The Social Science Research Council is an independent, not-for-profit research organization founded in 1923. Based in New York City, it mobilizes researchers, policy makers, professionals, activists, and other experts from the private and public sectors to develop innovative approaches to issues of critical social importance.

The SSRC is committed to the idea that social science can produce necessary knowledge—necessary for citizens to understand their societies and necessary for policy makers to decide on crucial questions.

This mandate is carried out through workshops and conferences, research consortia, scholarly exchanges, summer training institutes, fellowships and grants, and publications. Over the past two decades, the SSRC has launched over thirty projects on a wide range of topics related to globalization, political and economic development, health, international security, human migration, and information technology. Its initiatives have played a leading role in educating and training new generations of social researchers, providing over 10,000 fellowships to graduate students and young researchers around the world. Its networks and committees have pioneered new approaches to understanding society and processes of social, cultural, economic, and political change.

The SSRC has had a profound influence on many fields of social inquiry, from pioneering work on business cycles in the 1920s to the emergence of security studies in the 1980s and 90s. Current work focuses on four areas: 'Global Security and Cooperation,' 'Economy and Society,' 'Migration,' and 'Media, Culture and Education.' The SSRC continues to develop new initiatives on major issues of public concern, including the social impact of HIV/AIDS and the structure of humanitarian emergencies.

SSRC projects are financed by grants from a range of private foundations and public institutions, inside and outside the United States.