UCLA's great strength lies in its ability to address significant interdisciplinary research challenges. Research at UCLA has a long tradition of interdisciplinary collaborations. Projects that cross academic boundaries flourish at UCLA, where faculty from a full spectrum of academic departments and professional schools work together on a single university campus.  The UCLA School of Public Affairs works collaboratively with with a number of research institutes, centers, and initiatives across campus, including the following:

The Williams Institute

The Williams Institute advances sexual orientation law and public policy through rigorous, independent research and scholarship, and disseminates it to judges, legislators, policymakers, media and the public. A national think tank at UCLA Law, the Williams Institute produces high quality research with real-world relevance.

Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Through its local, national, and international programs, the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability employs innovative, cross-disciplinary approaches to address critical environmental challenges - including those related to climate change, water quality, air pollution, biodiversity, and sustainability - with the goal of achieving stable human coexistence with the natural systems on which society depends.

The Blue Sky Health Initiative

Blue Sky Health is dedicated to transforming our health care system. Its network of researchers, business leaders and physicians envisions a system that seeks to keep Americans healthier, rather than treating them only when they are sick. 

Center for the Study of Urban Poverty

With the primary mission of encouraging and facilitating academic research into the causes and consequences of urban poverty and the effectiveness of policies aimed at alleviating poverty, The Center for the Study of Urban Poverty's research agenda focuses on three broad issues:

• Poverty in Los Angeles— Located in the second largest city in the United States, CSUP is well positioned to make a major influence in better understanding the lives of the poor and fashioning policies to ameliorate impoverished communities. As the only research center dedicated to issues on poverty in Los Angeles and the rest of California, CSUP influences popular, academic, and legislative interpretations of the urban poor.

• The Working Poor—The diversity of the Los Angeles economy and its location as a major port of entry for new arrivals from Latin America and Asia affords CSUP a unique window through which to research and prescribe policies affecting immigrant and other impoverished workers such as African Americans. Los Angeles, a repository of ethnic groups, low skill jobs, a large service and informal economy, and a host of other low paying occupations allows for unique insights into workplace dynamics on issues related to poverty, race, and nativity status.

• Transition to work/disadvantaged low skill workers—Transitioning low skill or institutionalized men and women into better paying jobs or into the labor market is an important first step in ameliorating poverty. The evaluation of policies, programs, and innovative solutions that address this transition is the final major focus of CSUP.