The Research Policy Dispatch
Welcome to the first edition of the Research Policy Dispatch—a free weekly newsletter for research managers and administrators, research development professionals, and PIs. Each issue delivers a clear, concise roundup of federal funding and research policy developments, with the context you need to understand what matters and why.
This week also marks the launch of the Research Policy Atlas—a searchable, user-friendly database that tracks executive orders, legislative actions, rescissions, court rulings, and much more. For $600 annually, the Atlas gives you one place to find the policies that affect research funding, compliance, and operations. In an era of tight budgets, it pays for itself in time saved—if you spend even an hour a month searching for policies or context, you’ll quickly see the return.
The goal is simple: make federal research policy easier to follow, anticipate, and act on—so your units can focus on advancing research, not chasing updates.
Eight Months of Change
When I sat down to draft this first Dispatch, I was struck by how profoundly the world of academic research has shifted in just eight months. The volume of changes, the speed at which they’ve arrived, and the scale of disruption are difficult to overstate. Rather than catalog every action which would require pages - I want to anchor the current state of play and highlight the recurring themes that best capture the scope and direction of change:
Grant Cancellations, Impoundment, and Claw-backs
Institutions have experienced over $5 billion in canceled grants to date, with some later reinstated. The use of rescission and impoundment tactics not used for decades has wasted time, cost jobs, and injected volatility into budgets.Disappearing
Efforts to scrub DEI language, federal datasets, and public-facing records are eroding transparency and eliminating once-steady sources of government information. The downstream effect is the loss of research and programs, and the inability to reference or rely on data that institutions previously used for research, planning, and evaluation.Control
Political appointees are reshaping agency priorities, oversight structures, and peer review, creating uncertainty over which research areas will thrive or be deprioritized.Isolation
Visa restrictions, foreign aid cuts, and tightened collaboration rules are straining international partnerships and limiting U.S. researchers’ role in global networks.Censorship
Topics like climate, gender, health, and basic science face quiet suppression, forcing institutions to navigate tension between compliance and academic freedom.Budget Uncertainty
Constantly shifting rules and funding guidance fuel confusion and risk aversion inside research organizations. Institutions delay hiring, scale back commitments, and avoid long-term planning because the financial landscape is so unstable.
For Research Administrators
NIH Information Access is Changing
NIH has announced major shifts in how information is delivered and has moved a number of pages on their website. Some notable changes:
Starting October 1, 2025, NOFOs will no longer appear in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (NOT-OD-25-143).
The Extramural Nexus newsletter is transitioning to the NIH Listserv system. You’ll need to review and manage your subscription preferences to continue receiving it. Real-time email notifications are being discontinued due to technical issues. Instead, you can subscribe to a monthly email digest—or go directly to the Extramural Nexus news page for the most current updates.
Taken together, these changes mean research administrators can no longer rely on the same single inbox alerts to stay current. Tracking funding opportunities and policy updates will require more active monitoring across platforms and government websites.
These near constant changes are exactly why I built the Research Policy Atlas: to centralize and simplify monitoring so you don’t miss critical updates as these shifts continue.
Subscriber Highlights
The Research Policy Atlas Corner
The Atlas helps cut through scattered and shifting sources of information by giving you two Quick Link Pages that save time and keep you current:
Recent Highlights – Curated policy actions and resources from the past 21 days, sorted by date. A fast way to see the newest developments and access the latest records in one place.
Policy Notices and Timeline – A live table of sponsor notices that require immediate or upcoming action. This view also links directly to Nexus news articles for related Notices, so you have agency context paired with agency notices.
If you’re interested, I’ve recorded short videos to walk you through these features and show how they can keep you ahead of policy changes without adding hours of monitoring to your week. I will continue to build-out these use case videos and link to them in the application.
Final Thought
We control nothing, but influence everything.
Thank you for reading this first brief, introductory edition of the Research Policy Dispatch. I’m excited to continue unpacking the latest developments, highlighting patterns, and helping you stay ahead of the changes shaping academic research. I look forward to sharing future editions with you—and to navigating the “spirit of the time” together.
Until next time,
Sarah Trimmer, MPH
The Research Policy Dispatch
Clear signals. Confident action.