Stanford
SPARQ

SPARQ

Bridging research and practice to spark change

Stanford SPARQ is a behavioral science “do tank” at Stanford University. We build research-driven partnerships with industry leaders and changemakers to address some of the biggest challenges of our time. We work across a variety of areas, including criminal justice, economic mobility, education, health, media, and technology.

Featured

Eberhardt Writes in TIME About Data-Driven Police Reform in Oakland

As Oakland Police Department’s historic federal monitorship ends after 23 years, SPARQ Co-Director Jennifer Eberhardt reflects in TIME about using research and AI to transform data from body-worn cameras into powerful accountability tools. Eberhardt and her team of linguists, social psychologists, and computer scientists built computational tools to analyze that footage at scale. The patterns they uncovered helped OPD design data-driven reforms and advance systemic change.

Read the full piece in TIME

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Judge Ends Federal Oversight of Oakland Police After 23 Years | The New York Times 

Updates

  • Markus, Thomas, and Walton Receive 2026 Otto Klineberg Award

    Co-Director Hazel Markus, Faculty Affiliates Catherine Thomas and Greg Walton, and co-authors received SPSSI's 2026 Otto Klineberg Intercultural and International Relations Award for their paper on culturally wise interventions to reduce poverty.

  • How Do Laws Shape Our Beliefs?

    Postdoc Fellow Mikaela Spruill published a new paper on “legal enculturation” - a framework for how laws shape people’s beliefs and perceptions.

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