THE INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL CONCERNS

The Institute for Social Concerns is the University of Notre Dame’s scholarly home for interdisciplinary responses to questions of justice. Committed to the normative proposition that a just world is a beautiful world, we engage the most urgent signs of the times through justice education, research for the common good, and collaborations with community.

JUSTICE
EDUCATION

Our approach to justice education develops students’ moral imagination, practical wisdom, and courage to act through academically rigorous coursework, immersive experiences, and critical reflection grounded in Catholic social tradition.

RESEARCH FOR
THE COMMON GOOD

Our approach to research focuses on the world’s most pressing social concerns and develops innovative, interdisciplinary, scholarly approaches to understand and address them.

COLLABORATIONS
WITH COMMUNITY

Our approach to community incubates democratic collaborations between community members and Notre Dame faculty, staff, and students that catalyze evidence-based sustainable interventions to local challenges.

INSTITUTE STORIES

Collaborating with Dismas House on Dismas Hub mural

The new Dismas Hub mural emerged out of a long-standing partnership between Dismas House of Indiana and the institute’s carceral engagement staff.

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Dr. Tom Catena delivers powerful message on the joy of service at 2025 Bernie Clark Lecture

Physician and medical missionary Tom Catena visited the University for the 2025 Rev. Bernie Clark, C.S.C., Lecture where he sat down with executive director Suzanne Shanahan for a fireside chat.

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Graduate Institute provides fall break experience for graduate and professional students

The Graduate Institute for Engaged Teaching and Research took 14 graduate and professional students on a three-day, whirlwind tour of several of the institute’s partnering organizations across the region.

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