CNI Executive Roundtable Report - Beyond the Pandemic: The Future

Still, uncertainties abound and considerable notes of tentativeness remain, and indeed, events subsequent to the Roundtable, such as the large-scale spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the US, have eroded much of the confidence we heard in June 2021, though probably more around instructional strategies than the continuity of the research enterprise. [...] • Physical access to archives and special collections throughout the US is expected to be substantially restored in the fall (at least as of the June discussion and prior to the dominance of the COVID-19 Delta variant; but see also the comments on- campus visitors above), yet interest in collection digitization and online (remote) accessibility on an ongoing basis remains very strong. [...] It’s also very important to recognize the questions that this work frames about interfaces and boundaries between the control and specification of the experimental infrastructure for science on one hand, and the data management, curation, and analysis environments for the outputs from this experimentally oriented infrastructure on the other. [...] We were concerned that while there was a great focus on the move to remote instruction, much less attention was being paid to what what was happening to the research enterprise in the response to the pandemic; a major commitment to research is one of the distinguishing and unique characteristics of the majority of CNI’s member institutions. [...] What have we learned? What ongoing investments do our members intend to continue to make in research resilience as we (hopefully) move beyond the immediate COVID-19 crisis? Data is beginning to emerge on the impact of the pandemic on various sectors and participants in the research enterprise; some of the reports coming from groups like the US National Academies indicate a devastating toll on spec.