Training Programs
Creating early-career pathways to inequality research is a hallmark of the Stone Center. Our training programs provide early career researchers with access to expert faculty, mentorship, and networking, offering an environment conducive to growth as a researcher:
The Inequality Working Group
The Inequality Working Group is a student workshop designed to support the development of original research projects by graduate students and early career researchers. Meeting monthly, the workshop provides a space for participants to present their own work—whether early-stage ideas or ongoing projects—for constructive feedback and collaborative refinement.
The format centers on student-led research and peer-to-peer engagement. Participants take on new projects or build on existing work, presenting regularly for input from faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and fellow students. The aim of the working group is to foster long-term, meaningful academic relationships and a collaborative intellectual community.
The 2025–2026 program is presented by Director Steven Durlauf, Associate Director Geoff Wodtke, and Postdoctoral Scholar Kristina Butaeva. Due to the close and enduring nature of the working relationships, participation in the Inequality Working Group is by admit only. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity
The Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity and Inequality seeks to provide the next generation of scholars with the multidisciplinary underpinning necessary for effective research on inequality dynamics. It will feature leading scholars tackling inequality research from the lens of economics, sociology, and public policy, to foster cross-disciplinary approaches to inequality research and public policy evaluation regarding long-term inequality issues. It will also engage advanced Ph.D. students and early-career faculty through immersive lectures on state-of-the-art methods for inequality research, one-on-one and small-group meetings with senior researchers, and poster sessions where summer school students can receive input on their early-stage research from the research community. The summer schools are designed to yield long-term benefits in creating lasting intellectual links that can be pursued long after the conclusion of the meetings.
This is admit-only training for advanced Ph.D. students and early career faculty led by a roster of multidisciplinary leading scholars. Applications are collected each Spring.
Previous training sites have included:
- Beijing, China (June, 2023)
- Seoul, South Korea (July, 2023)
- Tashkent, Uzbekistan (July, 2024)
- Chicago, Illinois (July, 2024)
- Brasília, Brazil (June, 2025)
- Dilijan, Armenia (July, 2025)