About ISCE

The mission of the Institute for Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE) is to enhance Virginia Tech’s capacity and status in the social sciences by catalyzing innovative, interdisciplinary, and translational research and scholarship addressing critical individual and social concerns impacting the lives of people and places in Virginia, nationally and across the globe.

ISCE champions the fundamental role that the social sciences play in society. The social science community at Virginia Tech is broadly defined and inclusive of faculty in traditional social science disciplines and departments, faculty in behavioral and public health sciences disciplines and departments, policy and humanity scholars, and individual faculty embedded in departments not traditionally aligned with the social sciences, but whose research addresses contemporary social problems within their respective disciplines (collectively referred to as the “social sciences”).

As one of the university's investment institutes, ISCE strategically invests in targeted research areas within the social sciences. ISCE primarily supports faculty activities that have the potential for extramural funding. In so doing, ISCE makes available financial and technical assistance that supports the development of individual faculty members and promotes participation in interdisciplinary teams.

Learn more about ISCE's goals and objectives in the ISCE Strategic Plan: 2020-2024. For a quick overview of ISCE funding opportunities and support, download our 2023-2024 handout.