How will federal funding cuts affect informal science engagement scholarship and practice?

Boston, MA — Federal agencies have long played a major role in supporting public engagement with science work. Funding programs such as the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) have helped bring science museum exhibitions, films, books, science festivals, television shows, after-school STEM programs, and a ton more science engagement scholarship and practice. These efforts reach communities across the nation including right here in Boston.

Now, as federal funding cuts continue (such as the recent NIH policy that limits indirect funding by universities for research grants to 15%), the expected downstream outcome will be the tightening of budgets, such as that reported by Boston University and MIT. Public engagement projects that rely in part on these sources will likely face cuts to some degree.

But even before the ongoing cuts, informal science engagement was operating under tight financial constraints, supported by a mix of federal, state, and private donors. The ongoing rounds of funding cuts will have a direct impact on public engagement with science particularly on projects that are targeted toward underserved communities.

At local organizations such as Boston’s WGBH, which has long been at the forefront of delivering innovative public engagement with science programming, stakeholders we are talking to are watching closely to see how the changing funding landscape will reshape their current approach, operations, and programming.

The shifting funding landscape raises a series of pressing questions.

For example: How will non-federal funding sources—such as philanthropic organizations, private partnerships, state grants, and individual donors—step in to fill the void?

What strategies will public engagement programs and their host organizations adopt to navigate this new financial reality? Which public engagement initiatives—and in which regions—are most vulnerable? How will the new financial reality affect the public engagement job landscape? And, how will the type of scholarship conducted around public engagement be affected?

Of course, some are likely to argue that the additional financial constraints might ultimately pave the way for innovative opportunities (through collaborations perhaps) that we cannot yet fully anticipate.

Only time will tell and we’ll need to look at history to get a sense of what will happen.

At the present moment, there are way more questions than answers.

Fanuel Muindi

fmuindi@saicollective.org

Fanuel Muindi is a former neuroscientist turned civic science scholar-journalist and entrepreneur. He is a Professor of Practice in the College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University where he leads the Civic Science Media Lab. Dr. Muindi received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and PhD in Organismal Biology from Morehouse College and Stanford University respectively. He completed his postdoctoral training at MIT.

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