The festival highlights exciting research results, emerging areas, and innovations in health-related BSSR. This NIH-wide event enables efficient leveraging of NIH resources and expertise. The BSSR-CC members contribute diverse and comprehensive perspectives on the NIH BSSR portfolio, thus facilitating the selection of an outstanding array of research results that are highlighted at the festival.
OBSSR Past Events
OBSSR organizes virtual and in-person meetings to showcase behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR). In collaboration with our National Institutes of Health (NIH) colleagues, federal partners, and the BSSR community, we facilitate opportunities to network, collaborate, explore, and advance BSSR.
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OBSSR Director's Webinar Series
This series showcases diverse BSSR topics, sharing the latest research findings to advance the field.
NIH Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Sciences Honors
This annual event celebrates early-stage investigators and outstanding social-behavioral scientists whose work reflects Dr. Matilda White Riley’s vision of research excellence in BSSR.
NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival
This annual event showcases cutting-edge research funded by the NIH, highlighting emerging scientific fields and health advancements in behavioral and social sciences. It keeps the BSSR community and our NIH colleagues updated on the latest NIH-funded BSSR projects and their impact on human health and well-being.
View the list of upcoming OBSSR events.
Past Events by Category
Director's Webinar Series | Matilda White Riley BSSR Honors | BSSR Festival | All Past Events
- November 18, 2021, 1:00 – 4:30pm | Virtual
- November 19, 2021, 1:00 – 4:30pm | Virtual
- October 1, 2021, 9:00 – 10:30am | Virtual
The Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee (BSSR-CC) open meetings include representatives from NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices and interested members of the public to meet to discuss behavioral and social sciences-relevant topics.
- September 14, 2021, 2:00 – 3:00pm | Virtual
Dr. Jarvis proposes a motor theory of vocal learning origin in which brain pathways for vocal learning evolved by brain pathway duplication of an ancestral motor learning pathway using mostly the same genes, but with some divergences in gene regulation via sequence and epigenetic changes that control divergent connectivity and other functions.
- August 6, 2021, 9:00 – 10:30am | Virtual
The Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee (BSSR-CC) open meetings include representatives from NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices and interested members of the public to meet to discuss behavioral and social sciences-relevant topics.
- July 20, 2021, 2:00 – 3:00pm | Virtual
Dr. Howell described the intertwined racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and infant mortality. She introduced a framework that describes the complex web of factors that contribute to these disparities. The model also described pathways linking hospital organization and quality to maternal and infant health disparities. Dr. Howell also shared her team's research findings on quality of care, disparities in severe maternal morbidity and very preterm morbidity and mortality in New York City hospitals. The presentation discussed levers to reduce disparities.
- May 5, 2021, 1:00 – 4:30pm | Virtual
Distinguished Lecturer: Anne Case, Ph.D.
Presentation: Death by degree: U.S. mortality in the 21st century
The 14th NIH Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Sciences Honors was held virtually on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT. Anne Case, Ph.D., Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University, is the 2021 NIH Matilda White Riley Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Case is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research; a fellow of the Econometric Society; and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Case’s presentation “Death by degree: U.S. mortality in the 21st century” explored the proximate and underlying causes of poorer health and shorter lives of individuals who have not been to college, and will suggest steps that could be taken to address these disparities.
- March 23, 2021, 2:00 – 3:00pm | Virtual
This presentation provided an overview of violence prevention among Emergency Department patients including the CDC best practice program SafERteens. Participants will understand the longitudinal outcomes of Emergency Department youth regarding substance use and violence including how to utilize the SAFETY score to predict risk for firearm injury. Review the history of firearm injury prevention research and the capacity building NICHD funded FACTS grant.
