“CREATING A MORE JUST SOCIETY THROUGH RESEARCH”

Just as research can be used to develop innovations that typically exacerbate income and wealth disparities, research can also be used to develop more equitable systems of education, housing, transportation and economic mobility. Creating a more just society through research requiresdoing research in a manner that deviates from traditional industrial or even academic research models. This talk describes research models that explicitly focus on engaging groups that are not typically the main beneficiaries of research, as well as using research to inform efforts to create a more just society.

Biography

Ruth López Turley directs the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, which brings together data, research, engagement and action to improve lives. In 2011, she founded the Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC), a research-practice partnership between Rice University and 11 Houston area school districts, representing over 700,000 students. Aprogram of the Kinder Institute, HERC works to improve educational equity by connecting research to policy and practice, working directly with district leaders. She directed HERC from 2011 to 2022, during which she raised over $30M so that school districts would not have to pay for research. She also founded the National Network of Education Research-Practice Partnerships, which connects and supports over 60 partnerships between research institutions and education agencies throughout the country. She is a graduate of Stanford and Harvard and originally is from Laredo, Texas.