Funding basic research

Because of the FY07 Science, state, justice, and commerce appropriations bill approved last week, there was a lot of coverage on how much funding is going to be available at the NIH, NSF, NIST, and DOE. Especially emphasized are the cuts faced by NASA. However, opinions are mixed concerning how this budget will affect basic research in psychology and cognitive science. Given that I have more information available about the NIH, I will leave discussion of other funding sources for a later date (e.g., the NSF).

According to an article in Science (subscription necessary), the NIH’s budget has been flattened, and the fear is that basic research may not have the same success rate for grant applicants as in previous years. In general, about 30% of grant applications were funded in 2003, whereas it is estimated that only 19% will be funded in 2007 (see Figure 1). The Director of the NIH, Elias Zerhouni, argued that the success rate of grant applications has not dropped off as these percentages would lead a person to believe. The estimated 19% of funded applications in 2007 does not adjust for the increase from 1.2 to 1.5 applications per applicant. Thus, the success rate per applicant is actually closer to 25%.


Figure 1. Success rates of grant applications from 1998 – 2007 estimates. Source via APA

Zerhouni also reported to members of Congress in May that the NIH was doing enough to fund basic research. However, the Office of Science Policy at the APA has argued that there were still areas of research that do not have a “stable home at the NIH”. Research such as group dynamics, risk-taking, decision-making, and the origins of language are areas which continue to be underfunded if funded at all.

Although the budget for the NIH has leveled off, it seems that there is available funding for basic research depending on a researcher’s particular area of interest. It may be a good idea for this topic to be an ongoing debate on this blog as the bill comes to a vote in the House sometime before July 3rd, as well as looking closely at funding for basic research at the NSF and other sources.