Student Opportunities

IRLE provides funding, training, publishing opportunities, and community for emerging graduate and undergraduate labor scholars. Explore opportunities below.

Funding Opportunities

IRLE and its affiliated centers provide annual funding opportunities for graduate students conducting research on labor and employment issues.

Dissertation Fellowship

IRLE offers $7,500 per semester and resident tuition and fees for students nearing completion of a dissertation related to IRLE’s mission.

Graduate Research Awards

IRLE provides flexible funds (up to $6,000) to qualified masters and doctoral students to advance student research projects.

Social Sciences Research Pathways

Social Sciences Research Pathways (SSRP) is a yearlong paid research development program that connects undergraduate students with graduate student and faculty mentors to conduct hands-on social science research.

Three students in professional attire stand in front of a projection screen reading, "The Co-Construction of Gender and Autism in Scientific Discourse. Emily H. Ruppel, Zoe Anderson, and Alexandra Ward. Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley"

“Having mentees really forced me to put together a plan for my dissertation, and make real advances in my own work. I also learned how to explain my work and teach research skills to a small team.”

— 2021-2022 SSRP Mentor

Faculty-Led Research Cohorts

IRLE supports a range of faculty-led cohorts of student researchers exploring urgent issues in the social sciences. IRLE funding provides opportunities for faculty to engage paid undergraduate students in their research.

A group of students and Professor David Harding pose on the front steps of the IRLE building

Labor Education

Around thirty students pose on the grass in front of the Bancroft Library, fists raised and smiling.

Labor Studies at Cal

This collection of Labor Center courses and programming invites students to explore the histories and contemporary realities of the U.S. labor movement while gaining hands-on experience in the field with unions, worker centers, and community organizations.

A large classroom full of students look attentively at an unseen speaker.

Labor and Employment Courses

Each semester, we compile a list of undergraduate and graduate labor-related courses across campus. Check out Berkeley’s Fall 2025 offerings.

Labor Summer

Spend your summer learning about social and economic justice and exploring the intersections of race, class, gender, and immigration in the labor movement! Coordinated by the Labor Center, Labor Summer is a full-time, PAID, intensive eight-week internship program designed to train the next generation of labor and community leaders.

A group of students with red shirts and woman in a blazer hold signs reading, "UPS: Don't Cut Part-Timer Pay"

Solidarity Spring

Solidarity Spring is a hands-on, paid service and community learning “alternative” spring break experience offered by the UC Berkeley Labor Center for students! Solidarity Spring aims to introduce undergraduates to labor and community organizing through workshops, labor mobilizations, and art and cultural experiences on and off campus.

Student Publication Series

As part of IRLEs goal to advance the next generation of labor and employment scholars, our Student Research Brief series highlights student-led academic research conducted by UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students.