Now accepting applications for the 2025 Equity Scholars Program! View the call for applications.
The Equity Scholars Program supports advanced doctoral students, postdocs, and early career professionals in a rigorous social science research project that will expand their ability to conduct inclusive and equitable (I&E) research, including culturally responsive research and evaluation.
The program provides mentoring and career networking opportunities and supports research aimed at enhancing our understanding of, creating, or assessing interventions, policies, and practices meant to eliminate disparities and reduce inequality in various dimensions. These dimensions include race, ethnicity, national origin, language, color, disability, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and family structures.
More broadly, the program seeks to expand the career pathways of historically marginalized and minoritized people pursuing careers in social science research.
The Equity Scholars Program is a program of the Center on Equity Research (CER), which conducts research to advance equity through the development, implementation, and dissemination of high quality, inclusive, and equitable social science research methods. Learn about the CER.
Program Goals
Describe
Describe how structures and other societal contexts frame the experiences of historically marginalized and/or minoritized people and groups.
Understand
Explore strengths within a diversity of communities to promote success and well-being.
Identify
Identify within-group variation key to enhancing programs and policies within a diversity of communities.
Examine
Examine how structural racism negatively impacts society, communities, and individuals.
2023-2024 NORC Equity Scholars
The 2024 NORC Equity Scholars conducted research to support the Youth and Teen Math Mindset Study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Scholars used an existing dataset from the Study to conduct secondary data analyses to explore the math experiences and mindsets of historically marginalized and/or minoritized youth and teens.
“The Equity Scholars Program has been an opportunity to transition into a career as a social science researcher with the support of thoughtful, equity-minded researchers. This experience has been instrumental in refining my research methods and deepening my commitment to equitable social science.”
“Through mentorship, resources, and expert-led sessions and presentations, the NORC Equity Scholars program has equipped me with knowledge and practice that I will carry forward. In my own work, I will seek to include the voices affected by topics that I research.”
“My time as an Equity Scholar at NORC has been transformative. I have learned to prioritize equity, not just as a research goal but as a guiding principle in everything I do—from designing studies to analyzing data and sharing results.”
