The Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI) is UC Berkeley's hub for interdisciplinary social justice research. Since 1976, the Institute has been fostering qualitative and quantitative interdisciplinary research on the issues central to social stratification and inequality while training and supporting new generations of social change scholars.

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Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

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Women on the Right in U.S. History: Intellectual, Economic, and Political Power

Conference: February 26-27, 2026

FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize

Honoring an emerging social change activist in California. Nominations due February 9, 2026.

Recent Stories

Strengthening the Academic Pipeline for HBCU Students

January 21, 2026

Travis J. Bristol and Tolani Britton, both faculty affiliates of the Center for Research on Social Change, received a three-year UC-HBCU Initiative grant to bring six HBCU students to UC Berkeley each year for a research immersion at the Center for Research on Expanding Educational Opportunity (CREEO) in the Berkeley School of Education. As part of this collaboration, students in the UCB CREEO-HBCU Program will participate in ISSI's Summer Qualitative Methods Workshop each...

Advancing Equity Through Transformative Socio-Emotional Learning

January 21, 2026

ISSI graduate student Aukeem Ballard recently co-authored an article in Education Sciences on teachers' sensemaking of equity and social and emotional learning (SEL) in pedagogy and practice. The article's findings highlight the promise of integrating equity-centered SEL within STEM teacher preparation to support early-career development.

What RFK Jr.’s Support for Psychedelic Therapy Means for Its Future

November 20, 2025

Marlena Robbins, a Graduate Fellow at the Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues, was a guest on KQED Forum. She commented that the intersection of psychedelic medicine with Indigenous knowledge frameworks creates a legacy of biopiracy and bioprospecting: "Going into Indigenous communities and extracting ceremony, medicine, knowledge systems, stories, songs and then bringing it back to the market for mass...

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