UC Berkeley’s flagship institute for social science research

Our purpose is captured in our name: we provide an organizational framework—a “matrix”—that supports cross-disciplinary research pursued by social scientists across the University of California, Berkeley campus and beyond.

Matrix News

Article

Published July 10, 2026

Matrix Welcomes Eight Research Teams for 2026-2027

Social Science Matrix is pleased to welcome eight new Matrix Research Teams — three faculty-led teams and five graduate student-led teams — for the 2026-2027 academic year. The teams will address topics such as the political economy of wildfire risk, the global politics of declining fertility, and the use of digital tools for governance and development in South Asia.

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Matrix On Point

Recap

Published April 17, 2023

Matrix on Point: Wealth and Taxes

Recorded on April 3, 2023, this panel featured Duncan Wigan from Copenhagen Business School and UC Berkeley's Gabriel Zucman discussing aspects of the global ecosystem of tax avoidance, including how corporations and individuals move across multiple legal jurisdictions to maintain wealth and avoid paying taxes. Moderated by Marion Fourcade, Director of Social Science Matrix.

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Social Science / Data Science

Recap

Published April 15, 2023

Jo Guldi: Towards a Practice of Text Mining to Understand Change Over Historical Time

Recorded on March 8, 2023, this video features a lecture by Jo Guldi, Professor of History and Practicing Data Scientist at Southern Methodist University. Co-sponsored by Social Science Matrix, the UC Berkeley Department of History, and D-Lab, the talk was presented as part of the Social Science / Data Science event series.

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Lecture

Recap

Published April 15, 2023

Jo Guldi, “The Long Land War: The Global Struggle for Occupancy Rights”

 Most nations in Asia, Latin America, and Africa experienced some form of “land reform” in the 20th century. But what is land reform? In her book, The Long Land War: The Global Struggle for Occupancy Rights, Professor Jo Guldi approaches the problem from the point of view of Britain’s disintegrating empire. She makes the case that land […]

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Panel

Recap

Published April 15, 2023

Economics and Geopolitics in US International Relations: China, Europe, and the Global South

 The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have reshaped global geopolitics, trade, and security. How will these changes affect the relationship between the US and China, Europe, and the Global South? How will they impact US firms operating globally, and how might foreign leaders — and notably the Chinese leadership — respond? Recorded on […]

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Matrix On Point

Recap

Published April 15, 2023

Matrix on Point: Myths and Misinformation

In this panel, recorded on March 15, 2023, a group of scholars who study false histories and conspiracy theories discussed how misinformation circulates, and the effects of such myths and stories on society.

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Matrix News

Faculty Fellows

Published April 15, 2023

2023-2024 Social Science Matrix Faculty Fellows Chosen

Four UC Berkeley professors have been selected to be Matrix Faculty Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year: Rebecca Herman, Assistant Professor of History; Andrew Wooyoung Kim, Assistant Professor of Anthropology; Christopher Muller, Associate Professor of Sociology; and Aarti Sethi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology. 

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