Our Mission
Rooted in the Social Sciences Division at UC Santa Cruz, the institute supports innovative scholarship that changes the world. The institute is a critical intellectual and social hub, connecting scholars across UC Santa Cruz and partners beyond the University, developing research-based solutions to urgent problems in the world.
Research News
Research Roundup Summer/Fall 2021 Issue
December 15, 2021
Stepping up to fight food insecurity
December 03, 2021
Events of Interest
Pollinators and Urban Community Gardens with Stacy Philpott
Pollinators are essential to our environment, but habitat loss, pesticide use, and introduced diseases are causing issues for these creatures all over the world. During this talk, Stacy Philpott will …
Find out more »New Strategies: Extractivist Corporations, Communities, and the State in a Post-COVID World
The Extractivism and Society Research Cluster is organizing a four-part series entitled “Conversations on Extractivism in a Post-Pandemic World.” The second of these conversations will take place on January 27. The series will …
Find out more »Envisioning the Convergence of the Environmental and Social Justice Movements
At this first virtual event, we have invited author and wildlife biologist Dr. J. Drew Lanham to speak to the UC Santa Cruz natural history community about the convergence of the environmental and social justice movements. In many ways, we at UC Santa Cruz are a developing example of the convergence of what these two movements look like at the university level.
Find out more »UCSC College Ten will be named in honor of civil rights icon John R. Lewis
UC Santa Cruz recently announced that College Ten—an undergraduate residential learning community founded on principles of social justice and community—will be named in honor of the late congressman and civil rights icon John R. Lewis. Bearing Lewis’s name will be a momentous calling for the faculty, staff, and students of College Ten to work in community in the pursuit of social justice, a principle to which Lewis dedicated his life.
Solidarity Economics: OUR Movement, OUR Economy
Solidarity Economics recognizes that people are members of broader social groups and communities; that people are motivated not just by self-interest, but also by caring for others and a desire for belonging; and that we can and should build our economy on a sense of the commons and our shared destiny. Prominent national policy advocates and social movement leaders delved into the concept of Solidarity Economics at our event on Nov. 4th.
