Graduate Training in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: A Workshop

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, under the auspices of the Board on Science Education and the Board on Higher Education and the Workforce, will hold a public workshop to explore future directions for graduate training in the social and behavioral sciences. The demand for behavioral and social science is large and growing in business, government, and academia. However, graduate training regimes have not kept pace with changes in the problems and tools of science and the opportunities and demands of potential employers. This workshop will bring together experts from academic and non-academic venues and from different stages of the academic career to initiate a much-needed discussion of the major issues that must be addressed to prepare future behavioral and social scientists. The workshop discussions, to be summarized in a published report, will lay the groundwork for a transformation of graduate training in the behavioral and social sciences that will promote continued progress in science and contribute to improved knowledge, policy, and practice in multiple institutional settings and in everyday life.The demand for behavioral and social science is large and growing in business, government, and academia. The best behavioral and social science is becoming more and more interdisciplinary making important contributions to and learning from the other sciences. Thus, a productive transformation of the training regime in the behavioral and social sciences will contribute to improved knowledge, policy, and practice in multiple institutional settings and in everyday life. The workshop will bring together a broad set of stakeholders who can use the workshop as a starting point for re-imagining graduate training in the social and behavioral sciences. The workshop cover the following themes: 1) Current production and employment of PhD?s in the social and behavioral sciences, including different pathways for training and where individuals holding PhD?s in social and behavioral sciences are currently employed; 2) How changes in science, academia, government, and business are creating new demands and challenges for the future social and behavioral sciences workforce; 3) How employers perceive their future needs; 4) How training and career pathways for graduate students in the social and behavioral sciences will need to be transformed in order to respond to changing data resources, research practices, and career opportunities; 5) How the issues above might vary across the social, behavioral, and economic sciences; and 6) Data needs and potential research areas to inform reshaping graduate training and to identify best practices. The workshop discussions, to be summarized in a published report, will help to catalyze a process of discussion, planning, and change that should lead to a transformation of graduate doctoral education in the U.S. and, perhaps, across the globe.