Mission and Vision
We envision a world where the lived experience of the people most impacted by social injustice and environmental crises help shape research priorities. Where research advances societal progress over individual academic careers. Where research leads directly to transformation in policy making, local economies, and the health of communities. Where engaging educational experiences prepare students to lead real-world change.
By thoughtfully applying the powerful tools of academic research and learning, we can transform society and create the equitable, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable future humanity needs to survive and flourish. This isn’t a future that’s nice to have. It’s a must-have. That’s the world we’re creating, and we need your help to do it.
Our mission
The Institute for Social Transformation supports actionable community-centered research that builds a more just and sustainable future.
What is Social Transformation?
Social transformation is the process of communities and individuals fundamentally reshaping societies based on democratic values. This process uplifts community voices and creates the ability for communities to meet their own needs and desires while elevating the dignity of their people.
Social change can occur incrementally or in broad strokes. Change happens through a variety of processes, including political upheavals and social movements, technological innovations and economic restructuring, responses to environmental degradation and natural disasters, and changing values and cultural expressions. All social transformation is a collective process. The Institute for Social Transformation brings the research-based expertise and resources of the University of California, Santa Cruz into collaboration with others who share our values of environmental regeneration, democratic revitalization, and opportunity for all.
The Institute supports community-centered research focused on understanding and co-creating actionable solutions to today’s urgent challenges. We prioritize research that addresses the underlying systemic causes of problems. We promote solutions that create systemic change in institutions and social relationships, social norms and values, and relationships of power. And we share our research with the goal of providing communities around the world with examples of social transformation that can be adapted to address their challenges.
How we’re leading change
Unlike traditional research centers that focus on academic outputs, the Institute prioritizes turning knowledge into real-world action. We co-create projects with community partners and embed our knowledgeable and experienced staff into research teams to ensure follow-through and implementation. We support research that leads to pilot programs, industry innovations, policy briefs, training toolkits, and on-the-ground change. Our model allows faculty to pursue ambitious, impact-oriented research without sacrificing rigor or reach.
Our staff works with community members to uplift their voices and ensure that their goals are incorporated throughout the research process to develop empowering research agendas, conduct research together, and share data and results to advance solutions. In addition to research products, our staff support the development and implementation of community workshops and trainings, workforce development, and other activities driven from the ground up.
The Institute also serves as a launchpad for student changemakers. Through our experiential learning programs, we offer paid, hands-on research experiences for students with limited financial means and enable students to participate in career-advancing summer internships off campus while receiving a stipend and mentorship. These programs help students develop critical skills, mentorship relationships, and career pathways that connect their personal identity with public impact.
History
Housed within the Social Sciences Division at UC Santa Cruz, the Institute was founded in 2018 by former Social Sciences Dean Katharyne Mitchell. We build upon the campus’s progressive values and long history of transformative work that addresses critical social issues.
The Institute was originally envisioned as a network that would bring together scholars and changemakers across and beyond the UC Santa Cruz campus. Over the years, we have grown nationally and internationally, leading key research initiatives, public engagement efforts, and community programming in partnership with nonprofits, government agencies, community groups, industry partners, and academia.
Today, our work and partners are global. However, we have always been especially committed to the Central Coast and Central Valley of California — regions often overlooked by traditional research institutions, yet home to some of our country’s most pressing environmental and social justice challenges.