News

FRI believes in community knowledge production and radical collaboration. Part of this is hosting an affiliates and community-building program. Affiliates can be UC Davis faculty/staff, community leaders and organizational representatives who share a commitment to FRI's mission and values, and who are open to potential collaborations with FRI. Community-building programs support new or ongoing work that aligns with our values. 

Research requires intellectual work. It also requires emotion work. Emotion work is the managing of one's emotions and tailoring one's behavior so as not to evoke emotional responses from others. A feminist approach sees this labor as a form of care work. Feminist scholars have shown that this work is gendered and racialized, often undertaken by women and people of color. It is also under-valued, which reinforces systems of oppression. 

FRI welcomes applications from writing groups to participate in the 2026-27 FRI Feminist Writing Practices Collective. Selected writing groups will gain access to the FRI space to host writing retreats with nourishment for the body, soul, and mind. 

Keeping up consistent writing practices is best done in community. Our writing can flourish when approached from a feminist ethic of care and accountability. This means accountability not just to deadlines, but to our well-being and relationships. 

FRI visiting researcher Maya Weeks attended “From Durham to Santa Marta and Beyond: Equitable Pathways to Fossil Fuel Phase Out conference in March 2026. Read about how she applies her training as a feminist scholar and political ecologist to the just transition away from fossil fuels. 

The UC Davis Feminist Research Institute and UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies invite experienced environmental justice professionals interested in sustainable transportation, mobility justice, research justice, and/or 

Is the AI we use to understand the world might be restricting the way we view the world? AI systems are playing an increasingly important role in analysis, prediction, and decision-making. However, they are trained on mainstream and uncritical datasets that reproduce stereotypical gender roles, abilities, and behavioral patterns, reinforcing biases, which leads to a limited understanding of society.

FRI seeks students, community members, and partners to join our 2026-27 Research Teams. We will have teams working on the following research questions:

Feminist work hard to fight against damaging narratives. These are stories designed to harm or limit us. They stymie our imagination and vision of what the world can be. 

Sometimes we get called killjoys because of this. But the "joy" we kill is built upon pain, violence, and damage. We see this in narratives such as: Girls don't like sports. Women are bad at math. She asked for it. Feminists refute such world-constraining stories. In their place, we fashion realities that are caring, restorative, and life-affirming. 

We celebrate and share the work of UC Davis feminist scholars who show us why we need queer, feminist collective movements. Take a moment to learn more about their work. They bring us hope, vision, and inspiration to continue forging paths towards liberation for all.

CRN: 41604

Course: 002-21

Units: 2
Day/Time: Thursday 4:10 pm - 6:00 pm

Instructor: Sarah McCullough & Harlin/Hayley Steele