The U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier”  is one of ten transformative “big ideas” supporting bold, long-term research at the frontiers of science and engineering. The effort takes a multidisciplinary approach by supporting research at the intersection of people, society and technology, while aiming to increase opportunities for workers and spur innovations that benefit the U.S. economy. It is a collaborative effort with NSF’s directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Education and Human Resources, Engineering, and the Office of Integrative Activities. Proposals [due March 23, 2021], to the new solicitation should describe multidisciplinary research investigating the evolving technological, human and societal aspects of work. Researchers from the social, behavioral and economic sciences should collaborate with researchers in computer science, engineering and learning sciences to investigate the potential impacts of technological innovations and disruptions. The solicitation invites proposals for planning grants and research grants, as well as new and larger transition-to-scale awards that can create a novel and extended knowledge base applicable to future workplaces. Proposals must also address inclusion and equity in a meaningful way, including potential inequalities in future workplaces or occupations. Proposals should include methods to mitigate those inequalities, such as new approaches to learning or technologies that support accessibility and inclusion.

The 2021 Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science are now accepting applications. The Summer Institutes bring together social scientists and data scientists interested in computational social science for 1-2 weeks of intensive study and collaborative research.  They are for grad students, post-docs, and beginning faculty. The central SICSS location in 2021 will be held at Princeton University from June 14-25, 2021 and will be organized by Matt Salganik and Chris Bail. In addition to SICSS-Princeton, there will be 19 partner locations organized by SICSS alumni and the broader SICSS community. There is no cost to participate, and in 2021 all locations will be online only because of COVID.

The 2021 INSPIRE International Indigenous Health Research Training Program is accepting applications for its training program. The Indigenous Substance Use and Addictions Prevention Interdisciplinary Research Education program (INSPIRE) offers a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary training in Indigenous health and health disparities research, with access to scientific mentors across fields. The two-year-long research training program features individualized mentorship, research and writing retreats, grant development workshops, and seed funding to attend conferences, meet with mentors and mentorship teams, and conduct pilot studies ($22,000 in pilot funds for postdoctoral/early career scientists and $10,800 for doctoral students). Applications close February 7, 2021. Please see the program website for more details.

There is a new FOA from NIH to encourage encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on: Research Experiences for students currently enrolled in master’s degree programs in data science (including programs in statistics/biostatistics, mathematics, computer science or equivalent fields) to provide hands-on exposure to genomics data sets as a substrate for their analytical skills. Through this announcement, NHGRI hopes to attract such students to the genomics workforce. NHGRI also seeks to both encourage data scientists who plan to opt for a terminal master’s degree to join genomics research, as well as reinforce the intent of current master’s degree students who are considering entering a doctoral program with an eventual dissertation focused on genomic data science. This FOA is explicitly intended to support the entry of master’s degree students in data science into the genomics workforce. Applications are due to NIH on May 25, 2021. For more details click here.