Independent Institute for Social Policy (IISP) is an autonomous non-for-profit organisation. The IISP was founded in 2000 by the Russian Center for Public Opinion and Market Research (VCIOM) and The Academy of the National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation (ANE) to support and develop ideas and initiatives that have a social effect and suggest new approaches to social policy.
Main activities include:
- grant support for independent sociological and economic research in social policy issues
- conducting research in social policy issues and participation in international projects
- independent expertise and evaluation of social effects of decisions by the authorities, as well as by commercial and non-for- profit organisations
- consultancy in social policy issues
- creation and development of information pools and databases (databases of researchers and research organisations working in the area of social policy in Russia; information support; and data archiving)
- organisation and holding of seminars, conferences, round-table discussions, and other events
- development and implementation of educational programs aimed at the improvement and introduction of new knowledge in social policy
- publication of journals as well as academic, educational, reference, and information literature in social policy.
Recent areas of research have included:
- generations and gender behavior and quality of life
- accessibility of higher education
- accessibility of social programs and services
- labour market policy in the context of globalisation
- Russian power industry restructuring
- poverty and inequality.
In both Russian and English, IISP’s website presents research and grant program details, sociological data archive, Sofist bulletin, Journal SPERO, conference and seminar materials as well as online interviews and papers.