The Matrix Solidarity Series features talks and panels that explore—and critique—the ethical foundations, concrete implementations, and prospective designs that have fostered or may foster connectedness, inclusiveness, tolerance, and equality. These conversations are meant to serve as an argument on behalf of the premises and practices of solidarity, and an exposition of the potential of the […]
Research Team
Demystifying the Black Box of Computational Text Analysis Workflows: From Static Textual Archives to Visualizations and Reports of U.S. Congressional Activity
Computational text analysis workflows are long and complex. Too few scholars know how to evaluate critically the multiple decisions a researcher might make in preparing, processing, and analyzing data; fewer still know how to carry their own research through such workflows. This Matrix Theme Team will make this whole process transparent and understandable, by designing […]
Research Team
Continent Divided: Building Bridges, Finding Truth
Building upon the framework created through two previous Matrix Research Teams—A Polarizing Europe (2015) and Questioning the Evidence on the Integration of Immigrants in Europe (2016), this year’s Theme Team has identified key lines of inquiry in Europe’s ongoing struggle to provide a unified front in the face of mounting political division, socioeconomic upheaval, the […]
Research Team
Berkeley Infrastructure Initiative: Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Policy Research in the Public Interest
Co-sponsored by Global Metropolitan Studies, this Matrix team aspires to lay the foundations for a “Berkeley Infrastructure Initiative,” (BI2), which will bring together faculty and students with a shared interest in the planning, governance, finance, design, development, economics, and environmental effects of infrastructure. Sub-sectors of interest include transportation, housing, water, sanitation, information and communication technology, […]
Research Team
I Regret to Inform You That Your Private Information Has Been Compromised
“Privacy is one of the central issues of importance of our time,” wrote the organizers of this Matrix Prospecting Team in their successful proposal. “Despite our appreciation of privacy, police officers wear body cameras, customer loyalty programs track purchases and the Transportation Safety Administration performs full body scans. This paradox illuminates the deep ambivalence in […]
Research Team
The Origin of States
This Matrix Prospecting Team will apply modern methodologies to tackle a question that has challenged historians, archaeologists, and other scholars for years: why did some human populations transition from living in scattered groups of hunter-gatherers to gathering in cities governed by a centralized state, while others did not? Integrating faculty, PhD students and undergraduate students […]
Research Team
Working, Learning, and Earning in the Age of Intelligent Machines: Considering the Implications of Computation Intensive Automation, Big Data, and Platforms
Bringing together scholars from engineering, business, and other domains, this Matrix Prospecting Team will develop a research agenda focused on understanding the impact of artificial intelligence on labor and the economy. “The objective is classic and enduring: sustain the equitable growth of employment and productivity to assure expanding real incomes of the community,” the researchers […]
Research Team
Expert Language, Native Language: Toward a Framework for Translation in Clinical (Mis)communication
Bringing together experts in linguistics, cognitive and data scientists, medical doctors, bioethicists, and medical anthropologists, this Matrix Prospecting Team aims to generate a theoretical framework to address challenges in medical communication, specifically between doctors and patients. “Our project explores challenges in clinical communication, analyzing conversations between patients and physicians via the lens of linguistics and […]
Research Team
Matrix-Sciences Po Collaboration Grants
UC Berkeley’s Social Science Matrix and Sciences Po, a premier university based in Paris, France, have a established a program to provide grants designed to encourage collaboration between scholars from the two institutions. Through the Matrix-Sciences Po Collaboration Grants program, each institution has committed to provide a pool of funding to enable graduate students and […]
Research Team
Assembling Critical Theory and Practices in Design and the Social Sciences
The social sciences have long been interested in the processes and products of art, media, and design, exploring how material objects and media infrastructure are shaped by and give rise to cultural norms, historical values, and social systems. Design shapes our daily lives through the technologies, infrastructures, and artifacts around us. The processes and implications […]
Research Team
The Future of the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences PhD at Berkeley
Led by Anthony Cascardi, Dean of Arts and Humanities at UC Berkeley, and Claudia von Vacano, Executive Director of D-Lab and the Digital Humanities, this Matrix project team aims to examine the current professional relevance of liberal arts doctoral preparation at Berkeley. The reason: PhD training in the humanities and humanistic social sciences has strained […]
Research Team
Resilience and Transcommunity Knowledge-Sharing in Agroecosystems at the Base of the Himalaya
Disaster events and environmental shocks disproportionately affect rural and poor populations. The Nepali Himalayas are a particularly vulnerable hotspot, as earthquakes are common and more than 80% of the rural population is dependent on agriculture and home-produced food. Drawing upon field research conducted in Nepal, this Matrix research team is working with local communities and […]