A call to action for the UC Santa Cruz community
The Institute for Social Transformation serves as an incubator for new ideas and an accelerator for scholarship in the public interest. The institute supports boundary-crossing research, creative interactions, and rigorous policy-oriented scholarship. Our partners and audience include community organizers, elected officials, policy makers, philanthropists, prospective students, and the general public.
This campus is known for cutting-edge work that benefits people and the planet, and the Institute for Social Transformation shares that commitment to social justice. Our scholarship promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability. We provide hands-on research opportunities for students, and we partner with local and global actors. We believe in the power of collaboration and are eager to foster innovative solutions to pressing social and environmental problems.
The institute builds on the campus’s progressive values and areas of existing strength by providing support to faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and teams of interdisciplinary researchers.
We provide…
- Awards to catalyze innovative research and convene thought leaders
- Seed Grants ($500 – $2,500)
- Sprout Grants ($2,500 – $20,000)
- Harvest Grants ($500 – $1,500)
- Emerging scholar/research accelerator support
- Funding for Student Research
- Building Belonging Program ($1,500)
- Global Community Health Wellbeing Awards ($1,500)
The Institute for Social Transformation’s competitive grant program is designed to spur new ways of thinking about old problems and to jump-start new initiatives that show promise in advancing theoretical concepts, socially relevant research, community engagement, and public scholarship.
