[NfC] Fw: Message from the SfNIRS President

[Crafa, D.A. (Daina)]

From: Joseph P. Culver - SfNIRS President <commcomm at fnirs.org>
View this email in your browser<https://mailchi.mp/bu/message-from-the-sfnirs-president?e=72876aba1a>
[https://mcusercontent.com/d3271c9a634b4681815457d25/images/1c77e16a-1bee-459d-aa19-e266a8a3347b.jpg]
Message from the SfNIRS President

New pressures on biomedical research funding

Dear SfNIRS members,

Recent actions by the new U.S. government executive branch have put pressure on biomedical research funding. In reaching out to you on this topic, we are mindful that SfNIRS is an international society, and the US is but one of many member countries.  However, the changes in the US have a broad enough impact that it is worth starting this discussion.

So far, funding pressure has come from proposed limits on indirect rates and several executive orders prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. The American Association for the Advancement of Science Board Chairman Joseph Francisco recently said, “The shifting landscape in the United States has caused confusion, anger, uncertainty, and anxiety among members of our community. These feelings are valid.”

Regarding SfNIRS DEI efforts, as an international society, our mission, and specifically the mission of our DEI committee, remains the same and is not subject to these US executive orders. The limits on funding came through a US executive order<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=0abb3d3ce8&e=72876aba1a> posted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website on Feb. 7, stating a reduction in the indirect rates on federal research grants to 15% (typically between 40% and 60%). Part of the federal government’s argument behind the executive order is that many foundations limit their indirect rates, so the federal government should be able to do the same. But this misses the point of how foundation funding works.

The indirect rates included with federal grants drive and enable foundation money. The services and facilities that the federal indirect rates pay for (e.g., human research protection offices or HRPOs) essentially underwrite facilities and services for the research funded through the foundations and attract more foundation funding. There are great explainers in the New York Times<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=cfa78ae9d7&e=72876aba1a> and The Scientist<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=91c5b7b6b0&e=72876aba1a> on the impact that reducing the indirect rate would have across all U.S. institutions.

Adding to the uncertainty, a funding freeze put all new NIH awards on hold (New York Times<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=0fbc24b496&e=72876aba1a>, Nature<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=b65e50e353&e=72876aba1a>), though this is beginning to thaw. Additionally, NIH grant review panels are experiencing significant disruptions as review meetings are postponed, canceled, or restructured. The situation has escalated with the firing of NIH officials, including those involved in policy and grant oversight, further impacting the stability of the review and funding process.

I, past president Mari Franceschini, and president-elect Judit Gervain, along with the board of directors, are monitoring the situation, primarily through our home institutions (e.g., Culver at WashU and Franceschini at Massachusetts General Hospital) but also through our sister organizations, including FASEB<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=0b72dab856&e=72876aba1a>, SfN<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=72f803ac9d&e=72876aba1a>, and AIMBE<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=845f059688&e=72876aba1a>. It is essential for us all to make the case for federal support for biomedical research. The most direct action for U.S. residents is to contact your U.S. representatives and senators. The SfN<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=e2c79beda8&e=72876aba1a> and AIMBE<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=892fac73a8&e=72876aba1a> websites have great tools that help people do this by providing draft letters and contact details for your senators and congressmen (based on your ZIP code). Three suggested ways to contact legislators are through email, traditional mail, and phone calls. We have been advised that phone calls have the most impact, followed by traditional mail, with emails providing the least impact.

The next few months will be challenging, and we will likely see many more changes. While new awards are on hold, as they resume, we will begin to get a clearer picture of the funding level for the rest of 2025. Good, timely sources for news on what we’re experiencing are FASEB<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=222ea42c1a&e=72876aba1a> and Science.org<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=9ceffc2233&e=72876aba1a>. We will also contact the community as the situation changes to provide updates.

Of note, while these changes directly impact U.S. science, these events in the U.S. create pressure globally. The US budget cuts will potentially encourage similar reductions in countries aligned with the current US administration. In many of these nations, state-owned universities and research institutions are already underfunded, and further cuts could cause their collapse.

Ultimately, we can only control what we can control. While we send messages to our government representatives to make the case for how damaging these proposed cuts are to scientific research, I urge us all internally to stay calm and carry on<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=58a9b1f5de&e=72876aba1a>. We don’t yet know where the eventual negotiation on indirect costs and DEI-related cuts will take us. While professors think through budgets, our groups should continue with business as usual and our daily bread of making great science and publishing meaningful, forward-thinking papers. Times like these make communities such as SfNIRS especially important.

With warm regards,

Joe


Joseph P. Culver

Sherwood Moore Professor of Radiology
President Society of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
Director Biophotonics Research Center
Co-Director Imaging Sciences PhD Program
Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Systems Engineering, Physics, Neuroscience
Washington University in St. Louis | Department of Radiology
Campus Box 8225  | 4515 McKinley Ave. |  St. Louis, MO  63110
NeuroPhoto Lab<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=7db6de7c7d&e=72876aba1a>

[LinkedIn]<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=47fa6536b1&e=72876aba1a>
[Website]<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=17ba9b6cf1&e=72876aba1a>
Copyright © 2025 Society for Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:
Society for Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy
188 Highland Ave
Winchester, MA 01890-2050

Add us to your address book<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/vcard?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=36b9de498e>


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/profile?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=36b9de498e&e=72876aba1a&c=90a3d651fa> or unsubscribe from this list<https://fnirs.us19.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25&id=36b9de498e&t=b&e=72876aba1a&c=90a3d651fa>.

[Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp]<https://login.mailchimp.com/signup/email-referral/?aid=d3271c9a634b4681815457d25>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://listserver.vu.nl/pipermail/nfc/attachments/20250307/225bf164/attachment-0001.html>