Welcome to CRCS!

The Center for Research on Computation and Society (CRCS), at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, brings together computer scientists and scholars from a broad range of fields to make advances in computational research that serve public interest. We are currently collaborating on interdisciplinary projects in areas such as Economics & Computer Science; Healthcare Informatics; Privacy & Security; Technology & Accessibility; and Automation & Reproducibility of Data Analysis. CRCS is informed by a deep knowledge of the societal issues at stake and by a commitment to advancing the human condition through cutting edge collaboration between computational and social science.

At CRCS, we believe that the most powerful strides are made when researchers pool their expertise and work together. As such, we pride ourselves on our collaborations with sister organizations such as Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and the Institute for Applied Computational Science. We have integrated our fellowship programs and coordinated our respective seminars to foster interdisciplinary collaboration. Please join us for our weekly CRCS Seminar Series. 

We pride ourselves on our collaborative research projects. These include the Privacy Tools for Sharing Research Data Project, led by Faculty member Salil Vadhan, and the newly launched Technology for Equitable and Accessible Medicine (TEAM) Initiative.

The backbone of CRCS is its thriving postdoc program. In the 2016-2017 academic year, we hosted nine postdoctoral fellows from six countries, with diverse backgrounds and varying research interests. They have experience in everything from statistics to transportation engineering to healthcare informatics. Our postdocs share an open office, where they collaborate on projects and help one another at every stage of the research process, from conception to publication. Our postdocs are motivated to work together because they know that, through collaboration at CRCS, their work is made greater than the sum of its parts.

As our work on this site attests, CRCS rejects the idea of opposing disciplinary poles. We are not merely conducting qualitative analysis of the status quo; nor are we doing quantitative research for research’s sake alone. Rather, CRCS is designing a new future through the integration of computational and social science. We are creating new technologies ahead of economic demand, with a focus on social good. Our postdocs learn from one another other daily and assist one another with everything from the logistics of settling in Cambridge as an international scholar to finessing the technical details of a research problem. They are colleagues, mentors, and good friends. They share a mutual respect for one another’s expertise and keep an eye on the scientific horizon. It is this wealth of shared knowledge that makes CRCS a special place in the Harvard community.

Stay connected: For updates, please check us out on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook or subscribe to our email list for announcements and event invitations.