Center for Research on Computation and Society

Center for Research on Computation and Society
Name	Center for Research on Computation and Society
Established	2005
Type	Research center
Location	United States
Parent organization	Harvard University
Fields	Computer science, Public policy

Contents

Center for Research on Computation and Society is an academic research center that integrates Computer Science with public policy, social science, and technology deployment. The center engages scholars from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and international partners to address challenges at the intersection of algorithms, privacy, and civic infrastructure. It cultivates collaborations across institutions such as Microsoft Research, Google, IBM Research, OpenAI, and non‑profit organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla Foundation.

History

The center originated in a period shaped by developments at DARPA, debates following the Princeton University algorithms surge, and policy responses after high‑profile incidents involving Edward Snowden, prompting funders including the National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support interdisciplinary work. Early leadership drew on scholars affiliated with Harvard University, MIT, and Stanford University and built relationships with think tanks such as the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Brookings Institution. Over time the center expanded programmatic ties with international institutions including University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, Tsinghua University, and University of Tokyo.

Research themes include algorithmic fairness, distributed systems, privacy engineering, and computational social science, intersecting with topics studied at Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton University, and Yale University. Work on machine learning ethics references methods from labs at DeepMind, OpenAI, and Facebook AI Research, while projects on encryption and secure computation connect to groups at RSA Conference, IACR, and NIST. Studies of civic technology and infrastructure engage literature from City of Boston, New York City, and comparative analyses involving European Commission initiatives and United Nations digital governance efforts. Research collaborations have been influenced by policy debates involving the United States Congress, the European Parliament, and regulatory frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation.

The center offers graduate fellowships, postdoctoral appointments, and undergraduate research opportunities patterned after programs at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and runs seminars in partnership with Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Educational offerings include workshops modeled on curricula from Stanford University, summer schools similar to those at MIT, and certificate programs that mirror initiatives at Columbia University. Student engagement often connects to internships at Microsoft Research, Google, Amazon, and placements with NGOs including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The center maintains strategic partnerships with technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Meta Platforms, and research labs like IBM Research and DeepMind. It collaborates with policy institutions including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and international organizations like the OECD. Industry collaborations have produced joint workshops with Intel, NVIDIA, and standards discussions involving IETF stakeholders. The center’s network extends to philanthropic partners such as the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.

Facilities include labs equipped with high‑performance computing clusters comparable to those at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and shared meeting spaces used for symposia like those hosted by the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The center provides data repositories and secure computation environments adhering to practices informed by NIST guidance and collaborations with cloud providers including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. It also maintains lecture series and colloquia that have featured speakers from Harvard University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and distinguished visitors from Oxford University and Cambridge University.

Notable projects have included algorithmic audit collaborations with municipal governments such as the City of Boston and the City of New York, policy briefings for the United States Congress and the European Commission, and technical contributions to open‑source toolkits used by civil society organizations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla Foundation. Research outputs have been presented at venues including the NeurIPS conference, the ACM CHI conference, and the USENIX symposium, and have influenced legislation debated in the United States Congress and regulatory discussions at the European Parliament. The center’s alumni network includes researchers who took positions at Google Research, Microsoft Research, DeepMind, Amazon, and faculty appointments at MIT, Stanford University, and Yale University.

Category:Harvard University research centers