About Us
The Behavioral Research Innovation Center (BRIC) is a non-profit organization that creates software infrastructure for research, educates researchers on best practices for creating sustainable systems, and works with research partners to develop long-term system maintenance solutions for the software used in their labs, research projects, and publications.
Our mission is to advance research and enable innovation by creating, promoting, and supporting responsible computational practices and infrastructure for studying human behavior and society. We envision a world where people can easily discover, access, and powerfully apply computational social science tools to promote human flourishing around the globe.
BRIC builds upon the experience of its co-founders, Ericka Menchen-Trevino and Chris J. Karr. Ericka is a researcher who pushed the methodological and technological boundaries of web and media research in her accomplished career. Chris is a research software developer who pioneered new frameworks and approaches across computing platforms and scholarly fields for a variety of research institutions spanning the globe.
As a non-profit research, education, and software development organization, we can partner with researchers as co-PIs to advance computational methods in addition to providing consulting services. Working across fields in the social and behavioral sciences, from psychology to economics to sociology, provides a unique vantage point from which to see how to adapt tools and frameworks across disciplines.
Our Values
Collaboration
By working together and creating community, we can build greater awareness of existing efforts across fields and help spark new ideas.
Shared Progress
Limited resources are devoted to research in the social and behavioral sciences. Research software projects should be stepping stones towards building upon collective knowledge, not redundant efforts.
Openness
We champion openness in research, from transparent methodologies to open-source software and data. By making research tools and infrastructure accessible, we empower replication and foster collaboration.
Participant Autonomy
People providing research data deserve access to and control over the data they contribute to research projects.
Researcher Autonomy
We aim to reduce researchers' reliance on unaccountable third parties for data access and infrastructure.
Expanding Access & Inclusion
Computational research into human behavior is often confined to well-funded institutions and wealthy communities that do not represent the larger population. This limits diversity in contributors, research questions, beneficiaries of treatment programs, and ultimately evidence-based understanding.
Get in Touch
Want to learn more about how we can help with your research or partner with your organization?