News & Events

A new memo published by the Federation of American Scientists, coauthored by SSRC President Anna Harvey, proposes a bold initiative to establish a nationwide network of university-based policy innovation labs in every state. Drawing inspiration from the success of the Agriculture Experiment Stations created under the Hatch Act of 1887—which boosted local agricultural productivity by 6%—the memo argues that partnerships between local governments and universities are the most effective way to foster government innovation, through the rigorous evaluation of public programs and the implementation of evidence-based policy reforms.

On October 3 – 4, 2024, the Mercury Project, together with the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Development Studies, welcomed leaders from the public, private, and philanthropic communities to the Mercury Project Solutions Summit. Abdul El-Sayed, doctor, epidemiologist, and director of the Wayne County, Michigan, Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services, reflects on what he learned about how researchers and policymakers can work together to develop and implement evidence to improve well-being.

Frontiers in Social and Behavioral Science features new research in the flagship journals of the Social Science Research Council’s founding disciplinary associations. Every month we publish a new selection of articles from the most recent issues of these journals, marking the rapid advance of the frontiers of social and behavioral science.

With support from Arnold Ventures, the Council is announcing a new initiative designed to incubate research and evaluation collaborations between U.S.-based College and University Fund member institutions and their state and local government partners. The program will offer funding and support for universities to work with state and local governments to co-host convenings connecting campus-based researchers with agencies seeking research and evaluation support.

The Social Science Research Council is pleased to welcome Texas Christian University to the College and University Fund for the Social Sciences. TCU, which enrolls over 11,000 undergraduates and nearly 2,000 graduate students, supports innovative research centers dedicated to increasing community well-being, including the Institute of Behavioral Research and the Karen Purvis Institute of Child Development.

In this lecture, Esther Duflo shares her experience working in collaboration with policymakers in the developing world, and highlight the critical role of bringing a “plumbing” mindset to policy-relevant research: a mindset where policymakers realize that any program has so many dimensions that it is very difficult to get them all right, and where there is a need for constant experimentation and tinkering for policies to reach their full potential.

Maya Chandrasekaran, the inaugural SSRC Presidential Fellow, discusses how her research experience informs her approach to supporting the Council’s evidence-to-policy work.

The Social Science Research Council is pleased to announce the 2024 cohort of fellows for its African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa (Next Gen) program. This year, the APN awarded 17 scholars with Individual Research Fellowships, and Next Gen awarded 34 scholars with Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships.

The Mercury Project, together with the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Development Studies, welcomes leaders from the public, private, and philanthropic communities to the Mercury Project Solutions Summit in Nairobi from October 3-4. We welcome colleagues from around the world to join us online for the opening plenary, at which representatives from the research, policy, and philanthropic communities will frame both the challenges and the opportunities for evidence-based strategies that build robust vaccine demand chains and support science-based health decision-making.

The SSRC and the Japan Foundation New York have awarded new research grants to three Abe Fellows leading cross-disciplinary, cross-national research teams working on better understanding important social issues. The projects address data governance in the context of urban innovation, legal and cultural understandings of sexual consent, and resiliency in food production systems.