The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) began in 1965 as the Social Science Research Council (SSRC).
Our founder, the great social entrepreneur Michael Young, claimed that “the social sciences are and will be useful and, in that measure, supported in so far as they add to mankind’s span of control”, closely linking the case for public funding to the ability of social science to change the world for the better. ‘Impact’, as we now call it, was very much part of the foundational vision of ESRC.
The SSRC Royal Charter, granted in October 1965, set out five main objectives:
- support and encourage research in the social sciences
- provide services for research
- carry out research in the social sciences
- provide postgraduate grants
- provide advice and disseminate knowledge concerning the social sciences
In April 2018, ESRC became part of UK Research and Innovation, a new organisation that brought together the UK’s seven research councils, plus Innovate UK and Research England. It aims to maximise the contribution of each council and create the best environment for research and innovation to flourish.
More about ESRC
Read ‘SSRC and ESRC: the first forty years’
Read about the story of the creation of the SSRC: ‘The social sciences arrive’
Last updated: 25 July 2025