Advancing Science — Newsletter from the NIJ Director

We’re accepting applications for our Research Assistantship Program for the 2025-26 academic year.

This is a fantastic professional development opportunity for doctoral students to gain first-hand experience working at NIJ part-time and contribute their expertise across our departments and research areas. We encourage students from every academic discipline to apply, particularly those from minority-serving institutions! These RA positions are also remote-eligible.

Deadline to apply is January 20, 2025!

APPLY

I had a blast at the American Society of Criminology’s annual meeting! NIJ staff took part in 23 panels and discussions throughout the week, including five NIJ Day panels sharing important updates on NIJ-supported research.

I was part of four discussions including:

•  The future of DOJ’s science agencies and the implications for research;

•  Public access to NIJ-funded research (more on that below);

•  Rutgers’ School of Criminal Justice (my alma mater) 50^th anniversary retrospective on crime and place research; and

•  30 years of the Violence Against Women Act and its implication for evidence-informed policy and practice.

Big shoutout to ASC for convening the brightest minds in CJ research to advance science and justice!

Solicitation season is just around the corner! In accordance with the rest of the federal government, we are now calling these Notifications of Funding Opportunities (NOFO). Check out a sneak peek of our anticipated FY25 funding categories. It’s never too soon to get started on developing your proposals, lining up partnerships, and organizing data-sharing agreements.

Subscribe to our funding list to be notified when they’re released.

ANTICIPATED FUNDING

Final reminder — the deadline to submit comments responding to NIJ’s draft public access plan is this Friday, November 29, by 5:00 p.m. ET.

We’re seeking public comment on a new plan to expand open access to data and findings resulting from NIJ-sponsored research. We also published the slides and transcript from a webinar expanding on our goals for the public access plan.

COMMENT INSTRUCTIONS

Our latest NIJ Journal article features a piece on improving law enforcement response to sexual violence.

The short of it: Growing evidence supports that pairing situational and developmental crime prevention approaches is an effective measure to combat sexual violence.

READ FINDINGS