Presentation by Social Science Research Council president to focus on research landscape of social and behavioral science
The Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment will host the president of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Anna Harvey, as part of Virginia Tech’s Sesquicentennial celebration and in recognition of the institute’s 15-year anniversary.
Harvey’s talk, “Social and Behavioral Science at Scale,” will be held March 31 from 1 to 2 p.m. in 310 Kelly Hall on the Blacksburg campus and via Zoom. A reception will follow the in-person event. Following her talk, Harvey will network with faculty interested in learning more about the Social Science Research Council and its opportunities for research funding.
“The Social Science Research Council is one of the leading organizations in the United States focused on promoting social science research and the role social scientists play in solving pressing contemporary problems,” said Karen Roberto, executive director for the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment and University Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Science. “We are excited to bring Anna Harvey to Virginia Tech to meet with faculty and present on the current state of social science research in the U.S.”
Harvey will present on the current landscape of social and behavioral science research and strategies that both funders and universities can adopt to increase the production of policy-based evidence of impact at scale.
“In order for philanthropies and policymakers to achieve the highest impacts on human well-being per last dollar invested, we need rigorous evaluations of interventions impacting human lives at scale,” said Harvey. “We need not ‘evidence-based policy’ but ’policy-based evidence’: evidence from experiments and quasi-experiments designed to measure impact at scale.”
In addition to her role as council president, Harvey is a professor of politics, an affiliated professor of data science, an affiliated professor of law, and the founder and director of the Public Safety Lab at New York University.
The past two years have presented challenges like never before: a pandemic, political polarization, catastrophic weather events, increasing recognition of structural racism, widespread misinformation, rising inflation, and now a war in Ukraine that threatens the lives of millions and is having a global impact.
“Due to the convergence of these complex issues and events, many national leaders and funding agencies have been turning to social scientists to better understand how to respond to and address these challenges that have cultural, social, political, and economic implications,” said Isabel Bradburn, associate director for strategic and faculty initiatives at the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment, who is planning the event.
As a leading social science organization for nearly 100 years, the Social Science Research Council works to advance evidence-based research for the good of humanity through its research funding, interdisciplinary programs, and initiatives.
The Social Science Research Council is currently focused in four research areas: emergent technologies and democracy, health and society, inequality and inclusion, and global scholarship and collaboration. Through its programs and partnerships in these areas, the council supports researchers and fosters collaboration between academia, government agencies, and industry.
According to its website, the Social Science Research Council was formed in the 1920s, when representatives from many of the social science professional associations were inspired to create an organization designed to generate new insight into pressing societal issues. Since then, the council has coordinated the research, policy, and philanthropic communities in the pursuit of evidence-based policies to promote human well-being. The council has offered more than 18,000 fellowships and grants since its inception, enabling scholars to conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research into some of the world’s most complex and significant problems.
For more information and to register for the event, visit the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment webpage.
