Nature
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
独家：美国国家科学基金会停止发放新资助和续签现有资助
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
美国科学资助机构还计划审查资助申请是否符合“机构优先事项”。
Staffers at the US National Science Foundation, one of the biggest funders of basic research in the world, have been told to stop all “funding actions”.Credit: Tada Images/Shutterstock
美国国家科学基金会（NSF）是全球最大的基础研究资助机构之一，其工作人员被告知停止所有“资助行动”。图片版权：Tada Images/Shutterstock
Staff members at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) were told on 30 April to “stop awarding all funding actions until further notice,” according to an email seen by Nature.
根据 Nature 看到的电子邮件，美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的员工于 4 月 30 日被告知“暂停所有资助行动，直至另行通知”。
The policy prevents the NSF, one of the world’s biggest supporters of basic research, from awarding new research grants and from supplying allotted funds for existing grants, such as those that receive yearly increments of money. The email does not provide a reason for the freeze and says that it will last “until further notice”.
政策阻止了美国国家科学基金会（NSF），作为世界上最大的基础研究支持者之一，颁发新的研究补助金，并为现有的补助金提供分配的资金，例如那些每年获得资金增加的补助金。电子邮件没有提供冻结的原因，并表示将“直到另行通知”为止。
Earlier this week, NSF leadership also introduced a new policy directing staff members to screen grant proposals for “topics or activities that may not be in alignment with agency priorities”. Proposals judged not “in alignment” must be returned to the applicants by NSF employees. The policy has not been made public but was described in documents seen by Nature.
本周早些时候，NSF 领导层还推出了一项新政策，要求员工对补助金提案进行审查，以确定“可能不符合机构优先事项的主题或活动”。被判定为“不符合”的提案必须由 NSF 员工退回给申请人。该政策尚未公开，但《自然》杂志看到了相关文件。
An NSF staff member says that although good science can still be funded, the policy has the potential to be “Orwellian overreach”. Another staff member says, “They are butchering the gold standard merit review process that was established at NSF over decades”. One program officer says they are resigning because of the policy. Nature spoke with five NSF staffers for this story, all on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
一位 NSF 员工表示，尽管优秀的科学仍然可以获得资助，但这项政策有可能成为“奥威尔式的过度干预”。另一位员工说：“他们正在破坏 NSF 几十年来建立的黄金标准评审流程”。一位项目官员表示，他们因为这项政策而辞职。为了这篇报道，《自然》杂志与五位 NSF 员工进行了交谈，所有员工均要求匿名，因为他们未经授权不得接受媒体采访。
An NSF spokesperson declined Nature’s request for comment.
美国国家科学基金会（NSF）发言人拒绝就此事对《自然》杂志发表评论。
Continuing turmoil 持续动荡
The changes are hitting an agency already in crisis. In the past two weeks, the NSF has terminated roughly 1,040 grants that would have awarded US$739 million to researchers and their institutions. The agency’s director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, resigned last month.
这些变动正在打击一个已经陷入危机的机构。在过去的两周里，NSF 已经终止了大约 1040 项研究资助，这些资助原本将向研究人员及其机构提供 7.39 亿美元。该机构的主任 Sethuraman Panchanathan 上个月辞职。
