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Definitions and FAQs

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About NSF Convergence Accelerator Programs

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports research to promote the progress of science and advance national health, prosperity, and welfare. The NSF does this by awarding grants that fund research in social science, natural science, mathematics, engineering, computer science, and science education.

In addition to regular funding programs, NSF has a relatively new program called the convergence accelerator that builds beyond basic research and discovery to accelerate solutions toward societal impact. NSF organizes the convergence accelerator around tracks.  Tracks are not specific projects or activities; they define areas that NSF will use to invite proposals and fund projects. The overall goal of tracks is to fund projects that produce long-lasting societal impact fed by science. Examples of current tracks in this program include: Food and Nutrition Security, Sustainable Materials for Global Challenges, and Enhancing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

Definitions

Science: We mean science in an inclusive way: activities, ways of knowing, and processes that develop, refine, and apply knowledge about the world by modeling, deducing, experimenting, observing, experiencing, classifying, and/or reasoning, etc. Science activities include research, application, education, and synthesis or integration. We invite all approaches to science including Indigenous, Western, and Eastern.
Citizen Science: Initiatives that engage members of a community – including non-scientists – in scientific research such as data collection, data analysis, and problem solving.
Community Science: Community science is the equitable collaboration of science and research with communities, aimed at outcomes for the benefit of communities and science with a focus on prioritizing community benefits. Work can be led by collaborative teams of researchers and community stakeholders or be community-led.
Community Resilience: Ability for communities to adapt, recover, or withstand adversity and challenges, especially adversity or challenges related to climate change, in a sustained manner. At its best, resiliency addresses the underlying causes of inequality, repairs past harms, and addresses future injustice.
Tracks: Tracks are a new way for NSF, through its convergence accelerator program, to invite proposals for funding science research that leads to societal outcomes. Tracks are not specific projects or activities; they define areas that NSF will use to invite proposals and fund projects. The overall goal of tracks is to fund projects that produce long-lasting societal impact fed by science. Examples of current tracks in this program include: Food and Nutrition Security, Sustainable Materials for Global Challenges, and Enhancing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

For 2023, NSF is considering a new track on Community Science and Community Resilience. Our goal is to offer NSF guidance about such a track. We are doing that by soliciting your ideas for the overarching themes, programs, and projects that NSF should consider funding under this track as well as recommendations for how to encourage equity within the track.
Ideas about Tracks: To help NSF decide to fund the Community Science and Community Resilience track, we are asking for themes, projects, and recommendations.

  • Themes are overarching ideas on the topics a track on Community Science and Community Resilience could explore.
  • Projects are examples of specific activities tied to the track theme.
  • Recommendations are suggestions for how to make the work more accessible or successful by encouraging partnership or removing barriers to participation.

For example, a Community Science and Community Resilience track theme might be around enhancing coastal resilience in historically underserved urban communities. Specific projects might include flood preparation and mitigation with Latinx neighborhoods in San Diego and integrated storm and sea water management strategies in Richmond's underserved neighborhoods. Recommendations might include making it easier for small neighborhood based groups to receive financial support for their work on projects. Another track theme might focus on managing heat in rural areas. A project might focus on working on heat-resistant corn production with farmers, and a recommendation might include working with large agricultural companies to develop data policies and practices for sharing data about the genetic markers for corn’s susceptibility to heat, drought, and flooding.

The most successful ideas:
  • will be national in scale;
  • will fund projects that produce tangible community outcomes in three years or less;
  • will advance research and generate new knowledge;
  • will promote the leadership and benefit of historically neglected, marginalized, or colonized communities;
  • will equitably engage public, private, and non-profit actors; and
  • will change the culture and practice of science forever.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. We want everyone's input, and that includes people who work in sectors focused on community resilience, people with lived experience of climate change or community resilience, people who have different educational backgrounds, etc. Track ideas should reflect the interests, priorities, and concerns of everyone and not just academics and scientists.
Yes. We anticipate most attendees will only be attending the workshop to participate in the discussions and help us enrich the submitted ideas.
You can participate in this exciting process in a few ways. You can submit your ideas for the workshop attendees to discuss. You can vote or comment on the ideas once they're posted online. You can also share the event with colleagues to help get as many people involved who could benefit from a new grant funding track. As for the workshop, we will record the talks at the beginning, but most of the event will be a working meeting and those portions will not be recorded.
No prior experience or knowledge of NSF is required in order to participate. It is our hope that this process and resulting tracks will encourage new audiences to participate. For that to happen we need the input of people and groups who have not been involved previously.
NSF funds a broad range of scientific initiatives including natural sciences, social sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science and technology. All are welcome. In fact, the strongest tracks will include many disciplines.
No, resilience isn't just about bouncing back from disaster. It’s about bouncing back better and undoing the inequities and injustices that made and continue to make communities vulnerable in the first place. Resilience is about breaking cycles, not just surviving them.
We’d love to hear about those ideas. At the bottom of the track submission template form there is a place to submit ideas about projects that tracks could fund.
That is up to you. You can decide, when you submit, whether you’d like to publicly share your name, name and email, or be anonymous. We will ask you to include your name and email when you submit an idea so that we, as organizers, can answer questions and explore how your ideas might be combined with other ideas – but you will get to choose whether or not your name is shared publicly.
Yes, there is some overlap in the ways many different people use the terms citizen science and community science. We are using community science to highlight the community outcomes and community role in setting the priorities for scientific activities. We are using citizen science to describe many ways people who aren’t professional scientists participate in scientific activities. Community science often – but not always – includes a citizen science component.