Interagency Committee on Disability Research

Trends in Disability and Rehabilitation Research:
Implications for Federal Agencies

Thursday and Friday, August 10-11, 2006

The Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR) will hold a summit on “Trends in Disability and Rehabilitation Research: Implications for Federal Agencies.” The summit will bring together the editors of leading journals in disability and rehabilitation research and representatives of Federal research funding agencies to analyze and discuss trends and patterns in publication and the implications for the Federal research agenda. Participants will develop recommendations for Federal funding agencies on critical research needs and strategies for effectively moving disability research forward. Specific objectives are to: 1) identify recent trends in research publications, emerging and declining research areas and research gaps; and 2) develop recommendations for Federal agencies funding research to advance research in disability and rehabilitation.

The mission of the ICDR is to coordinate the Federal disability and rehabilitation research agenda. Its goals are to identify emerging topic areas, assess gaps in existing research, and develop sound recommendations to improve coordination and cooperation among funding agencies to advance the disability research agenda. This summit will bring together key players in research funding and publication of research results to examine the trends in research and ways to assess research opportunities. Resulting recommendations will guide ICDR coordination efforts.