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.
Learn More >New Directions
Recap
Published October 29, 2021
Matrix on Point: New Directions in Studying Policing
Contemporary movements like Black Lives Matter and the prison abolition movement point to the long histories of police violence and mass incarceration in the United States and elsewhere, demanding new approaches to approaching the history and present of policing. In this Matrix on Point panel, recorded on October 25, 2021, UC Berkeley graduate students were joined by outside experts in discussing the impacts of policing on the lives and health of officers and the communities they serve, as well as how contemporary policing practices are related to an unjust past.
Learn More >Lecture
Recap
Published October 14, 2021
Transformation Through Trauma: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Survive Injuries of Inequality
How do we remake, not simply rebuild, our lives after trauma? Recorded on October 4, 2021, this video presents a lecture by Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Jean E. Fairfax Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan. Professor Watkins-Hayes is also director of the Center for Racial Justice.
Learn More >Social Science / Data Science
Recap
Published October 14, 2021
Doing Academic Research with Amazon Mechanical Turk
Recorded on October 1, 2021, this panel brought together researchers to share their experience with the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. Moderated by UC Berkeley psychology professor Serena Chen, the panel featured Ali Alkhatib, Interim director of the Center for Applied Data Ethics at the University of San Francisco; Stefano DellaVigna, Daniel Koshland, Sr. Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Business Administration at UC Berkeley; and Gabriel Lenz, Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published October 12, 2021
Politics of Indigeneity in El Salvador
In this episode of the Matrix podcast, Julia Sizek, PhD candidate in anthropology, interviews Hector Callejas, a PhD candidate in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and a 2021-2022 ACLS/Mellon Dissertation Completion fellow. Sizek and Callejas discuss how Indigeneity is understood in El Salvador, as well as contemporary Indigenous movements in El Salvador.
Learn More >Berkeley Conversation
Recap
Published September 23, 2021
Berkeley Conversation: Defending Against Disinformation
On September 21, UC Berkeley Public Affairs presented a panel discussion focused on the proliferation of disinformation and what can be done about it. The panel included: Geeta Anand, dean of the School of Journalism; Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law; Hany Farid, associate dean and head of the School of Information; Susan D. Hyde, chair of the Department of Political Science; john powell, director of the Othering & Belonging Institute; and moderator Henry Brady, former dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy.
Learn More >Podcast
Interview
Published September 16, 2021
A New Voice for Black History: Xavier Buck, PhD
In this episode of the Matrix Podcast, Julia Sizek interviews Xavier Buck, Deputy Director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. Buck graduated with a PhD in History from UC Berkeley in 2021. The discussion focuses on Buck’s work in public history, including his @historyin3 channel (which can be found on TikTok and Instagram), his current work at the Huey P. Newton Foundation, and his dissertation research, which shows connections between Black experiences in Louisiana and California in the 20th century.
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