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 and search for SSIREP in the Designation field.
Events
Our events for 2025-2026 have concluded. View previous events here.
2026 Public Policy Lab Fellows & Faculty Seed Grants
We have concluded our grants cycle for this year. Stay tuned for news about our 2027 opportunities.
Congratulations to the 2026 SSIREP Awardees!
Public Policy Lab Fellowship: Shaun Wallace; Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Project Title: “Exploring Cyber Dating Aggression in Real-Time Among Young Adults”
Faculty Seed Grant: Ashlea Rundlett; Associate Professor of Political Science; Project Title: “Does Great Power Competition Transform Public Attitudes Toward Strategic Technologies?”
Faculty Seed Grant: Laura Hamman-Ortiz; Assistant Professor of TESOL & Bilingual Education; Project Title: “Project TRANSFORM: TRANSlanguaging as Family-ORiented Multilingual Pedagogy”
News
Article on Opioid Use and Encounters with Criminal Justice Personnel
Dr. Barbara Costello, a 2020 SSIREP Faculty Seed Grant awardee, recently published an article in Journal of Drug Issues on encounters with criminal justice personnel from the perspectives of people who use opioids. Dr. Costello’s SSIREP-funded project was entitled, “Peer Influence on Opioid Drug Use Initiation.”
Article here
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.
Article here
Rhode Island Survey Initiative – Information & Feedback Talk
On November 12, 2025, 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 1, 2025! 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.
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