77 Prospect Street, 203.432.3234
http://isps.yale.edu

Director

Alan Gerber

Executive Committee Steven Berry, Kerwin Charles, Ana De La O Torres, Heather Gerken, Gregory Huber, Grace Kao, Jennifer Richeson, Anthony Smith, Ebonya Washington, Steven Wilkinson

The Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) facilitates interdisciplinary social science inquiry on important public policy subjects in order to advance research, shape policy, and educate the next generation of policy thinkers and leaders. To achieve these ends, ISPS sponsors high-level conferences, interdisciplinary faculty seminars, targeted research projects on key policy issues, graduate and undergraduate fellowship programs, and postdoctoral appointments.

Recognizing that important social problems cannot be studied adequately by a single discipline, the Yale Corporation established ISPS in 1968 to stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration within the University, both across the social sciences and between the social sciences and other disciplines. Today, ISPS hosts a number of major programs, including the Center for the Study of American Politics; ISPS Health, a University-wide health policy center; and the Behavioral Research Lab, which conducts rigorous research in a controlled setting. These programs organize many of their activities through ISPS’s Policy Lab, a space for policy-oriented events, research, and collaboration. ISPS also supports the Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics; and the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics.

Our commitment to training students for future leadership centers around our three fellowship programs: Dahl Scholars and Director’s Fellows (for undergraduates) and the Graduate Policy Fellows (for graduate and professional school students). These fellowships offer students the opportunity to apply rigorous research to real-world social policy issues. In these yearlong programs, we offer the scholars biweekly workshops, mentorship, media training, and a series of policy-related skill training sessions.

As the hub for problem-oriented interdisciplinary research at Yale, ISPS provides intellectual leadership in the social sciences; fosters sound and creative research on public policies of local, state, and national significance; and informs both teaching at Yale and academic and public debates beyond Yale.