URI’s Social Science Institute for Research, Education, and Policy (SSIREP) is a campus-wide consortium that brings together faculty and students from diverse fields of study to foster programs in scholarly research, teaching and learning, and outreach to business, government, and community. Learn more under the About Us tab. To donate to the Social Science Institute for Research, Education, & Policy, click here
Spring 2026 Events
Our events for this semester have officially begun! View upcoming events for the Spring 2026 semester here
2026 Public Policy Lab
We are currently looking for students to work on a research study on Cyber Dating Aggression led by Dr. Shaun Wallace, Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the College of Arts & Sciences. Undergraduate student researchers will gain several skills and experiences grounded in experiential learning:
- Engage in a human-centered process integrating feedback from participants to improve the system.
- Collaborate with faculty and another student across disciplines: HCI, CS, Health, & Psychology.
- Apply recent AI technologies to anonymize information and create synthetic datasets for prototypes and studies.
- Learn about conducting and preparing in-lab and remote studies, and analyzing the data.
The faculty and students will engage in weekly meetings over the period of the proposed work. Students will be paid $16/hour for 12 hours a week for 10 weeks in Summer 2026.
Deadline for first consideration: Wednesday, April 15th
2026 Seed Grant RFP
Stay tuned for further updates regarding new funding opportunities!
Congratulations 2025 SSIREP Public Policy Fellows!
Skip Mark; Assistant Professor, Political Science; Director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies; Project Title: “Digital Repression and Governance of Networks and Surveillance (DRAGONS) Dataset”
Andrea Paiva; Assistant Professor, Psychology; Project Title: “Applying the Transtheoretical Model to Develop Measures of Readiness for Reduction of Marijuana Use and Driving After Use Among College Students”
Recent News
New Article on Immigration and Labor Policy
SSIREP Director, Julie Keller, has recently co-authored an article on the intersection of immigration and labor policy in the journal of Rural Sociology.
rural sociological society
Rhode Island Survey Initiative – Information & Feedback Talk
On Wednesday, November 12th, Dr. Ashlea Rundlett (Political Science), Dr. Ying Xiong (Harrington School of Communication), and Dr. Julie Keller (SSRIEP and Sociology) hosted a talk to introduce faculty to the Rhode Island Survey Initiative and share 2025 state polling results.
Rhode island survey initiative
Rhode Island Survey Initiative
The RI Survey Initiative, a collaborative effort between SSIREP and YouGov to assess public opinion in Rhode Island, was recently featured in The Boston Globe. You can read more about the project on our Research Projects page, and access The Boston Globe’s article through the link here.
The Boston Globe
SSIREP at the State House
SSIREP was proud to participate in URI Day at the Rhode Island State House on April 1st! We had the opportunity to highlight our mission and initiatives, such as our Public Policy Lab. We were happy to show our Rhody Pride and share in URI’s commitment to helping to improve the lives of all Rhode Islanders.
Recent SSIREP Workshop
During an impactful recent SSIREP workshop, Dr. Rebekka Lee (Harvard Catalyst) shared her experiences from her public health program of research and her role supporting community-engaged research across Harvard University. She discussed strategies for centering community voice and priorities, as well as approaches for overcoming barriers to successful partnerships.
SSIREP Field to Table Faculty Talk
SSIREP hosted a great event on September 18th with Dr. Ashlea Rundlett from URI’s Department of Political Science. Dr. Rundlett discussed her research paper “Affective Polarization, Local Trust, and Perceptions of Electoral Fairness: Insights from Rhode Island.”
New Ocean State Politics Podcasts
New podcasts from Professor Lynch’s Rhode Island Politics course (PSC 305) have just been posted. Professor Emily Lynch, of URI’s Department of Political Science, asked her students in this to make podcasts on local political issues in Rhode Island. Topics range from housing in Naragansett to free lunch in RI Public schools. Click the link and have a listen!
OCEAN STATE POLITICS PODCASTS
New Applied History Lab White Papers
The Applied History Lab exists to improve public policy through the application of historical methods and enhanced contextual understanding of the challenges impacting the state of Rhode Island and Southern New England. The Applied History Lab White Papers research key issues within the United States. We just recently updated our website to include two new papers– topics include an analysis of “U.S. and Rhode Island Pandemic Preparedness” (Dennis Haggerty) and “Parochial Schools and School Choice in Rhode Island” (Madison Palmieri). Please click on the button below to access these papers, as well as some other insightful works from past students.
APPLIED HISTORY LAB WHITE PAPERS
SSIREP Director and Fellow URI Faculty Participate in Rhode Island Survey
SSIREP Director, Julie Keller, and other faculty members at URI develop an ongoing opinion poll to gauge the perceptions of those in Rhode Island. This poll is the first from the Rhode Island Survey Initiative.
2022 SSIREP Seed Grant Awardees Publish Article on Sustainability and Fashion Post-Pandemic
With funding from a 2022 SSIREP Faculty Seed Grant, Dr. Strübel and her team published an article in Sustainability about societal attitudes towards sustainable fashion post-pandemic.
SEE ALL NEWS