STM NEWSROOM

The Trump administration released an executive order last month giving political appointees the responsibility for reviewing and approving all grant decisions, a radical change from prior merit review processes. This builds on the politically motivated cancellation of grants at NIH, NSF and other federal agencies earlier this year and the attacks by the administration on American universities. This movement away…

Federal agencies, including DOE, NIH and NSF, have released plans to implement President Trump’s executive order promoting ‘Gold Standard Science’, pursuant to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) guidance for agencies and request for plans by 22 August. Other agencies may have issued responses by the time this newsletter goes to press, or may subsequently. Additionally, the EO directed…

As noted in last month’s newsletter, NIH has formally proposed a cap on the use of NIH grant funds for publication costs in a blog post and an associated request for information. STM CEO Caroline Sutton met with the NIH Office of Science Policy in August and was told that they are very open to the comments, and want to consider…

On 16 July, the European Commission presented the first draft of its 2028-34 budget, which includes €175 billion for Horizon Europe — nearly double its current funding. Horizon Europe would remain a standalone programme, although the €175 billion would be part of the €409 billion European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and the €1.8 trillion Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF)….

The EU Commission released three key documents last month for the implementation of the EU AI Act’s rules for providers of general-purpose AI models, related to the obligations that took effect on 2 August: The Code of Practice outlines voluntary measures regarding transparency, copyright and safety and security. These guidelines clarify the scope of the definition and obligations of providers….

Last month, the US unveiled its AI Action Plan accompanied by three executive orders. Taken together, the efforts aim to remove any road blocks from the active development and deployment of American AI. Counter to the Biden Administration’s risk-based approach, the executive orders and action plan focus instead on promoting the unrestricted use and development of AI,…

In a memo last month that may be an indicator of things to come, the USDA announced that it will ‘place America First in provisioning all USDA funds’ and begin reviewing all contracts and grants for interaction with foreign entities. The memo also requires recipients of USDA funding to disclose any association with foreign entities and ‘certify…

For the past two years, the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Act has prevented the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from implementing the Nelson Memo, which would provide free access to all federally funded research. This year’s draft of the appropriations bill upholds that decision. The updated draft contains new language, however, about Congress’s concerns over…

Following its announcement last month that the US National Institutes of Health would implement a cap on allowable publication costs and associated comments that OSTP Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya made in interviews (here and here), NIH has announced five potential options for limiting the amount of taxpayer money that goes to support publishing: Disallow all publication costs. Set a limit on allowable costs per publication (e.g., $2000). Option 2,…

Following its announcement last month that the US National Institutes of Health would implement a cap on allowable publication costs and associated comments that OSTP Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya made in interviews (here and here), NIH has announced five potential options for limiting the amount of taxpayer money that goes to support publishing: Disallow all publication costs. Set a limit on allowable costs per publication (e.g., $2000). Option 2,…