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.

New Directions

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Event Date: October 14th, 2026
4:00pm-5:30pm

New Directions: Green Transitions

This panel will bring together advanced graduate students from UC Berkeley whose research examines the forces shaping green energy transitions around the world. Drawing on emerging scholarship spanning energy systems, technological change, environmental policy, and social equity, the discussion will explore how societies can navigate the opportunities and tradeoffs of decarbonization, and what is at stake for communities, economies, and the future of the planet.

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Postcolonialism

Recap

Published March 10, 2020

Eros Ideologies: Writings on Art, Spirituality, and the Decolonial

Recorded on February 27, 2020, this “Authors Meet Critics” discussion focused on Professor Laura Eliza Pérez's book Eros Ideologies: Writings on Art, Spirituality, and the Decolonial (Duke University Press). Pérez, Professor of Ethnic Studies and and Chair of the Latinx Research Center, was joined by Natalia Brizuela and Julia Bryan-Wilson.

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Other Events

Recap

Published March 3, 2020

The California Primary and Super Tuesday

Recorded on February 28, 2020, a few days before the "Super Tuesday" primary, this panel focused on California's role in the 2020 presidential election.

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Authors Meet Critics

Recap

Published February 12, 2020

They Were Her Property

Recorded on January 29, 2020, this "Authors Meets Critics" panel featured a discussion of They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South, by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley.

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Information

Article

Published January 28, 2020

The Berkeley Protocol on Open Source Investigations

UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center is leading the way in the ethical use of open-source methods for investigating war crimes and human rights violations. We interviewed Dr. Alexa Koenig, executive director of the Human Rights Center at Berkeley Law and a pioneer in shaping the Berkeley Protocol.

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Matrix Lecture

Recap

Published January 28, 2020

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor: Race for Profit

In a Matrix Distinguished Lecture, Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor explained how banks and the real estate industry have undermined black homeownership.

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Other Events

Recap

Published December 18, 2019

Who’s on First? The Democratic Race at the End of the Invisible Primary

Recorded on December 12, 2019, this video features a panel on the state of the presidential race heading into the 2020 primary season.

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