Social Science Matrix is dedicated to supporting interdisciplinary and collaborative projects across the social sciences, including through administration of research funding. Our research development team helps with every aspect of the grant process, and we support affiliated faculty members, graduate students, and researchers who need assistance in managing their sponsored research portfolios.

Already in our first year, we have provided support to more than 60 funded research projects by individual Principal Investigators. Most projects are funded by extramural grants obtained by the PI, while a modest number are pilot projects funded by Matrix.

Matrix staff provide overall support to facilitate research, often serving as a liaison with UC Berkeley's Campus Shared Services. Matrix staff have backgrounds in the social sciences; we are not only administrators, but we approach projects as fellow researchers. The goal of Matrix services is to reduce the burdens of managing grants and helping PI’s maintain focus on their research activities.

Matrix can provide help with:

  • Facilitating research for PI’s, including all aspects of research administration.
  • Identifying research funding opportunities.
  • Contacting program officers.
  • Assisting with proposal writing and building a research team.
  • Acting as a liaison between PI’s and Campus Shared Services, the central Sponsored Projects Office at Berkeley, as well as sponsoring agencies.
  • Serving as an organizational home for research projects, including helping to provide administrative review as necessary but also helping to promote and disseminate findings.

Campus Shared Services can assist with:

  • Helping with the preparation, review and submission of all grant application materials.
  • Preparing budgets and making budget calculations.
  • Interpreting regulations and/or any restrictions set forth by granting agencies and Berkeley’s SPO policies.
  • Getting your proposal through review by the Sponsored Projects Office and submitted to the agency on time.
  • Managing expenditures within an individual grant or across a full sponsored research portfolio.

For more information about how Matrix can help with research funding, please contact evaseto@berkeley.edu.