Our Work & Impact
Promoting social change and inspiring the next generation of leaders with research.
We’re passionate about our areas of expertise — the science and practice of compassion, the creation and sharing of advanced computational modeling to mitigate flood risk, and the impacts of human trafficking and modern slavery — as well as global partnerships addressing environmental peacebuilding and planetary health.
What does that mean in practice? Each of our core areas of expertise includes collaborative and innovative research, as well as programs designed to educate and inspire undergraduate and graduate students.
LATEST NEWS & RESEARCH
In the News: More sand for south Orange County’s shrinking beaches
Division of Flooding and Poverty research lead Brett Sanders was recently interviewed as part of a piece exploring how coastal communities are thinking more about new ways...
Flood Hazards Research in UCI Special Report: California’s Climate Crisis
For the past half century, the University of California, Irvine has been home to some of the world’s leading experts on the environment, energy, oceans and atmosphere in...
In the News: Coastal erosion in San Clemente threatens railroad tracks, pricey homes
Division of Flooding and Poverty research lead Brett Sanders was recently interviewed as part of a piece exploring how the lack of beach nourishment is threatening...
PARTNERSHIPS
ABOUT
The UCI Blum Center’s mission is to promote social change and inspire the next generation of leaders to action with research on poverty alleviation. By collaborating across disciplines with students, faculty and practitioners, the UCI Blum Center rigorously explores systemic, geopolitical, technological and climate forces affecting poverty. The UCI Blum Center’s innovative education programs, basic and applied research, and work in community development and policy-making engage future leaders to reduce the risks of poverty for vulnerable populations and improve humanity and its institutions. The Blum Center at University of California Irvine focuses its work around 3 key division areas: 1. Flood Hazards, 2. Human Trafficking and 3. Science & Practice of Compassion with partnerships in Environmental Peacemaking, Technology Innovation for Humanitarian Action and policy making in Washington D.C.
The UC Blum Center is a network of interdisciplinary research initiatives across University of California’s 10 leading public university campuses working to solve the global challenge of poverty. The Blum Center was first established at UC Berkeley in 2006 as the UC Blum Center for Developing Economies. The accessibility of the UC-wide Blum Center’s public research aims to educate and engage a diverse group of tomorrow’s leaders to become conscious change agents and lead fact-based solutions to poverty alleviation. The Blum Center at UC Irvine launched their poverty alleviation research to coincide with the campus’ 50th anniversary in 2014.
Read a one-page overview of the Blum Center’s research initiatives.