Welcome to 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.

The Dispatch is a companion to the Research Policy Atlas—a searchable, user-friendly database that tracks executive orders, legislative actions, agency notices, court rulings, and much more. 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 unit can focus on advancing research, not chasing updates.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE RESEARCH POLICY ATLAS →

With systems restarting and inboxes refilling, there’s a lot of catching up to do, but the 43- day shutdown also gave me space to reflect on the many changes that have already taken place, what seems most important, and why it feels harder to keep research operations moving smoothly.

Two things I kept returning to:

Research security isn’t a niche issue anymore

Even if your institution doesn’t manage large foreign grant portfolios, global connections are everywhere:

Most research administrators aren’t experts in national security, nor should we have to be. But the federal government is treating research security as a core part of public investment. Directives like NSPM-33 and the rise of foreign-component rules and regulations mean agencies expect universities to actively monitor who is involved in research, where data goes, and what risks may exist behind the scenes.

I don’t believe the intent is about shutting down collaboration. It’s about protecting the openness that makes U.S. research strong without being naïve about how that openness can be exploited.

What’s shifting is the lens:

We’re moving from managing awards to managing risks (and risks don’t start or stop with project dates).

That expectation creates real work: training, tracking, and new processes that are often more complex than they sound on an agency issued notice.

Policy uncertainty continues to create operational burden

Even when policymaking slows as it did during the shutdown - uncertainty doesn’t pause. In fact, it often compounds challenges. Agencies are still finalizing guidance, appropriations remain unsettled, and the government has retreated to a temporary continuing resolution that extends only through January 2026. Meanwhile, we’ve seen requirements that get announced before the details are fully defined or rescinded entirely, leaving administrators to navigate incomplete information while keeping operations moving.

And when the future is unclear, everything:

Front-line administrators absorb that complexity.

The shutdown didn’t cause this dynamic, but it brought it to the fore: administration has to move even when the rules aren’t fully written or clear, and no one is around to answer emails or the phone.

Where this leaves us

Research administration has to keep the engine running whether Washington is moving or stalled. The shutdown was a reminder that policy delays don’t pause the work, they just make it harder to do.

So as we get back to normal operations, here are the two signals I’m keeping a close eye on:

Those pressures aren’t going away, and neither is the need to translate them into something workable at the department level.

More to come as the picture sharpens on these two fronts.

Even if your institution manages only a small amount of international funding, recent policy and agency changes make it clear that foreign involvement is now a routine part of compliance oversight. Some notable updates:

Taken together, these updates mean research administrators can no longer rely on a single inbox or platform to stay current. Keeping up with foreign reporting requirements and compliance now requires active monitoring across agency websites, notices, and executive actions.

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 policies evolve.

Key Impact Topics are a new feature of the Atlas including award terminations, gold standard science, and indirect costs to name a few. This week, I’m highlighting Foreign Subawards.

I provide an overview of the key impacts these arrangements have had on research institutions to date, including compliance obligations, disclosure requirements, and operational challenges.

In addition, I share considerations for evaluating these impacts and practical steps your unit can take to respond to changes from implementing monitoring systems to updating training and internal guidance.

The goal is to help research administrators see the big picture, understand where risk and workload intersect, and make informed decisions before issues escalate.

Stay tuned: we’ll continue building out Key Impact Topics in the weeks ahead, focused on areas that matter most to research operations and policy compliance.

You got to the end! Thanks for reading along. 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

Federal policy is complex and constantly changing, but the Research Policy Atlas tracks it so you can focus on research.