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COSWD Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022–2026 Now Available

April 06, 2022

I am pleased to present the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD) Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022–2026. It outlines a bold vision for our future efforts and renews our charge to lead the science of scientific workforce diversity, using evidence-based approaches to catalyze cultures of inclusive excellence in support of the NIH mission.

As the United States confronts challenges and threats to equity, my office is advancing its mission to address these issues in science. Our new strategic plan is grounded in our continued commitment to enable the NIH and NIH-funded institutions to benefit from the full range of talent in the nation, fostering creativity and innovation in science.

Guided by the plan, our activities over the next five years will promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the biomedical research enterprise by focusing on three related goals:

  • Goal 1: Build the evidence using research insights and the NIH as a testbed for innovative scientific programs to enhance diversity in the workforce.
  • Goal 2: Disseminate the evidence through work with the biomedical scientific community, from trainees to established tenured scientists.
  • Goal 3: Act on the evidence by advancing integrated, institution-wide systems to address bias, equity, mentoring, and work-life issues.

The plan describes the objectives and tactics we will employ to achieve these goals and the three cross-cutting strategies—collaborations, accountability, and evaluation—that will guide our pursuit of them.

Our strategic priorities continue the momentum established by the first COSWD strategic plan released in 2016. We intend to scale and accelerate our progress toward a more equitable scientific endeavor by building on prior COSWD accomplishments, including those summarized in our 2021 Year in Review.

Our new plan aligns with the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021–2025 and the forthcoming NIH-Wide Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan. Together, the three efforts present a cohesive vision for fostering cultures of inclusive excellence throughout the biomedical science workforce ecosystem.

I am deeply grateful to the COSWD team for their vital contributions to our strategic plan. In addition, I thank the NIH community and our external stakeholders for sharing their critical insights and feedback throughout the planning process. This input helped us produce a plan that will enhance scientific workforce diversity across the talent lifecycle.

Please explore the strategic plan in full to learn how we will pursue the goal of promoting transformative change. We look forward to partnering across NIH and beyond to foster this change, and I will share our progress as we bring this new vision to life. You can stay up to date with our activities by subscribing to this blog and following us on Twitter and LinkedIn.