New tools for social research: SAGE Ocean Newsletter

Last month we announced the winners of the 2020 SAGE Concept Grant, which supports the development of new software tools for social science research. Now in its third year, the program received a record 146 applications from 45 countries, with applications for tools supporting text mining, data collection and analysis, online experiments, social media analysis, and many more functions.

The SAGE Concept Grants are an integral part of our mission at SAGE Ocean to support social scientists to gain the skills and tools they need to work with new research technologies and computational methods. This year we awarded six grants in total: £15,000 to scale up a prototype and five grants of £2,000 to develop a new idea. We introduce our six winners in the latest edition of our newsletter, which you can read below, and signup here for future updates.

The landscape of technologies for social research is broad, with increasing numbers of tools becoming available for social scientists working with data at scale and digital methods. You can explore over 500 tools in our Research Tools Directory, and find out more about the types of tools being developed, the support available for tool developers and the challenges involved in building technologies for social research in our 2019 white paper.

Got an item to include in the next newsletter? Email us at ocean@sagepub.com.

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Announcing the 2020 SAGE Concept Grant winners

Six new software tools for social research have been awarded Concept Grants totalling £25,000. As the winner of our £15,000 grant, new tool Knowsi will enable a necessary change in the way researchers manage participant consent in academic studies. With GDPR compliance built in, participants are given autonomy over their data, and researchers can be sure that their processes for managing personal data are ethical, and easy to navigate. Five additional grants of £2,000 go to early-stage software solutions for social research in the digital age.

Head to our blog to read our interview with Knowsi creator Andrew Lovett-Barron and sign up to trial Knowsi for free.

Meet our £2,000 winners

With the winning teams based across four continents, the £2,000 Concept Grants will enable the development of five new tools that support a range of functions for social scientists working with computational methods and new technologies – from exploratory text analysis to measuring behavioural responses in VR. Read interviews with the winners on our blog.

Read the blog
2K CG winners
Resources to help teach or do research online

Resources to help teach or do research online

When working remotely it can be difficult to teach or learn research methods, or carry out your own research. Our research methods colleagues have put together a collection of resources to support this transition.

Check it out

Podcast: Social Science and COVID-19

Listen to Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of the British Academy, discuss how social science has been a force for good in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it can help policymakers understand and shape a better tomorrow.

Listen now

Podcast: Social Science and COVID-19

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Teaching materials for computational social science from around the world and for any level or type of training

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