UC Berkeley Sociology is hosting a seminar on September 29, from 2-3:30 pm PT in 402 Social Science Building and online on Zoom here.  The recent authoritarian turn in American politics presents various challenges for scholars working in the US, including the repression of individual scholars, attacks on DEI, our research and higher education more generally. This panel will feature three sociologists whose scholarship and teaching touches on question of race, ethnicity, and/or migration to discuss how scholars are and should be responding to these threats. Panelists include Cristina Mora, Jenna Nobles, and Michael Rodriquez-Muñiz, and Cybelle Fox will moderate. Join via Zoom here.

Pipeline Grants Competition

Organization: Russell Sage Foundation

Award amount: $50,000

Deadline: 10/1/2025

Description:

This initiative will support early-career scholars and promote diversity in the social sciences, including racial, ethnic, gender, disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity. Pipeline grantees are paired with mentors who offer advice on their projects and career development. The competition funds innovative research on economic mobility and access to opportunity in the United States. We are particularly interested in research focused on structural barriers to economic mobility and how individuals, communities and state entities understand, navigate and challenge systemic inequalities. Early-career faculty who have not previously received research grants (not counting a dissertation grant) or a visiting fellowship from RSF are eligible to apply.

Eligibility:

Early-career, Faculty & Pls

Only faculty who have not previously received a research grant or a visiting fellowship from RSF are eligible to apply. RSF expects to fund about 20 one-year projects by assistant professors, lecturers, and adjunct assistant professors. Individual applicants can apply for grants of up to $35,000; teams of two or more eligible applicants can apply for grants of up to $50,000. RSF will pair grantees with mentors conducting research on related issues and provide an honorarium for the mentors. On occasion, RSF will deem a project or applicant more appropriate for its Presidential Grants Competition and review a Pipeline Grants proposal as a letter of inquiry for that competition instead.

Link to RFP

When: Friday, October 3, 2025 (12:30 – 1:30PM)

Where: 360 Parrington Hall and on Zoom (register here)

We are looking forward to hosting Dr. Tim Thomas, Chief Research and Data Officer at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) and professional researcher in the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley, and Will von Geldern, PhD Candidate, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington, on Friday, October 3, 2025 in Parrington Hall 360 and on Zoom. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Population Health Initiative.

This panel discussion will feature two researchers focused on housing, urban development, and displacement. Dr. Tim Thomas will present on “The Housing Precarity Risk Model: Predicting Displacement and Eviction Risk in a Post-COVID U.S.” Will von Geldern, will present on “Measuring Displacement: Using Mixed Methods to Understand Eviction Outcomes.”

Dr. Tim Thomas (he/they) is the Chief Research and Data Officer at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) and professional researcher in the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley. His work focuses on eviction, housing precarity, and urban inequality, blending advanced data science with liberation research to uncover systemic inequities and inform transformative housing policy.

He is the founder of the Eviction Research Network and formerly served as Research Director for UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project. His pioneering methods, including the use of eviction court record text-mining and displacement prediction modeling, have shaped tenant protections, extended the CDC eviction moratorium, and informed policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels including the White House, HUD, and Treasury.

Will von Geldern (he/him) is a PhD candidate at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. He uses mixed methods to examine the effects of public policies and legal systems on the health and wellbeing of marginalized communities. His dissertation combines qualitative analysis, data science, and experimental methods to study the barriers that prevent tenants from accessing legal assistance during evictions.