Areas of research
Data-Driven Policy Analysis & Evidence-Based Practice
SP2’s Initiatives and Faculty use administrative data, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis to inform the future of social innovation and social policy.
Featured Centers
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy

FEATURED FACULTY
Jacqueline Corcoran, PhD
Professor; PhD, University of Texas at Austin, 1996. Mental health; clinical social work; evidence-based practice in social work; systematic reviews, meta-analysis, and meta-synthesis; strengths-based models.
FEATURED FACULTY
Dennis P. Culhane, PhD
Professor; PhD, Boston College, 1990. Homelessness; housing policy; policy analysis research methods.

FEATURED FACULTY
Abigail (Abby) M. Ross, LICSW, MPH, PhD
Associate Professor; PhD, Boston University. Intervention research, implementation science, mental health, interprofessional practice, public health social work, youth suicide prevention, social care integration, evidence-based practice.

FEATURED FACULTY
Millan AbiNader, MSW, PhD
Assistant Professor; PhD, Boston University. Gender-based violence; intimate partner violence; intimate partner homicide; rural communities; community-level risk; vicarious trauma.

FEATURED FACULTY
ChiaKo Hung, MA, MPA, PhD
Assistant Professor; PhD, Arizona State University. Nonprofit financial management, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, fundraising management, collaborative governance, social equity, social impact.

FEATURED FACULTY
DeMarcus A. Jenkins, PhD
Assistant Professor; PhD, University of California, Los Angeles. Education policy, housing policy, criminal/juvenile justice, school safety & discipline, gentrification, anti-Black racism, Critical Race Theory, social movements.

FEATURED FACULTY
R. Jisung Park, PhD
Assistant Professor; PhD, Harvard University. Environmental economics; labor economics; climate change; economic inequality; policy evaluation.
FEATURED FACULTY
Alice Xu, PhD
Assistant Professor; PhD, Harvard University. Inequality and social policy, urban and distributive politics, environmental politics, quantitative and spatial methods, Latin America, Global South.
Related News
Faculty & Research
10/23

Harnessing technology in research to improve well-being
As part of the Politics of Well-Being speaker series, researchers in the School of Social Policy & Practice talked about their work helping governments address social issues and creating a joy-centered framework for AI development.
Faculty & Research
02/07

Improving lives through data: SP2’s Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy boosts national impact through students and alumni
Like a number of SP2 students and alumni, Sharon Zanti, PhD in Social Welfare ’24, has taken a path that is interwoven with SP2’s Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP). An initiative co-founded by Professor Dennis Culhane, AISP has paved the way for state and local governments to better support residents by responsibly connecting data.
Faculty & Research
02/03

SP2 faculty among “World’s Top 2% Scientists”
Nine SP2 faculty are listed among the Stanford University-Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists for the past two years or on the basis of career-long data. The ranking is calculated with data representing academic citations and peer-reviewed journal publications.