An Inside Look into the NSF Reviewer Experience
Posted in: Sponsored Programs Central
Communicating with NSF
If you attend any NSF-sponsored event where NSF staff engage with members of the research community, at some point you are guaranteed to be advised to contact a program officer. This can occasionally be an intimidating prospect for some prospective PIs. However, it’s important to remember that these individuals are your colleagues. They are generally former faculty members or even current faculty members on leave from their current appointments to serve as a rotator. (See the NSF’s Rotator Programs web page for more details on the program.)
Program officers can help provide feedback on your proposal ideas and discuss alignment with program priorities and goals. If what you are proposing to carry out is not the best fit for one program, the program officer may refer you to another. Speaking with a program officer early in your process can provide critical insights that can lead to a successful proposal. For this reason, we at OSP often echo the refrain from NSF as we encourage members of our research community to reach out to a program officer early in the proposal development process.
Working with NSF
While communicating with NSF personnel early and often is one of the most frequently offered pieces of advice for achieving success with securing NSF funding, another is to take a step beyond communicating with program officers and offer up your services to work alongside them as a peer reviewer. The peer review process is a critical component to how NSF makes funding decisions. For the operation to function as designed, NSF needs engagement from people like you. By working as a reviewer, you not only provide a critical service to NSF, but there is a lot you stand to gain from the experience that can yield dividends in your own efforts to obtain funding for your research. I recently had the opportunity to serve as a panelist and personally found the experience to be not only instructive, but also enjoyable. It impressed upon me how much time and care goes into reviewing each proposal that gets submitted.
What to Expect From Panel Service
Earlier this year, I served on a panel with five other individuals, supported by two program directors. We received instructions and resources to review about one month prior to the panel dates. A virtual orientation session via Zoom was held approximately two weeks prior to the panel date. Proposals were released to us in Research.gov in advance of the meeting and we were tasked with submitting reviews prior to the panel meeting dates.
The panel reviewed 10 proposals, with each panelist tasked with giving a closer read to six of those proposals. I served as a primary reviewer on two proposals and a secondary reviewer on the other four. Primary review service entailed leading the discussion on that proposal while also serving as scribe. Secondary reviewers participated in the discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal in light of the program goals and NSF’s merit review criteria. The first day of panel service was devoted entirely to discussing the proposals. The second day was dedicated to drafting and critiquing the panel summaries and offering ratings on the competitiveness of each proposal. Panelists were asked to check in via Zoom each day at 10:00AM and block off the entire day until 6:00PM for panel service. Each proposal was carefully considered and discussed for around 30-40 minutes.
Peer reviewers do not have the authority to make funding decisions directly, but they do provide recommendations, which program directors will weigh as they make their official funding recommendations. In our case, the program director asked us to place a proposal on a continuum ranging from highly competitive to non-competitive. At the conclusion of our work, we revisited these ratings and had the opportunity to make any final revisions to those ratings.
Benefits of Reviewer Service
The benefits of review service are manifold, providing value and benefit to the research enterprise as a whole and to you as an individual researcher. The National Science Foundation aims to fund transformative projects that will advance the public good. It does this with taxpayer-funded support. As a reviewer, you play a critical role in stewarding those public funds and helping NSF direct public resources to projects that are likely to have the most impact for our society. Reviewer work is essential and meaningful work to advance NSF’s goals and safeguard public funds and the public interest. This is review work seen on the more grandiose and selfless scale.
This experience can also provide valuable insights to you as a prospective PI. Reviewers are typically researchers who themselves aspire to be first-time or repeat recipients of NSF funding. For those aspiring to receive NSF funding to support their work, the window into the process provided by serving as a reviewer provides invaluable insight. You will see firsthand how others prepare their proposals and how reviewers respond to these proposals and discuss their merits and limitations. Fellow panelists shared that what keeps them returning as reviewers is both the enjoyment they derive from the process, but also the positive impact it has on them as PIs. Your experience will undoubtedly shape how you approach your future work developing proposals for the better.
For me as a former faculty member turned research administrator, the experience helped inform the work I do with faculty and university stakeholders on a daily basis. As someone who works with the nitty gritty of the rules and requirements that give shape the form and structure of a compliant NSF proposal, it was valuable to see a layer beyond what makes a compliant proposal to what makes a competitive proposal.
How to Become a Reviewer
Whether you do it primarily for the greater good, for your own benefit, or anywhere along that spectrum, if you’re compelled to take the next step, you may want to know how to get started. There are different ways to get engaged as a reviewer. You can reach out to a program officer who works in an area that aligns with your expertise. There is also a form you can complete to express interest on Research.gov. NSF also occasionally reaches out through their email lists to solicit reviewers for certain programs, so you’ll want to ensure you are signed up to receive emails from NSF. For more information, you can also consult NSF’s webpage, “Volunteer as an NSF Reviewer.”