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“The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) told multiple grant recipients last week they won’t receive continuing funding for previously awarded projects, cutting off dollars for ongoing efforts to improve America’s health-care system through research and training for new scientists and clinicians. The agency cited the ‘best interest of the federal government.’” (“An Agency That Supports Health-Care Improvement Cuts Off Grant Funding” Inside Higher Ed, July 19)

“Trump administration ends dozens of grants for studying patient care” (Science, July 17) “Nonaward” notices discontinue grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality whose annual funds had been stalled.

“Another Round of Grant Terminations at AHRQ” Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences (July 23) “The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has suffered yet another round of grant terminations. Over the past year and a half, AHRQ has lost nearly all extramural grants staff, halted peer review panels, failed to obligate any awarded funds, and has not released any new Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs).”

"On June 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued Department Administrative Order 216-26, which limits the disclosure avoidance methods that may be used for Census Bureau and BEA statistical products, identifies coarsening as the preferred approach for protecting confidentiality, and prohibits differential privacy and other forms of noise infusion. This is a departure from previous practice, which left those decisions primarily to the statistical agencies themselves. Several professional associations—including the Association of Population Centers, APDU, COPAFS, ICPSR, and the Population Association of America—issued a joint statement raising concerns about the order and calling for it to be rescinded.

"We created the Disclosure Avoidance Explorer, a new interactive tool that lets you compare six disclosure avoidance methods side by side. Apply each method to a hypothetical census table and see how different approaches balance confidentiality protection with data utility."

Read the complete blog post from the Population Reference Bureau, "What Does 'Coarsening' Look Like?" (July 15, 2026)

See the previous DCSS news item on this topic.

[Update, July 12] Stand Up For Science has an extensive action center, including tips for submitting a comment. Important: Personalize your comment to make it count! You may comment anonymously, and your comment need not be lengthy.

"Comments Flood OMB Proposal to Cement Political Control of Grants" (Inside Higher Ed, July 7) "The White House Office of Management and Budget has so far received 90,000 public comments on its plans as scientific and other groups rally against them. ... The input might lead the White House to alter its proposal. But, even if that doesn’t happen, opponents say the comments could still slow implementation of the changes because the OMB must reply to them. And a monsoon could persuade Congress, which has repeatedly rejected Trump’s previous proposals to gut research funding, to use its power to stop these changes. Comments also put into the public record objections that, if the government doesn’t address them, could be raised again in lawsuits to stop the changes."

"Trump administration stands by controversial OMB proposal despite growing resistance" (Chemistry World, July 2)

From 27 UNIHTED, NIH Alumni Action Network advancing the future of biomedical research for human health. Not gov. affiliated. "Political control of NIH is about to become the law, but you can stop it" (June 29)

"Read our short guide on the "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," learn how you can leave an effective comment, and other actions you can take"

The deadline to submit comments is July 13.

You may submit comments anonymously. The link for comments is https://www.regulations.gov/document/OMB-2026-0034-0001

For background, see the previous DCSS news items:

"Further updates on Trump Administration attempt to politicize federal grantmaking" (June 28)

"Updated: White House Aims to Establish Political Oversight of Federal Grants; Comments Needed" (June 4)

You may also view the video recording of a July 1 webinar from the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA), "Guidance on OMB’s Proposed Rule" (recorded July 1)

New NSF policy would ban almost all collaborations with Chinese scientists

Science, July 10, 2026

"The National Science Foundation (NSF) has decided to ban collaborations between every U.S. scientist it funds and nearly all Chinese research institutions and their employees. The new policy abandons NSF’s earlier attempt to balance the potential risks and benefits of such collaborations. But it puts the agency in step with actions taken earlier this year by the much larger Department of Defense (DOD) and with congressional Republicans, who assert that any interactions with China threaten national security.

"The new policy, posted on Wednesday and still being digested by university administrators, relies on lists of so-called restricted entities maintained by DOD and other federal agencies. The lists contain the names of hundreds of leading Chinese universities, national laboratories, and other research institutions. Any interactions with “the employees of such restricted entities” is taboo, the NSF policy notes. There are a handful of notable omissions, however, including Tsinghua University, which last week announced it had hired away the 2025 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Omar Yaghi, from the University of California, Berkeley."

Read the complete article on the journal website.

"ASA is pleased to announce Cohort 53 of the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP). These talented PhD candidates were chosen from a highly competitive pool of applicants to receive financial support and professional development opportunities as they write their dissertations, as well as lifelong fellowship with the 500+ MFP Fellows.

"Deonté M. Hughes is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests broadly focus on family sociology, race, racism, stress, and health. His dissertation, titled Familial Bonds, Black Families, and Well-Being: Three Essays on the Utilization of Familial Bonds in Black Families Across Social Contexts, quantitatively examines how the effectiveness of kinship bonds as a source of strength on the health and well-being of Black families is influenced by social contexts created by structural racism over time. Hughes’s research has been supported by the University of Maryland Graduate School and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. His work has been published in the Journal of Family Issues and The Handbook of Social Psychology. Hughes earned his BA in sociology at Longwood University, and his MA in sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Outside of research, Hughes enjoys attending poetry slams, playing video games, and spending quality time with his loved ones."

See the complete list of fellows on the ASA website.

“Changing Fertility Preferences and Understanding Recent Fertility Decline”

Office of Population Research, Princeton University (November 13–14, 2026)

"We are pleased to invite submissions for a small interdisciplinary workshop on Changing Fertility Preferences and Understanding Recent Fertility Decline, to be held at the Office of Population Research, Princeton University, on November 13–14, 2026. The workshop is organized by Alícia Adserà and Jim Raymo and supported by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) and OPR.

"This interdisciplinary workshop will focus on new approaches to understanding fertility change, with particular attention to the measurement of fertility preferences and to factors explaining changing fertility behavior across different world regions. We are especially interested in papers that examine settings beyond the traditional low-fertility contexts, including countries and regions experiencing more recent or rapid fertility decline."

"Please submit either a full paper or an advanced draft by August 25, 2026. Proposals that include a full paper will receive priority consideration. Decisions will be made by September 15.

"The organizers will provide hotel accommodation (up to two nights) and meals during the workshop. Participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements and cover their own travel expenses. Limited financial assistance may be available to help offset travel expenses for junior scholars."

Read the complete call [PDF]

From the Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University

Equity Is an Economic Imperative

By Jeff Strohl, Director (June 30, 2026)

"For decades, traditional public finance has held that equity and efficiency are zero sum—that more of one means less of the other. According to this logic, allocating public resources requires hard choices: By sharing resources equitably, we create inefficiencies that reduce the total number of resources. But what if investments in equity actually result in more resources? Our recent work at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) suggests that when we invest in postsecondary equity, we are not pouring society’s resources into a “leaky bucket.” Instead, we are making a smart investment in our country’s financial health with demonstrable financial returns."

Read the complete blog post on the Center website

[Previously updated on June 27; adding a further news article at bottom]

Background in earlier DCSS news item, "Comment on revisions to the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) by June 14"

The Census Quality Reinforcement Task Force (CQR) submitted comments on behalf of 29 organizations and 32 individual signers. [PDF]

"Conclusion:
"First, the research record supports implementation in the 2027 ACS, consistent with the Census Bureau's prior determination following formal analysis. That record, spanning more than two decades of Census Bureau testing and independent scientific advisory committee review, remains substantively unchanged. Each year of deferral beyond the Bureau's 2027 target reduces available time for implementation, testing, and evaluation before the current 2029 implementation benchmark, narrows the window for operational preparation before the 2030 Census, and extends the period during which known measurement limitations of the 1997 framework persist.

"Second, the program change described in the supporting statement is not reflected in the 30-day Federal Register Notice. The March 27, 2026 OMB bulletin extended the Action Plan submission timeline and stated that it otherwise made no additional changes to implementation timelines. The current September 2029 data collection implementation timeline referenced in OMB SPD 15 guidance therefore remains in effect, and the operational consequences of deferral identified above remain relevant regardless of the administrative latitude provided by the Action Plan extension.

"CQR respectfully submits that the technical record supports implementation of the updated standards in the 2027 ACS, consistent with the Census Bureau's prior determination, and that no new methodological findings in the public record justify further deferral."

"Census Bureau Quietly Scraps Plan for Improved Data Collection on Race and Ethnicity" (Talking Points Memo, Jun 26)

"The Census Bureau is walking back plans to unveil a new, more inclusive way to document race and ethnicity, delaying updates that would have affected policy about everything from SNAP benefits uptake to redistricting. 

"New race and ethnicity collection standards will no longer be used in the 2027 American Community Survey (ACS), according to a little-noticed update posted last month to the Federal Register. The ACS is largely viewed as the first look into how the consequential 2030 Census could shape up. And experts told TPM the Bureau’s indication that it won’t be using the updated race and ethnicity survey question standards puts at risk improved civil rights policy, redistricting, and more than a decade of research."

ASA is pleased to announce the 2026 Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants Research Scholars:

[DMV recipients from the full list]

Aaron D. Kinard (University of Virginia) 

Jingting Liang (Johns Hopkins University)

"The ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG) program supports theoretically grounded empirical investigations to advance understanding of fundamental social processes. Applicants who have completed their pre-dissertation requirements and are at the point of initiating or already conducting empirical dissertation research focused on advancing knowledge in any sociological sub-field regardless of method are welcome to apply.

"Up to 25 awards of a maximum of $16,000 each will be given each year to support highly talented doctoral students who are conducting cutting-edge sociological research that has the potential to both advance scientific knowledge and contribute to the public good. Along with this direct support, ASA DDRIG recipients will receive one year of membership to ASA as well as registration to the ASA Annual Meeting.

"ASA expects applications for the 2027 ASA DDRIG to open on August 1, 2026 with a deadline to apply by 5pm ET on November 2, 2026. This is contingent on pending funding from NSF."

Read the complete program description on the ASA website.

ASA Distinguished Scholarly Book Award for 2026

Fueling Development: How Black Radical Trade Unionism Transformed Trinidad and Tobago by Zophia Edwards, Johns Hopkins University

"Zophia Edwards is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University, and a scholar of racial capitalism, development, DuBoisian sociology, and labor who uses comparative-historical methods in her work. In Fueling Development: How Black Radical Trade Unionism Transformed Trinidad and Tobago, Edwards offers a masterful and sweeping analysis of the intersections of class, race, nation, and colonialism/post-colonialism across the 20th century. Based on extensive comparative-historical analysis, she develops a framework of “liberation unionism,” which encapsulates how Trinidad and Tobago succeeded, in terms of having high levels of democratic and redistributive development, despite their long histories of colonial exploitation. In doing so, she upends much of conventional thinking on sociology of development and draws upon literatures on race and capitalism."

Read the complete announcement on the ASA website