Design Choices for the Future of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation and Beyond

Program Areas – Science and Technology Policy, Futures

Memorandum: Design Choices for the Future of Social and Behavioral Sciences at NSF and Beyond

On July 13th 2026, CSPO brought together participants from a variety of policy, scientific, and institutional perspectives. Held under Chatham House Rules, the event discussed the role of the social sciences in interdisciplinary research and the role of science in solving global futures problems. The event was timely, given the significant changes to the social, behavioral and economic (SBE) sciences proposed in the FY 2027 President’s Budget Request. Beyond presentations and commentary on the history, present and future role of SBE, participants helped brainstorm several organizational and scientific approaches for the future of the social and behavioral sciences as well as assess their science policy implications. One piece of background for the conversation was Pirtle’s review of Mark Solovey’s history of social science research at the National Science Foundation.

On September 2nd, CSPO is now releasing a policy memo discussing the event and its analysis. It can be found at this link. SBE Futures project event lead and memo author is CSPO Deputy Director and faculty member Zachary Gallagher Pirtle, Ph.D.

Questions about this report should be directed to [email protected].

 

Memorandum Executive Summary:

The social and behavioral sciences play an important part in our science policy ecosystem for how science and broader society can solve problems and learn about the world and ourselves. Design choices about how to fund and organize social and behavioral sciences can matter significantly for society. Currently, the Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) Science Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF) is a key part of how the social and behavioral sciences are funded, integrated, and shaped. The FY 2027 budget requests to terminate the budget for an overall SBE directorate at NSF. This article does not advocate for a particular outcome, but seeks to provide context and design considerations for the future of SBE and the social and behavioral sciences. What follows summarizes ways in which both SBE and the social sciences can be misunderstood, how social and behavioral sciences provide key information needed to make progress on societal problems, and ways in which SBE could help orient research to help society.

CSPO convened a discussion-focused event that required participants to advocate for three alternative organizational goals and structures for future SBE funding and management. After assessing the ensuing discussion and our analysis, we provide key design considerations for what the future of SBE (as a research field and institution) should be at the NSF and beyond.

Key design considerations include the need to:

    • Connect high-quality research to use through institutional design and boundary spanning.
    • Some SBE disciplinary capabilities need to be preserved from methods, data and workforce capabilities
    • Integrate SBE without reducing social science to a service role – holistic analysis is valuable.
    • SBE directorate can be a needed hub for interaction across the social sciences
    • Increased public participation in informing SBE and shaping interdisciplinary research agendas at NSF and beyond are worthwhile.
    • Consider how to define basic vs applied social sciences

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