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.

Special Event

REGISTER

Event Date: March 11th, 2026
4:00pm-5:30pm

Social Science Matrix – BESI Open House

Register to join us on March 11 at 4:00pm for the Matrix-BESI Open House. Co-organized by Social Science Matrix and the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative (BESI), this event is an opportunity to network with other members of the Berkeley social science community and learn more about our projects, events, and funding and research opportunities. Light bites and refreshments will be served. 

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News

Published February 7, 2019

Funding Available: Matrix Research Teams; Sciences Po, Erasmus+ Freie Universitaet Grants

Social Science Matrix seeks proposals for Matrix Research Teams for the 2019-2020 academic year, and we invite applications for collaboration grants with Sciences Po and Freie Universität Berlin.

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Workshop/Symposium

News

Published January 10, 2019

Matrix to Host “Grad Slam” Workshop

Social Science Matrix will be supporting the UC Berkeley Grad Division in presenting Grad Slam, a UC-sponsored competition designed to showcase graduate student research. Graduate students are invited to attend an info session and brainstorming workshop on January 22 from 3pm-4:30pm.

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Democracy

News

Published December 1, 2018

Winner and Losers in the 2018 Midterm Elections

Recorded on November 15, this "post-mortem" panel featured a group of scholars—experts on Congress, public opinion, and voting behavior—discussing the outcomes of the 2018 midterm elections.

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Matrix Lecture

Recap

Published November 28, 2018

The New Research Compact: Social Science Partnerships for the Common Good

In this Matrix Distinguished Lecture recorded on November 15, 2019, Alondra Nelson, President of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, discussed findings from a recent SSRC report and assessed the myriad challenges and threats facing social science research.

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Sexuality

Published November 11, 2018

Getting the Facts on Sexual Violence & Sexual Harassment

Recorded on October 25 at UC Berkeley's Social Science Matrix, this panel discussion focused on the limits of what can be learned about sexual violence and harassment from personal narratives that are shared online, as well as the question of what is missed in survey data related to sexual violence.

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Matrix News

News

Published August 21, 2018

Matrix Welcomes 2018-2019 Dissertation Fellows

Social Science Matrix is honored to welcome our 2018-2019 cohort of Matrix Dissertation Fellows, four Ph.D. candidates whose research interests span diverse global challenges such as urbanization, discrimination in the workforce, self-immolation, and indigenous language preservation.

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