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Having employees of academic institutions doing the vetting sounds like it could easily evolve into a conflict of interest. "" The initial vetting is handled

Having employees of academic institutions doing the vetting sounds like it could easily evolve into a conflict of interest. "" The initial vetting is handled by hundreds of program officers, all experts in their field and some of whom are on temporary leave from academic positions. ""

tachim 1y ago
Conflicts of interest are taken extremely seriously at the NSF; much more so than at private funding organizations. You can't come within a mile of reviewing grant applications from researchers at your institution, or researchers you have been affiliated with in the past.
SubiculumCode 1y ago
At NIH, and I assume NSF, there is extensive effort to avoid and prevent conflicts of interest in study sections.
jasonhong 1y ago
Having served on several NSF review panels, NSF (and academia in general) manages conflicts of interest rather seriously. You cannot review proposals if you have collaborated with any of the investigators of a proposal within the past few years (the time is well defined but I don't recall what it is off the top of my head). Also, NSF program officers can have conflicts as well, for example if you are on leave from a university then you can't be heading a review panel that has any grants related to that university. At my university, we also have to do periodic online training about conflicts of interest, and have to fill out financial forms disclosing whether we have a financial stake in the work (e.g. if we own a startup and are trying to direct research funds to that startup). Basically, I've always felt that we held ourselves to a higher standard than Congress held itself too (e.g. being on a Congressional oversight committee and owning stock in affected companies, but that's a different rant).
- _djo_ 1y ago
  Those cheering on the current administration's actions and the wrecking ball of Musk and DOGE have such a distorted view on the way the US government works. The ethical standards maintained regarding conflicts of interest, the inability to receive gifts, transparency, and fraud prevention are all taken extremely seriously and have been for many decades. The US has had a civil service whose skills, experience, and professionalism many other countries envied and tried to replicate. The changes being made now will deprofessionalise and politicise large parts of the US civil service. The US will be poorer for it.

tachim 1y ago

Conflicts of interest are taken extremely seriously at the NSF; much more so than at private funding organizations. You can't come within a mile of reviewing grant applications from researchers at your institution, or researchers you have been affiliated with in the past.

SubiculumCode 1y ago

At NIH, and I assume NSF, there is extensive effort to avoid and prevent conflicts of interest in study sections.

jasonhong 1y ago

Having served on several NSF review panels, NSF (and academia in general) manages conflicts of interest rather seriously. You cannot review proposals if you have collaborated with any of the investigators of a proposal within the past few years (the time is well defined but I don't recall what it is off the top of my head). Also, NSF program officers can have conflicts as well, for example if you are on leave from a university then you can't be heading a review panel that has any grants related to that university. At my university, we also have to do periodic online training about conflicts of interest, and have to fill out financial forms disclosing whether we have a financial stake in the work (e.g. if we own a startup and are trying to direct research funds to that startup). Basically, I've always felt that we held ourselves to a higher standard than Congress held itself too (e.g. being on a Congressional oversight committee and owning stock in affected companies, but that's a different rant).

_djo_ 1y ago
Those cheering on the current administration's actions and the wrecking ball of Musk and DOGE have such a distorted view on the way the US government works. The ethical standards maintained regarding conflicts of interest, the inability to receive gifts, transparency, and fraud prevention are all taken extremely seriously and have been for many decades. The US has had a civil service whose skills, experience, and professionalism many other countries envied and tried to replicate. The changes being made now will deprofessionalise and politicise large parts of the US civil service. The US will be poorer for it.