Coalitions and Groups With Which the Federation Works

National Science Foundation Issues issues:

Coalition for National Science Funding - This is a large coalition representing all the sciences and many of the research universities that receive support from the National Science Foundation. CNSF members meet monthly and work together to generate congressional support for NSF-funded research. The group regularly sends letters to congressional offices and hosts annual day-long advocacy events in which selected scientists can participate.

National Institutes of Health Issues issues:

Adhoc Group for Medical Research Funding - The Adhoc Group is one of the largest coalitions to which we belong. Members include representatives from the science advocacy organizations and representatives from disease-specific advocacy groups. Our common goal is the advancement of NIH and the elevation of the NIH budget, without any discipline- or disease-specific funding requests.

Friends of NIDA - FoNIDA is a relatively new group, organized in 2004, whose purpose is to organize advocacy on issues having to do with drug abuse research. The groups regularly hosts congressional briefings designed to educate staffers and offices about the personal, social, and economic burdens produced by drug use, and ways that research dollars can be utilized to ameliorate these problems.

Coalition for the Advancement of Health Through Behavioral and Social Science Research - CAHT-BSSR is the main behavioral science coalition working on health research issues. Representatives from science advocacy organizations meet on a monthly basis, frequently with upper-level NIH staff, to discuss issues relevant to the behavioral science research community. The group communicates its message through congressional testimony, sign-on letters, congressional briefings, and visits to congressional offices.

Center for the Advancement of Health - The Center has formal members, including several Federation societies. We are not formal members of the Center, but work with its staff on health research issues. We share information and work in some of the same coalitions.

Coalition to Protect Research - The Coalition to Protect Research is a coalition of organizations committed to promoting public health through research. Sexual health and behavior research is essential to providing a scientific foundation for sound public health prevention and intervention programs, yet is has been threatened by Congress in 2003, 2004, and 2005. This group works to promote research and the NIH-peer review system, and organizes efforts designed neutralize Congressional threats to research.

Defense Issues issues:

Coalition for National Security Research - The CNSR group is about three years old. It was formed after the Association of American Universities merged its military and physics task forces into a single group. Those of us who thought attention needed to remain focused on the military and who used to attend the AAU group meetings formed this new group.

Educational Research issues:

The Intersociety Group on Education Research (IGER) - Description coming soon

Council of Scientific Society Presidents - This group is a bit different from the others in that its members consist entirely of the presidents of scientific societies. Our membership in CSSP has a public relations aspect, as we represent the psychological sciences when the leaders of the country's scientific organizations get together to discuss issues related to federal science interests.

Office of Science and Technology Policy's "Associations Group" - This is a group of representatives from DC-based behavioral and social science advocacy organizations that meets monthly with the assistant director for behavioral and social science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The meetings keep us abreast of White House activities in science. The meetings also serve as a means to enlist White House help when an issue arises for us that could benefit from upper-level federal intervention.