Facilitating Rapid and Actionable Responses to Social, Behavioral, and Economic-Related COVID Questions: The Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN)

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of life across the globe. As decision makers at the federal, state, and local level respond, they are grappling with numerous complex scientific questions. Many of these questions are grounded in the social, behavioral, and economic (SBE) sciences. Questions such as: • What strategies are most likely to restart economic growth in critically important sectors that were heavily affected by COVID-19? • How can governments more effectively encourage use of masks and other strategies to reduce disease transmission? • What recent knowledge will allow public and private sector educational entities to improve on-line learning outcomes? The Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in collaboration with the National Science Foundation, continues the work of the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) which was established during the summer 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic. SEAN products are designed to provide actionable responses to urgent policy questions asked by federal, state, and local decision makers. SEAN is unique in its focus on rapid, readable, and research-based insights in response to questions on issues such as the reopening of businesses and economic growth, the education of children, the mental health and resilience of our communities, and many more. The resulting products are made publicly available and widely disseminated, which benefits not only the requesting official, but a broad range of decision makers and the public. The value of SBE sciences in addressing problems of national importance is shared with an expansive audience, thus contributing to our nation's overarching understanding of how best to deploy SBE knowledge in pandemic and other crisis situations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.