Summer Program in Social Science

The Summer Program in Social Science (SPSS), a fellowship program for early-career social scientists from the Global South, was founded in 2015 by Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor in the School of Social Science. The program was developed with the support of the Mellon Foundation in collaboration with two institutional partners: Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Over the course of a decade, SPSS drew together four cohorts of approximately 20 fellows from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East—representing disciplines across the social sciences, including anthropology, sociology, history, political science, economics, law, linguistics, psychology, environmental studies, and literary studies. Each cohort first spent two weeks at the Institute, participating in an intensive schedule of presentations, workshops, and talks focused on advancing their research. One year later, the same cohort reconvened in either Bogotá or Johannesburg for another week of intensive, research-focused programming. In the interval between these convenings, fellows collaborated online.

The last session of the program took place in Bogotá in the fall of 2025 under the guidance of Professor Mara Viveros Vigoya, co-organizer of the program for the past three cohorts. By then, SPSS had convened a total of 79 fellows from 26 countries and 19 distinct disciplines, fostering enduring South-South collaborations that resulted in joint publications, journal issues, and conference panels. Fellows advanced their research and intellectual development as well as their careers, going on to earn promotions and new appointments, publish articles and books, and garner awards and fellowships. Many SPSS fellows remain in contact, continuing to collaborate independently to continue their research and sustaining and expanding the networks established through the program.