Promoting the social and behavioral sciences
by Jonathan Miles · Open Access GovernmentOpen Access Government offers an overview of advancing the fields of social and behavioral sciences into the future after its rich history
For the past 100 years, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has connected the public, private, and nonprofit sectors with social scientists dedicated to illuminating and addressing our most pressing societal challenges.
What is the Social Science Research Council’s mission?
The SSRC’s work is driven by the belief that strong democracies, just societies, and shared prosperity all depend on a better understanding of complex social, economic, cultural, and political processes. The organization collaborates with policymakers, practitioners, and academic researchers across the social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, and related fields. Through these partnerships, the organization builds international and interdisciplinary networks, links research to policy and practice, strengthens institutional and individual learning capacity, and improves public access to information.
The SSRC mobilizes an extensive global network of researchers, grantees, and fellows, as well as disciplinary associations, including its seven founding associations. The organization also engages faculty and institutional leaders from the College and University Fund for the Social Sciences and collaborates with numerous funding partners. (1)
Five key commitments
The SSRC’s five key commitments can be summarised as follows:
- Fostering innovation: Tackling problems requiring new approaches and stimulating creative thinking among researchers. Renew expertise and generate novel data and theories for the public good.
- Investing in the future: Nurturing a new generation of researchers, promoting collaboration, building capacity, and facilitating internationalization in social science to ensure the future of knowledge production.
- Working internationally and democratically: Understanding social processes should be accessible to all, advocating for broad participation in scientific knowledge production, especially from underrepresented groups.
- Combining urgency and patience: Uniting researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to address urgent public issues while recognizing that solutions often require ongoing learning and re-examination of existing knowledge.
- Keeping standards high: Prioritizing rigorous knowledge production to inform practical action and policy, emphasizing scientific quality, public engagement, and openness to critique. (2)
More on the SSRC
The SSRC works with its partners to manage fellowships and research grants that aim to generate new knowledge and support emerging fields of study focused on addressing contemporary societal challenges. Efforts include producing and translating research that is accessible, timely, and actionable. The organization also convenes innovation networks that connect researchers with stakeholders, supports the next generation of researchers, and provides efficient fiscal sponsorship for projects aligned with its mission. (3)
Investment in the next 100 years
Investing in the social and behavioral sciences is essential to address today’s pressing issues and anticipate the challenges humanity will face in the future. As it concludes a century of research dedicated to the public good, SSRC is excited to launch an ambitious $100 million campaign to mobilize the next generation of social and behavioral scientists.
The SSRC has already generated policy-relevant research on significant questions such as social insurance, immigration, economic development, racial discrimination, education, the green revolution, climate change, poverty, pandemic response, and democracy.
While this research has successfully informed global policy responses, SSRC recognizes that today’s challenges require fresh investments and innovative solutions. Looking ahead to the next 100 years of social and behavioral science for the public good, the Campaign for Social and Behavioral Sciences will encourage the research community to explore “new pathways to more peaceful, just, democratic, healthy, prosperous, and sustainable societies”.
We extend our heartfelt wishes to the organization in its ambitious endeavor to propel the fields of social and behavioral sciences into the dynamic landscapes of the 21st and 22nd centuries. May their efforts lead to groundbreaking advancements that positively influence society and enrich our understanding of human behavior in the years to come. (4)