For more than a century, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has been furthering research and building research capacity in the social sciences for the benefit of the public. At a moment when the social sciences are ever more important, the SSRC’s Board of Directors has launched the search for the Council’s new President, with an appointment expected to take effect in early 2026.
The SSRC and the Japan Foundation New York have awarded new research grants to four Abe Fellows leading cross-disciplinary, cross-national research teams working on better understanding important social issues. The projects address the development of transparency in parliamentary systems, international responses to bird flu, gender-based income shocks, and neurodiversity-inclusive learning.
Recently, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), with support from Arnold Ventures (AV), launched the Criminal Justice Innovation (CJI) Fellowship program, which supports early-career researchers who are exploring what works to make communities safer and the criminal justice system fairer and more effective.
We spoke with current CJI Fellow Shinjini Pandey, who is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Economics at Duke University and a Visiting Research Scholar at NBER.
A new policy brief from the AI Disclosures Project, “Protocols and Power” by Isobel Moure, Tim O’Reilly, and Ilan Strauss, argues that as AI models become commodities, tech giants are racing to lock in users by hoarding their data. Open protocols, backed by open APIs, can facilitate broad data sharing and healthier AI markets. This paper frames Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a potentially critical market-shaping device that can decentralize power through unbundling context.
The Social Science Research Council’s (SSRC) African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation (Next Gen) Social Sciences in Africa Program, in collaboration with the University of Mauritius, held a Regional Proposal Development (RPD) Workshop from July 11 to July 12, 2025. Over a dozen participants from universities in Mauritius and neighboring Madagascar attended the two-day workshop, which was designed to provide opportunities for producing high-quality, internationally competitive research proposals and improve their chances of winning grants and fellowship award, while expanding opportunities for professional development through mentorship by highly experienced mentors from different parts of the world. Mrs. Christina Chan
The Social Science Research Council’s (SSRC) African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation (Next Gen) Social Sciences in Africa Program, in collaboration with the University of Mauritius, held the 2025 July Research Methods Workshop in Ébène, Mauritius, from July 7 to July 10, 2025. The workshop brought together fifty-six (56) fellows from fourteen (14) African countries, along with facilitators, guests of honor, and keynote speakers, for four days of field-based research methods development, peer-to-peer engagements and networking, and mentorship by highly experienced senior scholars drawn from North America, Europe, and African countries. The workshop also served as an opportunity for
The SSRC is excited to announce the 2025 cohort of fellows for the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Gen Social Sciences in Africa (Next Gen) program.
This year’s cohort will conduct expert research on diverse topics including policy for localizing digital technology, the impacts of the lithium rush in Zimbabwe, and depictions of women in African cinemas of conflict. In this year’s competitive selection process, APN awarded 20 Individual Research Fellowships and 1 Research Policy Fellowship, and Next Gen awarded 37 fellowships across three categories, including 9 Dissertation Proposal Fellowships, 17 Dissertation Research Fellowships, and 11 Dissertation Completion Fellowships.
The Social Science Research Council is partnering with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to host a Research Rescue Fund that will provide financial support for societally valuable economics research projects that have been approved for NSF funding but that are not currently receiving that funding. Review of applications to the fund will be conducted by an advisory panel of Americans drawn from different walks of life, including business and public service, and from different geographic regions of the US. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis, as funds permit.
The SSRC is pleased to announce that Ira Katznelson has joined the Board of Directors. Ira Katznelson is the Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia University, and Deputy Director of Columbia World Projects. Katznelson, a fellow of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, is a former president of the American Political Science Association (2005-2006) and the Social Science Research Council (2012-2017).
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) today announced that President Anna Harvey—a distinguished scholar and former Dean at New York University—will be stepping down from her role on June 30, 2025. A search for her successor will commence in the fall of 2025.
