Social Science Research Council

The Social Science Research Council’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Daniel Goroff, a leading figure in social science, philanthropy, and science policy, as its 16th president. Read more: www.ssrc.org/announcement...

In an essay for The Immanent Frame, John Lardas Modern analyzes AI-driven systems through theories of neural networks and information processing, as well as the human mechanics that make and sustain the AI industry. Read more: tif.ssrc.org/2026/10/07/a...

In a new Just Tech article, Mika Noh examines how AI models are trained on cultural production, and argues that a new AI law that now covers artists under employment insurance in South Korea is a model for letting creators decide how their work is used. just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/the...

Applications are now open for the African Peacebuilding and Developmental Dynamics 2027 fellowships. Apply now to advance your research, strengthen your networks, and shape Africa’s peacebuilding future. Please share widely! Learn more: www.ssrc.org/programs/afr...

In a new book, Against Tech Oligarchy, JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine describe the nascent push for collective organizing in the tech sector. Just Tech has published an excerpted chapter on conflict in union building. Read more: just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/the...

The Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology is now accepting applications for the 2027 competition! Open to undergraduate and graduate students worldwide. Learn more and apply: racheltanurmemorialprize.ssrc.org/the-award/

An essay in @amanthro.bsky.social presents the Costs of War, a project creating public knowledge toward the goal of challenging US militarism and confronting pillars of belief about war that are shaped by the powerful military-industrial complex. anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/am

Very grateful to have received a 2026 Innovation in Religion and Spirituality grant!

A new essay by Sarah Sharma in The Immanent Frame analyzes the gendered logics of big tech and artificial intelligence alongside a theologically coded “anxiety about being able to reproduce and instrumentalize the world.” Read more: tif.ssrc.org/2026/09/23/c...

The Social Science Research Council is proud to announce the ten scholars selected to receive 2026 Innovation in Religion and Spirituality seed grants, which aim to foster research on the wider implications of new forms of religious and spiritual life. Read more: www.ssrc.org/uncategorize...

Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed writes about Bangladeshi workers who annotate the data of online posts stoking religious friction, rating "toxicity" in order to make information legible to AI, in a new essay in The Immanent Frame. Read more: tif.ssrc.org/2026/09/09/t...

In a new interview published by Just Tech, Todd Whitney speaks with artist and writer Ingrid Burrington @lifewinning.com about demystifying what technology makes invisible, paths into journalism, and the importance of bringing levity and humor to serious work. just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/loo...

An article in American Sociological Review measures how changes in state-led antipoverty efforts via taxes and transfers have affected trends in inequality below the poverty line from 1967 to 2019. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

2021 Religion, Spirituality, and Democratic Renewal (RSDR) fellow Katie Gaddini has published a new book, Esther’s Army: The Christian Women Who Power the American Right. Read more: bookshop.org/p/books/esth...

The SSRC is excited to announce the 2026 cohort of fellows for the APDD program. This year’s cohort will conduct research on diverse topics related to peacebuilding in Africa, including natural resource conflict, gender, and social dynamics. www.ssrc.org/news/2026/09...

Our September edition of Items & Issues newsletter is out. This month, we revisit essays that illuminate the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath through social science, including questions about religion, militarism, and more. Read our features and sign up: items.ssrc.org

🛎️ 📖 New paper published in Science ! @science.org publishes ‘An agenda for implementation science in education’, a new research agenda led by @wwhglobaled.bsky.social's Academic leadership Team. 📍Explore the paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In a new essay from Just Tech, Yifan Miller gives readers a peek behind the curtain of seemingly autonomous robots, including how the labor of engineers and other humans is concealed. Read more: just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/beh...

On Thursday (9/10) at 10am EST, SSRC's African Peacebuilding and Developmental Dynamics program will host a virtual book discussion for The Colour of Inequality in South Africa and Brazil: Making Sense of Social Policy as Reparations, by Dr. Madalitso Zililo Phiri. Register here: bit.ly/4y9wdIE

MediaWell's fall syllabus highlights some of the questions and conversations taking place against a backdrop of large-scale technological change. Read more: mediawell.ssrc.org/articles/inf...

One participating organization of Wallace's Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative, Theater Mu, has found value in connecting with fellow cohorts and building a shared community. https://bit.ly/4gzwopl

The Council is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026–2027 CUF Graduate Research Fellowships, which support interdisciplinary social science projects by advanced graduate students affiliated with CUF member institutions. Learn more: cuf.ssrc.org/fellows-2026/ @fadilatolasupo.bsky.social

Peter Crimmins @whyy.org highlighted ARCC organization BlackStar Film Festival as a model for community-centered arts organizations in a feature story on the festival's 15th anniversary, using SSRC’s "Building Trust, Sustaining Art" study to help make the case. whyy.org/articles/bla...

This month’s Items & Issues newsletter highlighted an essay by Ian Shapiro, which examines the relationship between democracy and inequality, including rates of political participation and reasons why people vote against their economic interests. items.ssrc.org/the-inaugura...

“What begins as marvel first becomes habit and then price of admission—to a game we can no longer leave.” A new @immanentframe.bsky.social article by Suzanne van Geuns analyzes how promises around artificial intelligence amount to an insidious “secular religion.” tif.ssrc.org/2026/08/12/b...

Our August edition of Items & Issues newsletter is out. This month our newsletter focuses on the Social Security Act, signed 91 years ago. We highlight how social insurance connects to democracy, risk privatization, and more. Read our features and sign up: items.ssrc.org

J. Barton Scott and @pklasse.bsky.social explore how the study of religion can contribute to the critical study of artificial intelligence, breaking down concepts including the religio-technological mythos of the “Singularity.” tif.ssrc.org/2026/07/29/d...

In this new article, Ever Bussey and @rodriugarte.bsky.social tease out the threads of a panel discussion hosted by Just Tech fellows on artistic research on artificial intelligence and society. just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/fro...

The SSRC and Japan Foundation New York have awarded new research grants to five projects that address caregiving in aging societies, populism in the age of artificial intelligence, migrant civic inclusion, healthcare spending, and demographic futures in Japan. www.ssrc.org/news/2026/08...

What does it mean to have a "human-in-the-loop"? Mishal Khan dives into the many different HITL provisions being proposed in legislatures across the country today, highlighting their impacts on workers. just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/co-... @ssrc.org

In a new article from Just Tech, @mishal-khan.bsky.social examines legislation at the intersection of technology and work in the United States over the last few years, laying out the wide range of human-in-the-loop AI provisions emerging across legislatures today. just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/co-...

"While human-in-the-loop provisions are a hard-won victory against pressures of total automation, the question for the moment is how to ensure these provisions do not co-opt, but rather actively center, the human worker." @mishal-khan.bsky.social for @ssrc.org just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/co-...

Tomorrow is the final day to apply for the LEGO Foundation Fellowship, a global research fellowship for early- and mid-career researchers whose work can strengthen understanding of how children thrive across diverse contexts. www.ssrc.org/programs/the-lego-foundation-fellowship/application-details/

The SSRC-JFNY Japan Global Workshop supports research explicitly focused on policy-relevant and contemporary issues with a comparative or transnational perspective that can benefit from inquiry into Japan. Applications close October 1. Learn more: www.ssrc.org/programs/abe...

Applications close this week for the LEGO Foundation Fellowship, a new global research fellowship for researchers working to deepen understanding of how children thrive across disciplines and geographies. Apply by Friday 7/31: www.ssrc.org/programs/the-lego-foundation-fellowship/application-details/

Through the study of fascistic nationalism in postcolonial Korea, an article in @historians.org American Historical Review argues for the need to rethink existing Eurocentric approaches to the concept of fascism and broaden its geographic and temporal applicability. academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...

Applications close July 31 for the LEGO Foundation Fellowship, a global research fellowship for researchers whose work can strengthen understanding of how children thrive across diverse contexts. Apply now: www.ssrc.org/programs/the-lego-foundation-fellowship/application-details/

In this article co-published by SSRC’s Just Tech and The Immanent Frame, Anna Su analyzes Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in particular its critique of artificial intelligence and technocratic paradigms. just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/the...

An article in @amanthro.bsky.social explores evangelical activism, arguing that in seeking recognition as a sexual minority, self-described “ex-gay” evangelicals reveal the inadequacy of modern law’s efforts to regulate sexual difference. anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Our July edition of Items & Issues newsletter is out. This month our newsletter explores nationalism, a multivalent concept that social scientists, including at the SSRC, have wrestled with since the early 20th century. Read featured pieces and sign up: items.ssrc.org

An article by Tara Gonsalves in @asanews.bsky.social's ASR shows how international NGO staff used a variety of recognition strategies to navigate competing demands from gender-diverse communities, opponents of LGBT rights, and broader cultural shifts. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

The SSRC-JF Next Generation Japan Studies Development Program provides grants of up to $20,000 to US academic institutions to host Japan-based faculty for a six-week stay in the United States. Apply by November 1 for 2027 grants. www.ssrc.org/programs/ssr...

In this new interview with MediaWell, critical informatics scholar Britt Paris discusses her new book Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up (@ucpress.bsky.social 2026)—a glimpse into a more people-centered digital future. Read more: mediawell.ssrc.org/articles/rad...

Tomorrow, we’re hosting a live webinar for the LEGO Foundation Fellowship, a global research fellowship for early- and mid-career researchers whose work can strengthen understanding of how children thrive across diverse contexts. RSVP here: events.zoom.us/ev/AhMeWEtT9...

Next Wednesday (7/8), the SSRC will host a live webinar on applications for the LEGO Foundation Fellowship, a global research fellowship for early- and mid-career researchers whose work can strengthen understanding of how children thrive across diverse contexts. RSVP here: https://bit.ly/4xP4Xje

Upcoming deadline: applications for the Religion and Spirituality Seed Grants, which offer research support over a period of up to 6 months, up to $10,000 per award, are due tomorrow, July 1, at 5:00 pm EST. https://bit.ly/3R3k0W3

Applications are due in two days for the SSRC-JF Next Generation Japan Studies Development Program, which offers institutional grants for short-term visiting professorships in the US for Japan-based faculty. Apply by 7/1: https://bit.ly/4xPngoC