What Have Megastudies Taught Us about Successfully Encouraging Increased Vaccination?

In this lecture, Professor Milkman will discuss three massive field experiments testing dozens of different ways of encouraging increased vaccination. First, she will discuss a “megastudy” encouraging flu vaccination at doctor’s appointments among 47,306 patients of two large U.S. health systems in which 42 scientists worked in teams to design a total of 19 different text reminders using a variety of different behavioral science principles.

2023 Just Tech Fellowship Application Info Webinar Recording

The SSRC’s Just Tech program is seeking applications for the third cohort of its Just Tech Fellowship for the 2024–26 period. This informational webinar was recorded on November 17 to provide those interested with relevant information regarding the application process and fellowship. Learn more and apply to the Just Tech Fellowship here. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The last day to submit Full Application Materials is January 31, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Event Recording ----- The SSRC’s Just Tech program foregrounds questions of power, equity, and the public impact of new technologies, investigating evidence of bias …

Just Tech Fellowship Public Information Session 2024

The SSRC’s Just Tech program is proud to host a public information session answering your questions about the new Just Tech Fellowship, a two-year, full-time, $100,000 per year (plus supplementary funding) remote fellowship supporting a diverse community of researchers and practitioners investigating the intersection of technology and social justice. The public information session is scheduled for Friday, November 17, 12:00–1:00 p.m. ET. The session will cover details on application guidelines and eligibility requirements and answer any questions that participants may have. Register here. Just Tech is supported by the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the …

2023 Next Gen Post-Doctoral Virtual Writing Fellowship Workshop, November 28, 2023.

On November 28th, the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa (Next Gen) Program hosted the Next Gen Post-Doctoral Virtual Writing Workshop. The workshop brought together Next Gen Post-Doctoral Writing Fellows and program mentors to discuss their draft manuscripts, strategies, and plans for publication. The event was convened to facilitate the finalization of fellows’ manuscripts based on their Next Gen-supported research projects for publication in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, or the completion of book proposals/manuscripts. The workshop began with welcome remarks by the APN and Next Gen program director, and the introduction of workshop participants. The …

66th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA)

The Social Science Research Council’s (SSRC’s) African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa (Next Gen) program hosted a panel at the 66th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA), held in San Francisco, USA from November 30 to December 2, 2023, on the theme: “Envisioning Africa in Text and Deed”. The panel was organized under the “Peace, Law & Security” subtheme of the conference on the topic: “Contestations and Solidarities for Peace and Development in Africa: Towards Conflict Transformation and Security?.” The panel was an opportunity for former fellows of the program to showcase their …

2023 College and University Fund Conference: Social and Behavioral Science as R&D

As a capstone to the Council’s Centennial year, this convening brought together leaders of consortium member universities, philanthropic foundations, and public funders of science to celebrate the achievements of 100 years of socially valuable social and behavioral science, and to explore new opportunities for social and behavioral science R&D to find cost-effective and scalable solutions to our most pressing societal challenges. Click here to learn more and read a full summary of the event.

2023 College and University Fund Conference: Social and Behavioral Science as R&D

Decades of investments in science and technology R&D have led to remarkable innovations, including safe and effective vaccines and efficient clean energy solutions. These innovations hold the promise of healthier, more sustainable, and more prosperous societies. But in order to fully realize that promise, we also need social and behavioral science R&D aimed at identifying interventions, programs, and policies that motivate citizens and decision makers to act in socially beneficial ways.

As the Social Science Research Council’s Centennial year draws to a close, this convening of the member institutions in the College and University Fund for the Social Sciences will celebrate the achievements of 100 years of socially impactful social and behavioral science, and will explore new opportunities for social and behavioral science R&D to find cost-effective and scalable solutions to our most pressing societal challenges, including climate change, persistent inequality, and declining rates of scientific innovation.

2023 College and University Fund Conference: Social and Behavioral Science as R&D

Decades of investments in science and technology R&D have led to remarkable innovations, including safe and effective vaccines and efficient clean energy solutions. These innovations hold the promise of healthier, more sustainable, and more prosperous societies. But in order to fully realize that promise, we also need social and behavioral science R&D aimed at identifying interventions, programs, and policies that motivate citizens and decision makers to act in socially beneficial ways.

As the Social Science Research Council’s Centennial year draws to a close, this convening of the member institutions in the College and University Fund for the Social Sciences will celebrate the achievements of 100 years of socially impactful social and behavioral science, and will explore new opportunities for social and behavioral science R&D to find cost-effective and scalable solutions to our most pressing societal challenges, including climate change, persistent inequality, and declining rates of scientific innovation.

APN and Next Generation Writing and Dissemination Workshop, January 29 – February 1, 2024

Addis Ababa From January 29th to February 1st, 2024, the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa (Next Gen) program of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), in partnership with the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of Addis Ababa University (AAU), hosted a Writing and Dissemination Workshop for the 2023 cohorts of APN Individual Research Fellows (IRF) and Next Gen Doctoral Dissertation Proposal and Research Fellows at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. APN and Next Gen Writing and Dissemination workshops provide fellows with the opportunity to meet with mentors and peers …

Bottlenecks for Evidence Adoption

February 29th, 2024 | 3:00 PM EST
Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) have become an increasingly used tool for governments to evaluate whether a particular program or improvement to a program could work. But once a government has that evidence, what determines if they will use it? In this installment of our Research to Solve Problems lecture series, Stefano DellaVigna (UC Berkeley) will discuss ways researchers might address bottlenecks to evidence adoption in their research design.

Political Science as Problem Solving

March 14th, 2024 | 2:00 PM EDT
In this installment of our Research to Solve Problems lecture series, Cyrus Samii (New York University) will discuss how political science researchers can take a problem-solving approach to orienting their work toward social issues. Drawing on a recent book chapter, he’ll describe how empirical political scientists can look for and define problems, and a step-by-step process to help researchers pick the right methodological tools to go from descriptive to causal analysis and intervention testing to solutions.

How Can Scholars Help to Embed Institutions of Public-Sector Change?

April 18th, 2024 | 2:00 PM Eastern
In this installment of our Research to Solve Problems lecture series, Donald Moynihan (Georgetown University) will discuss how social and behavioral scientists interested in the applied study of public services can think about ways for their research to have an impact. Professor Moynihan will draw from his experience studying government processes to discuss the purposeful framing of public problems, and how researchers can design solutions of interest to policymakers.

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