The Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be releasing changes to several of its longstanding programs in the coming weeks.

During the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) Headlines webchat, Arthur Lupia—assistant director for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences—gave a preview of what those changes will entail.

The changes, which will go into effect for deadlines and solicitation due dates after January 1, 2020, are intended to help policymakers and members of the public better understand the value of the research funded by SBE. However, the repositioning is not intended to dramatically alter the types of research SBE supports.

According to Lupia, NSF will release a letter explaining the changes and include descriptions of the new programs. In addition, the directorate will hold a series of webinars to answer questions from the social science community about the repositioning effort. COSSA will share the details of both the letter and webinar series when they are made available.

Of the eight existing programs to be changed, the directorate has only released full details of the changes to the political science program, which will be split into “Accountable Institutions and Behavior” and “Security and Preparedness.”

For more information or to sign up for additional webinars, visit the COSSA website. Follow #COSSAHeadlines on Twitter for details.

View webchat slides.