Institute for Policy & Social Research

New research from Center for Democratic Governance co-director Chris Koliba addresses "International Cooperation and Conflict in a Social-Ecological System: A Study of Mountain Gorillas as a Common Pool Resource" in Conservation Science and Practice.

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.70288

Congratulations to Rachel Krause, KU School of Public Affairs and Administration Faculty Teacher of the Year!

Check out this new publication from Alicdes Velásquez, Rikki Roscoe, and Umar Ajetunmobi on "Shame, Suspicion, Surveillance, and Blame: The Neoliberal Undergirding of Stigma Experienced and Managed by Latino/as in the United States" in volume 20 of the International Journal of Communication.

https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/25401

Congratulations to these newly-promoted IPSR affiliates and our own research scientist, Misty Heggeness!

Have you used data from the Kansas Statistical Abstract in your research? We want to hear about it! This year marks the 60th anniversary of the KSA, and we are gathering testimonials of how KU researchers have used it in their work.

View past KSA editions: https://ksdata.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/

Law & Geoeconomics (L&G) and the Trade War Lab invite you to a webinar next Thursday, May 14 featuring the contributors to a forthcoming special issue on economic security agreements.

This issue/webinar brings together perspectives from leading experts who will help map the emerging landscape of economic security cooperation and what this means for the future of global trade governance. Taken together, the discussion will highlight both the promise and the tension at the heart of economic security cooperation: the desire for deeper coordination in an era of geopolitical competition contributing to greater uncertainty about how far existing institutions can accommodate this shift.

Thursday, May 14, 2026 @8:00-9:00am CDT (Zoom)
👉 Please RSVP by COB on 5/12 to the zoom link: https://forms.gle/2md4PFrGiHmdr6VN9

IPSR Affiliate A. Townsend Peterson is leading a National Science Foundation grant to unite 21 U.S. herbaria, biodiversity data specialists, and African researchers to create one of the largest digital resources of tropical African seed plants ever assembled.

Learn more about the project:

NSF digitization project opens access to millions of African plant specimens A National Science Foundation grant led by Town Peterson is uniting 21 U.S. herbaria, biodiversity data specialists and African researchers to create one of the largest digital resources of tropical African seed plants ever assembled.

Misty Heggeness' peer-reviewed book, "Swiftynomics," is one of the Kelce Brothers Book Club's picks for May! Heggeness will join the Kelce book club Substack channel live the evening of May 13, 2026. Don't miss out!

Learn more:

Two Books, Two Brilliant Authors, One Very Swiftie May A month of fresh reads, meaningful conversations, and deeper insight into the world Taylor built.

IPSR Affiliate and Center for Democratic Governance co-director Chris Koliba has joined the Braver Angels Civic Scholars Council! This Council advances courageous citizenship by bringing leading reflective practitioners and scholars together to define, challenge, and shape its meaning and practice in modern American life.

Learn more:

Home Braver Angels is a citizens’ organization uniting red and blue Americans in a working alliance to depolarize America

IPSR Affiliate Paul Stock won the Midwest Sociological Society's inaugural Teaching Excellence Award for Full-Time Faculty. Stock is an environmental and rural sociologist with a primary interest in family farmers and how farmers respond to changes in the international economy. Congratulations!