The past several decades have been marked by many important social and economic trends, including a slowdown in economic growth, rising inequality, and increasing ethnic diversity. As a result, Canada and the United States are at a cross-road in terms of their social and economic prospect. New research is needed to develop policies and practices that will support sustainability, well-being and economic growth in the twenty-first century. NEST produces world-class research of relevance to social and economic policy to promote economic security and growth. Housed in the Faculty of Social Science, NEST generates evidence-based policy research through a multidisciplinary approach with a goal to influence social and economic policy in Canada and North America more broadly. The goals of NEST are to use advanced data creation, management, and analytic techniques to provide theoretically driven and evidenced-based research that will inform social and economic policy. Our research will focus on issues related to educational attainment, poverty, inequality, immigration, diversity, population change, local government, urban affairs, and community development. Believing that synergy across traditional boundaries leads to innovation, NEST provides an intellectual and physical environment designed to encourage and facilitate multidisciplinary and collaborative activities in scholarship and training across Departments in the Faculty of Social Science, as well as knowledge transfer that ensures that research findings have impact locally, nationally, and internationally.

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