The University of California, Irvine is the latest member of the College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, a consortium of more than 30 esteemed educational institutions that partner with the Social Science Research Council to support the infrastructure of social science research, catalyze interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration, and support scholars and scholarship.

UCI is the fourth member institution from the University of California system, joining UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara.

Bill Maurer, dean of the UCI School of Social Sciences, noted that joining the College and University Fund stems in part from a longstanding campus commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship.

“Initially founded without departments, UC Irvine has a deep tradition of interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching in the social and behavioral sciences,” Maurer said. “This is reflected in our cross-campus commitment to partnering with the Social Science Research Council, long an incubator for cross-disciplinary research and action. From information science to public health and law, social scientists at UC Irvine are excited to work with the SSRC to find boundary-breaking solutions to the seemingly intractable problems that require innovative methodological collaborations and that cut across our areas of expertise.”

UCI’s commitment to the College and University Fund comes from the schools of Social Sciences, Social Ecology, Information & Computer Sciences, Humanities, Program in Public Health, Law, and the Office of Research.

“Interdisciplinary research and scholarship have been central tenets of the Council from its founding in 1923,” said Alondra Nelson, SSRC president. “We welcome UC Irvine as the newest member of the College and University Fund with genuine enthusiasm, anticipating collaboration with its social science faculty and scholars to explore new ways of addressing persistent challenges, for the benefit of the public and all our social science colleagues.”

Such collaboration has been a constant between the SSRC and UCI, including 38 current UCI faculty members who have received SSRC fellowships in the course of their careers. An additional 26 have served on SSRC program committees, and over the years, 26 graduate students have received SSRC fellowships.