Funding Announcement:
Human and Social Dynamics: Special Competition for FY 2003 (HSD)
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
This announcement includes funding for "Decision Making Under
Uncertainty" (DMUU) climate research centers.
For the full program solicitation see the NSF web site at:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?ods_key=nsf03552
Deadline: 15 July 2003
Human and Social Dynamics: Special Competition for FY 2003 (HSD)
Program Solicitation
NSF 03-552
The following is the "Decision Making Under Uncertainty" (DMUU) section of
the announcement:
TOPICAL AREAS
A. Decision Making Under Uncertainty (DMUU)
As part of the President's Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), a
multi-agency activity designed to study areas of uncertainty in climate
change and to identify priority areas where focused investments could
make a difference, NSF has designated $5 million in funding during FY
2003 to support research on decision making under uncertainty related to
climate change and variability. In the context of this competition,
decision making is defined broadly and includes actions associated with
adaptation to climate change and variability as well as decisions
associated with mitigation strategies. Decision makers also are
considered broadly, and may include private citizens; informal and
formal groups, firms, organizations; and governments ranging from the
local to state and federal levels.
As scientific research has increased knowledge about the causes and
consequences of climate change and variability, awareness has grown of
the need to better understand how decision makers can choose more
effectively among alternative courses of action. The goals of NSF's
Decision Making Under Uncertainty funding opportunity in the Climate
Change Research Initiative are:
-To improve understanding of all facets of decision-making processes
related to climate change and other problems for which information
exists but uncertainty remains.
-To increase knowledge of the content and form of information needed by
decision makers.
-To develop tools to support decision makers and increase their ability
to make sound decisions over multiple time scales.
-To facilitate interaction among researchers and decision makers,
thereby enhancing fundamental research and increasing the speed with
which new research finding are adopted and used by decision makers.
For the FY 2003 special competition, NSF invites proposals for the
following activities: (1) centers focused on research, education, and
outreach and (2) developmental activities, such as workshops and
exploratory research proposals.
DMUU Centers
NSF seeks proposals for the creation of interdisciplinary centers that
will produce new knowledge, information, and tools related to decision
making under uncertainty associated with longer-term climate change and
shorter-term climate variability. Centers are expected to conduct
integrative research on scales larger than normally would be expected
through individual research projects. The size, structure, collaborative
arrangements, and operation of each center should be appropriate for the
proposed research, education, and outreach activities the center plans
to undertake. To be competitive, proposed centers should exhibit the
following characteristics:
The center must conduct fundamental research on decision making
associated with climate change and variability. The research should be
well grounded in relevant theoretical frameworks based in the social,
behavioral, and economic sciences as well as other appropriate science
and engineering disciplines. The proposed research program should
advance basic understanding of decision processes dealing with issues
like inter-temporal choice, risk perception, hazards, disaster
reduction, trade-offs, equity, framing, and probabilistic reasoning
associated with risky phenomena. The research program should also
advance understanding of decision making under uncertainty specifically
associated with climate change and variability. To those ends, centers
may choose to focus on one or more research themes. Possible themes
include:
-Research that gauges public and stakeholders understanding and
evaluation of the causes and consequences of increased climate
variability. This kind of research might identify options for addressing
risks and develop more effective ways of communicating this information
to relevant parties through education and other forms of communication.
-Research on the interconnected issues related to socio-economic
stability and insurance. The availability of stable insurance markets is
crucial to maintaining healthy communities. This line of inquiry could
recognize that climate change is one of several major issues challenging
the stability and solvency of insurance markets, and it would aim to
develop and test innovative methods to assess and allocate financial
risks associated with climate change.
-Research that focuses on potentially vulnerable communities and
ecologically sensitive places. Inquiries associated with this theme
could build on identification of many American landscapes and ecosystems
as threatened by climate change and variability as well as other
stresses associated with land-use change and other human activities.
These inquiries might yield new tools for evaluating the vulnerability
of different locales and methods for assessing the viability of
different strategies for maintaining environmental quality.
-Research on decision making associated with different kinds of
strategies for adapting to and/or mitigating climate change in specific
places.
-Research that develops the databases, tools, and fundamental
knowledge about global biophysical and socioeconomic systems needed to make
more effective national and international decisions regarding climate
change. This line of research could develop better methods for reaching
decisions about global climate change risks using scientific models of
interdependent biophysical and socioeconomic global systems in which there
is a great deal of uncertainty about underlying parameters and key
relationships.
The center must develop tools that people, organizations, and
governments can use to better understand the risks associated with climate
variability and change and the options they have to address those risks.
Proposals must address how the basic research can help people and/or
organizations make better-informed decisions to cope with the potential
consequences of climate change.
The center must provide education and research opportunities for
U.S. students and faculty. The groups to be served through these educational
efforts may be varied, and include undergraduate and graduate students,
postdoctoral researchers, students from groups underrepresented in the
social and behavioral sciences, K-12 teachers, and visiting scientists and
engineers.
The center must develop and disseminate tangible products for
researchers, decision makers and other relevant stakeholders. As part of
its dissemination plan, the center may include the development of
user-friendly web sites and/or other mechanisms to facilitate the
dissemination of climate change information and its effective use in
decision making.
The center must participate in each of the set of annual conferences to
be held in FYs 2004 through 2007 that will bring together researchers
from all centers funded by this activity, other researchers, and
relevant decision makers and stakeholders. In addition, each center will
host at least one of the conferences. (Funding for hosting a conference
will be provided separately through a supplement during the year of the
conference to be negotiated between NSF and the host institution.)
The center must be based at a U.S. academic institution, where it is
directed by a faculty member and integrated into the institution's
academic programs. Other institutions, including non-academic
institutions, may participate as partners with the lead institution.
The center must consist of a multidisciplinary team of researchers, and
the team's research must be firmly grounded in the social, behavioral,
and economic sciences. The research may also draw on and contribute to
theoretical frameworks based in other science and engineering
disciplines.
Pending the availability of funds, NSF expects to reserve approximately
$4.5 million for center awards in FY 2003. Support for centers will be
provided through cooperative agreements. NSF anticipates supporting
three to five centers at levels of $900,000 to $1,500,000 annually for
up to five years of support. No annual budget in a DMUU Center proposal
should exceed $1,500,000.
Through the multi-agency Climate Change Research Initiative, NSF will
coordinate its activities with those of other federal agencies.
Depending on the lines of research and products to result from funded
centers, additional support from other agencies may be available.
DMUU Developmental Activities
In order to identify research gaps or future research needs for decision
making under uncertainty related to climate change, NSF invites
investigators to submit proposals for workshops or symposia, high-risk
exploratory research efforts, or supplements to current awards. Standard
grants for developmental activities will be made on a one-time basis and
will not exceed $100,000 for the duration of the award. NSF expects to
reserve approximately $500,000 for the support of developmental
activities in FY 2003.