Experimental Approaches to Improving Research Funding Programs

On March 14-15, 2023, the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a 2-day workshop in Washington, DC to explore the use of data, research, and experiments to improve the processes for and outcomes of federal funding of scientific research. The workshop brought together researchers in the science of science funding and practitioners from government and the private sector with experience supporting or carrying out experimentation and evaluation to discuss illustrative examples of the use of experimentation from the United States and abroad; consider methods of evaluation; and foster relationships for future experimentation.Table of ContentsFront MatterIntroduction1 Keynote Presentations2 Experiments by U.S. Federal Agencies3 The International Context: New Models for Supporting Science4 Nongovernmental Perspectives on Experiments5 Challenges with Experimentation in U.S. Federal Agencies6 Structuring Support for Experimentation in Government7 Models for Institutionalizing Experimentation in U.S. Federal Agencies8 Closing RoundtableAppendixesAppendix A: Workshop AgendaAppendix B: Biographical Sketches of Planning Committee Members and Speakers