The RESEARCHER Act directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop guidelines within six months to help federal research agencies address financial hardship among graduate and postdoctoral researchers. The guidelines address increasing stipends (with adjustments for location and rural areas), improving access to affordable healthcare, housing, transportation, and childcare, and reducing food insecurity among these researchers. Within six months of receiving these guidelines, federal research agencies must develop and implement policies consistent with them and share these policies broadly with grant recipients.
The bill also requires data collection on researcher stipend amounts and financial instability, mandates a National Academies study comparing stipends to local living costs, and directs the Government Accountability Office to assess agency compliance and effectiveness within three years. The legislation includes funding for competitive grants to institutions and nonprofits to study financial instability among graduate and postdoctoral researchers, with findings reported to Congress annually and every five years thereafter.
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