In 1970, the University of California, Irvine established the nation’s first program of social ecology in response to high demand for more socially relevant research. The School of Social Ecology’s faculty and students investigate social problems from multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary perspectives. Rather than tackling complex social issues from the limiting viewpoint of a single discipline, our research adopts a more multi-faceted approach. Social, legal, behavioral, and environmental sciences all overlap in Social Ecology’s proposed solutions to real-life problems. Students and faculty analyze a host of community, regional, national and international problems, ranging from improving urban design and preventing violence and crime to understanding the reasons behind atypical child development, seeking solutions to California’s water shortage and improving workplace health and safety.
