Fourth Secret Science Meeting Completes the Bureaucratic Bingo
Published Date: 11/25/2025
Notice
Summary
The NIH’s Center for Scientific Review is holding a secret virtual meeting on December 16-17, 2025, to review important grant applications. This meeting was delayed by a government shutdown but is now urgent to keep vital health research funding on track. Scientists applying for grants and public health projects are affected, with no direct cost changes but a tight timeline to meet funding deadlines.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Urgent NIH grant review on tight timeline
The NIH Center for Scientific Review will hold a closed virtual meeting on December 16-17, 2025 to review and evaluate grant applications for the RFA Panel EHS P30 Core Centers Program. The meeting was canceled earlier because of a 43-day government shutdown and is now being held urgently and published less than 15 days before the meeting so evaluations can be submitted to national advisory councils for timely funding recommendations.
Grant reviews closed to protect confidential information
The meeting will be closed to the public under 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(4) and (c)(6) because grant applications and discussions could disclose confidential trade secrets, commercial property such as patentable material, and personal information. The closed virtual format is intended to protect applicants' proprietary and private information during the review on December 16-17, 2025.
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