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African Peacebuilding Network (APN) News

Announcing the 2025 African Peacebuilding Network and Next Gen Social Sciences in Africa Fellows

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.

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SSRC and Sloan Foundation Launch Economic Research Rescue Fund

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.

News

Social Science Research Council Welcomes Ira Katznelson to Board of Directors

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).

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The SSRC’s Centennial Campaign raises $101M+ for the social and behavioral sciences

We are so grateful to announce that the Social Science Research Council has not only met but also has exceeded its ambitious $100M Centennial Campaign goal. Since the Campaign’s public launch in January of 2023, the Council’s Centennial year, we have raised $101,349,064 in program and operating support for the Council’s work. The robust philanthropic support for the social and behavioral sciences will be critical for the research community in the years to come.

Event News

Virtual Lecture | Repeated Evaluation Can Make Better Policy: The Case of Summer Youth Employment Programs

Virtual Lecture | May 22, 2:00 PM Eastern, via Zoom

Researchers often pursue ideas because they are novel and innovative. Breaking new ground is clearly important, and being “first” can help a paper get published. But the drive to be new can also push researchers away from the kinds of iterative research questions that help decision-makers implement effective policy (and towards surprising results that can be hard to replicate). This talk will tell the story of a policy-research partnership that started with a new and surprising finding—that summer jobs programs don’t actually help future youth employment, but do reduce violence—then kept iterating to explore how, why, and for whom. The result highlights what can come from repeated evaluation: an evidence base that is more convincing, illuminating, and practical than any single study can be.

News

Investing in University-Government Innovation Partnerships

In a new policy memo published by the Brookings Institution, SSRC President Anna Harvey and coauthors call for investment in university-government innovation partnerships to increase the capacity of state and local governments to innovate, evaluate, and implement more effective ways of delivering vital public goods and services.

Mercury Project News

Mercury Project Findings: Health Information Literacy Trainings

Over the course of the past three years, the Social Science Research Council’s Mercury Project has supported 18 research teams working around the globe to evaluate interventions designed to increase vaccination and other preventive health behaviors. This month, we share findings from the Bihar Information and Media Literacy Initiative (BIMLI) and Knowledge Versus Skills, two Mercury Project experiments that tested different strategies to help individuals in India and Sierra Leone better distinguish between true and false health information.

News

American and Stony Brook join the SSRC College and University Fund for the Social Sciences

The Social Science Research Council welcomes American University and Stony Brook University to the College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, joining more than 50 North American institutions of higher education (and more than 90 campuses) dedicated to connecting across disciplines and institutions to support impactful social and behavioral science that produces new knowledge and advances the common good.

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