Embracing Open Science through WPO's Social Science Funding Competitions

Over the last four years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Program Office (WPO) Social Science Program (SSP) has worked to incorporate open science into its funding competitions. This presentation will recount how SSP laid the foundation for open science with its 2021 competition and funded projects. These projects provided an opportunity for SSP to have conversations with principal investigators about data sharing, and redesign its programmatic approach to both semi-annual reviews—by encouraging open, cohort-style communication among investigators—and transition plans—by emphasizing data as an output or product. Moreover, initiating these changes in 2021 also allowed us to adapt our approach for the 2023 competition and the projects we funded. As we prepare for future competitions, we need to continue to incorporate feedback from our investigators and the academic community. We listened to concerns from the academic community during the recent Open Data and Reuse in Social Science Weather Research Workshop, held in partnership with the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Concerns and reflections shared during the workshop highlighted the need to continue evolving our programmatic approach to open science, especially in the wake of the new federal guidelines. Finally, this presentation will cover how we seek to address the community’s concerns in future funding competitions.