DOI: 10.17603/ds2-0f0q-vz13
title: 2018 Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) Census
title: in Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) Network Data, Survey Instrument, and Annual Census

description: The 2018 Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) Census summarizes the results of responses gathered from 648 social scientists who filled out the SSEER survey between its release date on July 8, 2018 and December 31, 2018. This report characterizes the diversity and wide range of disciplinary skills and expertise among the research community. It is organized into the following categories: (1) researcher geographic location; (2) disciplinary background and expertise; (3) educational and professional background; (4) level of involvement in hazards and disaster research (core, periodic, situational, emerging); (5) research methods and approaches; (6) disaster types, phases, and specific extreme events studied; and (7) researcher demographic characteristics. The document concludes with further readings, a data citation, and a brief description of the SSEER network. This report—which is the first census of social scientists who study hazards and disasters—responds to longstanding calls to better characterize the composition of the hazards and disaster workforce. The 2018 SSEER Census is available for download via PDF and also online at: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/sseer/sseer-census/. Social scientists who study hazards and disasters can become a part of this network and annual count by joining SSEER at: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/sseer/. More information on SSEER and the other National Science Foundation-funded reconnaissance and research networks is available on the CONVERGE website at: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/.
description: This project includes a survey instrument, data, and annual census reports from the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) network, which is headquartered at the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) CONVERGE facility at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. The SSEER network, which was launched in 2018, was formed, in part, to respond to the need for more specific information about the status and expertise of the social science hazards and disaster research workforce. The mission of SSEER is to identify and map social scientists involved in hazards and disaster research in order to highlight their expertise and connect social science researchers to one another, to interdisciplinary teams, and to communities at risk to hazards and affected by disasters. Ultimately, the goals of SSEER are to amplify the contributions of social scientists and to advance the field through expanding the available social science evidence base. To see the SSEER map and to learn more about the SSEER initiative, please visit:  https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/sseer. All social and behavioral scientists and those in allied disciplines who study the human, economic, policy, and health dimensions of disasters are invited to join this network via a short online survey. This DesignSafe project includes: (1) the SSEER survey instrument; (2) de-identified data, which is updated annually as new researchers join the SSEER network and returning members update their information; and (3) SSEER annual census reports. These resources are available to all who are interested in learning more about the composition of the social science hazards and disaster workforce. SSEER is part of a larger ecosystem of NSF-funded extreme events research and reconnaissance networks designed to help coordinate disciplinary communities in engineering and the sciences, while also encouraging cross-disciplinary information sharing and interdisciplinary integration. To learn more about the networks and research ecosystem, please visit: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/.