School maintains its world-class activities
Along with the other parts of the Institute of Advanced Studies, the Research School of Social Sciences has both a national and an international mission. Successive reviews have confirmed the School's national and international leadership role in social science. The 1995 Review concluded that RSSS was "the leading social science research institution in Australia" and that its work constituted "fundamental research of national importance to the highest international standards". The challenge for the School in the next five years will be to maintain the quantity and quality of our research in the face of the financial stringencies that are being experienced by all parts of the university system. Intellectually, the unique strength of the School has been the blending of theoretical and practical approaches to emerging problems. While most of the School is organised around traditional disciplinary lines, there is considerable intellectual debate across disciplinary boundaries. This is facilitated by having a Philosophy Program which was recently ranked as one of the best graduate schools in the world. But it is also helped by the broad range of social science areas supported by the School, ranging from political science and sociology to law and economics. While much of the School's work is core research, considerable resources are also devoted to policy-related work. The School hosts the Centre for Democratic Institutions, a $5million initiative funded by AusAID to provide training and research support in the Asia-Pacific region. The Law Program runs a major project on restorative justice which is being copied around the world, most recently by New York, which has the largest police force in the US. The School also supports the Negotiating the Lifecourse Project, which examines changes in labour force participation and the growing diversity in family and household arrangements. The School also has a strong commitment to graduate and postdoctoral training. In addition to normal patterns of enrolment, the Economics and Urban Research programs run outreach training activities which support graduates studying in other universities. The Social Science Data Archive runs a summer and winter program for training in quantitative methods, which is typically attended by many graduate students, as well as established academics and public servants. In short, the Research School of Social Sciences is maintaining its national and international leadership role in the social sciences, through a combination of core research and policy work, by outreach activities which benefit the whole university sector, and by an emphasis on the training of young scholars. Ian McAllister Director, RSSS