The Council received an update from the SSC on its proposed process for conducting triennial review of research priorities. Although the Council had approved three-year research priorities at its April 2021 meeting, the SSC deferred aspects of the review process and changes to a strategic priorities to the June 2021 meeting. For subsequent triennial reviews, the Council’s Plan Teams and other advisory groups will not review all of the projects listed in the research priorities database. Those projects, however, will inform development of a strategic vision for research. The SSC urged that the review process be limited to candidates for a “Top 10”, with a short abstract for each.
The Council discussed the importance of improving the visibility of public input opportunities (on-ramps) for research priorities review and Council staff will communicate these opportunities through the website. Public comment opportunities were recognized as needing to be transparent, predictable, efficient, and trackable so groups better understand how their ideas were considered by the SSC.
Other recommendations by the SSC included:
In preparation for the next triennial review-
- On-ramps for receiving stakeholder input on priorities.
- Rubric with a clear goal statement of how to evaluate priorities for the Top 10.
- SSC review of items 1-2 and an updated “Research Priorities and Process document”.
- Maintaining database of past priorities, but without review by SSC and Plan Teams.
- SSC subgroup engagement with NPRB for 2024.
As part of the triennial review-
- SSC update of high level categorical narratives for Strategic and COM priorities.
- Top 3 – 5 priorities from Plan Team and other designated on-ramp entities including a ~150 word abstract.
- SSC review of priorities for Top 10.
- Priorities not selected for Top 10 will not continue to be tracked.
Staff contact is Jim Armstrong.
