Summer Research Methods Seminar

Annual Research Institute Summer Research Methods Seminar

This seminar, offered through the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University, reflects CCSRE’s role as a national thought-leader and hub for groundbreaking scholarship. Home to an impressive community of faculty affiliates whose expertise cuts across disciplines and methods, the Research Institute advances scholarship that sets the highest of academic standards by continuing to challenge conventional approaches to the study of race, ethnicity, and inequality and broadening both the questions asked and the impact of the answers produced. 

Grounded in CCSRE’s commitment to advancing racial and ethnic equity through interdisciplinary education, innovative scholarship, and community engagement, this annual intensive seminar focuses on the curated exploration of cutting-edge approaches to the comparative study of race, ethnicity, and inequality. Its structure and content are designed to help participants deepen and extend their own research agendas, equipping them with methodological tools to examine how power, history, and institutions shape unequal outcomes—and how research can contribute to more just futures. 

Each summer, the seminar foregrounds a distinct methodological orientation that is interdisciplinary, historically attuned, and accountable to those most affected by racialized inequality, while consistently introducing participants to a range of qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method, and historical approaches. 

Open to researchers across fields, sectors, and career stages, the seminar 

  • centers the powered and historically accumulating dynamics of knowledge production
  • engages the ethical and relational responsibilities of research with communities
  • highlights methods that illuminate race, ethnicity, power, and conflict across contexts
  • supports participants in adapting and applying these approaches to their own work. 

Attendees leave with an expanded methodological repertoire, a deeper understanding of the ethical and political stakes of research on race and inequality, and a strong interdisciplinary foundation for designing comparative studies that both explain the social dynamics that perpetuate injustice and challenge the structures that hinder transformative change.

The Research Institute encourages you to explore the past seminar and discover how to join the 2026 seminar scheduled for this June.

For more information on the annual seminar, contact: research_ccsre [at] stanford.edu (research_ccsre[at]stanford[dot]edu). 

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