines are critical to describing, understanding, and addressing societal challenges and assessing and evaluating Federal initiatives, programs, and policies.
In a presentation to the National Institutes of Health Basic Behavioral and Social Science Coordinating Committee earlier this month, the three SBS cochairs listed below provided a brief history and overview of the committee.
- William M. Klein, PhD, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health
- Sylvia M. Butterfield, PhD, Acting Assistant Director, Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate, National Science Foundation
- Steve Newell, PhD, Assistant Director for Innovation and Equity, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
The SBS Subcommittee has numerous interagency working groups (IWG) developing reports and recommendations across a wide range of agencies and issues. Working group leads provided updates on pressing societal challenges:
- Going beyond recidivism to determine successful reentry
- Pathways to good jobs
- Inclusion through digital community engagement and broadband availability
- Decarbonization and justice
- Communicating hazard information
By way of example, this last IWG is about to publish a report, Blueprint on Communicating Risk and Uncertainty. Representatives of this group presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis and received feedback on findings and recommendations.
The working groups are looking for more opportunities to engage with behavioral and social science scientific societies. Please reach out to Juliane Baron (jbaron@fabbs.org) if your society would be interested in hosting an SBS IWG at a future annual meeting.
