The Social Equity Lab is Florida State University’s new avenue for social change. The Lab will serve as a forum to meet bimonthly to engage in discussions of issues, developing project proposals, sharing presentations and critiques, and bringing together faculty and students who care about social justice and hold diverse perspectives from different disciplines about how to move justice issues forward. The Lab creates a virtual and designed space for dialogue, evidence-based research applied to social problems that need equitable solutions so that all citizens are treated equally and have access to the resources they need to flourish. The four components of social justice The Lab currently focus on include: Human Rights, Access, Participation and Equity

The Lab is unique because it engages in research in all policy areas. Some examples include inequality, gender-based violence, the criminal justice system, education, social welfare, and environmental racism. The Lab encourages all students to examine the policy process through a justice-based framework. The Lab’s overall philosophy is that public administration and public policy must be concerned with justice and equity as one of its core principles. 

James E. Wright II, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Askew School of Public Administration and Public Policy at Florida State University where his research specializes in policing, law enforcement agency management, race, social equity and social justice. He is the founding Co-Director of the Social Justice and Innovation Lab. His research has examined the impacts of body cameras on racial disparities in policing, the impacts of providing public access to police misconduct allegations, police officer decision making during police stops, how physical appearance impacts use of force, and community protests, among other issues.

Dr. Daniel Fay is an Associate Professor and PhD Director in the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at The Florida State University. He is the founding Co-Director of the Social Justice and Innovation Lab. His research interests include policy diffusion, organizational theory, diversity issues in public management, veterans’ policy, and higher education policy and management.

The feature image is from Score At The Top.