Should We Keep Meeting This Way?

We examined roster composition carefully to see if reviewer demographics have changed during the pandemic. So far, we see little change. Interpretation is complicated by the fact that reviewers are dealing with two large changes at once – video format, which may make it easier to participate, and COVID, which likely makes it harder. We are all still learning. “How to run better Zoom meetings” is a frequent topic of workshops, meetings, and staff conversations. Reviewers have reached out, for example, reminding us of the challenging home/work realities they are contending with. We understand that many reviewers must work from home and cannot completely absent themselves from family and household responsibilities. SROs generally are implementing more frequent breaks to accommodate this new reality. Even so, cameos by pets and children are not “unprofessional”, they’re OK, perhaps even fun. We understand you might want to eat your breakfast with the video off. However, please come back, and mostly stay on screen because video seems to improve engagement. Hopefully, more breaks will help with Zoom fatigue, but one size does not fit all, and good communication between SROs and reviewers is vital. Going forward CSR and OER plan to gather additional data from the February and March 2021 review meetings. We will consider those data, your comments, and input from our NIH colleagues when setting post-pandemic practices for study section meetings. There are many consideratio...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - Category: Research Authors: Tags: blog Open Mike coronavirus COVID-19 Peer review Source Type: funding