Science Policy in a Changing Environment: Issues and Strategies in Agency Adaptation

Syracuse University, Syracuse NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project is supported by a Small Grant for Exploratory Research. It's basic assumption is that a transition is taking place in national science policy due to the end of the Cold War, globalization, the quest for economy and efficiency in government, increased demands for cooperation across agencies and governments and the enlarged role of the private sector and other trends. A number of reports by NAS, AAAS, and Congress make it clear that the management of change is a major challenge facing the federal research and development establishment in the post-Cold War, early 21st-century era. However, these reports treat science policy in broad brush, and do not investigate what the agencies experiencing change are doing. The objective of this proposal is to explore, from the perspective of the field of public administration, how the federal various research and development agencies are adapting to new priorities and pressures facing them. After conducting field work in Washington (interviews and archival research), the PI prepares a "scoping paper" to frame the principal new issues facing federal science managers and their strategies in addressing them. On the basis of this scoping paper, a workshop/conference involving science policy scholars and practitioners will be designed and proposed. The workshop/conference will address and illuminate issues of utmost importance in the relation of government to science and technology. It can aid policy and its administration, as well as stimulate further research. However, getting to this point (the delineation of a conference), requires the exploratory research carried out under this award.