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

Institute launches South Bend Citizens Collaboratory

The South Bend Citizens Collaboratory brings together the wisdom and experience of South Bend civic leaders with the disciplinary expertise of Notre Dame faculty in order to cultivate long-term, impactful partnerships in service of justice and the common good.

Institute welcomes new scholar, cohort of fellows

Postdoctoral research scholar Dustin Webster is one of five new scholars joining this institute this fall, along with four research fellows: Kyla Walker, Michael Stayer, Wonu Fasasi, and Hayden Kirwan. Each of their fellowships expands the scope of the institute’s work in key areas.

Students with Catholic sisters in Chicago with mural of Pope Leo XIV

Summer of Social Concerns

This summer, nearly 300 Notre Dame undergraduates are engaged with marginalized communities across the United States and around the globe, continuing the Institute for Social Concerns’ longstanding commitment to offer students opportunities to explore questions of justice and the common good.

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