Grants

American University

Project Title

For Post-Doctoral Fellows at American University and Life and Peace Institute

Date

Sep. 14, 2023

Duration

36 months

Description

Peacebuilding is a complex process that requires regular evidence generation to adapt to rapidly changing contexts and ensure relevance. However, the integration of evidence faces several barriers, including a lack of incentives for academics, limited capacity among policymakers and practitioners, and a disconnect between academia and practice. This project aims to overcome these barriers through a research-policy-practice partnership between American University’s (AU) Research on International Policy Implementation Lab (RIPIL) and the Life & Peace Institute (LPI) focused on peacebuilding challenges in Africa. AU and LPI will develop a joint post-doctoral program that identifies innovative research questions important to peacebuilding stakeholders, involves policymakers and practitioners throughout the research process, and engages them with research findings.

Project Title

For a project on how disruptive technology alters crisis dynamics among great powers

Date

Sep. 10, 2020

Duration

27 months

Description

Despite the pandemic, multiple countries continue to invest in technologically-driven, disruptive military capabilities as part of a return to great power competition. The expansion of these capabilities can exacerbate international rivalries, heighten uncertainty, and accentuate relative power considerations with the potential to pull major powers into international crises and militarized disputes. This project, building on findings from previous Corporation-supported research that fed into a major, congressionally-mandated report of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission, will explore these assumptions by investigating the interaction between disruptive technology and crisis decision making through simulations and surveys of relevant experts and government officials. Focusing on technological developments in Artificial Intelligence, quantum, and hypersonic missiles, this work will result in policy-relevant reports and outreach.

Project Title

For training, research, and outreach to bridge the gap between academia and the policy world

Date

Dec. 06, 2018

Duration

24 months

Description

International relations scholars traditionally do not receive training geared to policy-relevant research or its dissemination to policymakers and the broader public. This problem is compounded by university hiring, tenure, and promotion standards, which typically undervalue this type of policy-relevant research and outreach. Bridging the Gap (BtG) is a flagship project among three institutions – American University, Duke University, and the University of California, Berkeley – promoting greater linkages between the academic and policy worlds. The project approaches this objective by fostering policy-relevant scholarship within universities, providing scholars with the tools and skills to disseminate their knowledge and insights beyond academia, strengthening networks of policy-relevant scholars, and working with university leaders to identify and address obstacles to policy engagement. Continued support will further these approaches.

Project Title

For investigative reporting on the federal oversight of campaign financing

Date

Jun. 01, 2017

Duration

24 months

Description

The Federal Election Commission is a vital agency charged with regulating the financing of campaigns for federal office. But it has been largely defined by dysfunction in the decades since its founding in the wake of the Watergate scandal, beginning with the fact that its very design featuring equal numbers of partisan commissioners all but assures persistent gridlock. The Investigative Reporting Workshop, housed at American University, is a nonprofit professional newsroom founded by veteran journalist Charles Lewis. With Corporation support, the Investigative Reporting Workshop will investigate the dysfunction at the Federal Election Commission, analyze the various reforms that have been proposed for the agency, and evaluate the implications of its present ineffectiveness for U.S. democracy.

Project Title

For a project on bridging the gap between academia and the policy world

Date

Sep. 08, 2016

Duration

24 months

Description

Bridging the Gap (BtG) is a flagship project within the Corporation’s portfolio of grants promoting greater linkages between the academic and policy worlds. Co-sponsored by American University, Duke University, and the University of California, Berkeley, this initiative connects research and policy, primarily in the fields of political science and international relations. BtG is concerned primarily with promoting the value of scholarship in the public sphere by fostering policy-relevant scholarship within universities and providing scholars with the tools and skills necessary to bring their knowledge and insights to policy and practice. Its impact to date is most evident through the network of scholars it has trained and mentored who pursue research aimed directly at the policymaking community and have proven their ability to communicate important findings clearly and coherently to a broad audience.

Project Title

For a project on bridging the gap between academia and the policy world

Date

Mar. 06, 2014

Duration

30 months

Project Title

For a joint project with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the role of new actors from developing countries and emerging powers in peacebuilding

Date

Sep. 11, 2014

Duration

31 months

Project Title

For a project to investigate and report on conditions inside the immigration detention system

Date

Mar. 07, 2013

Duration

6 months

Project Title

As a one-time grant for scholar mobility fellowships to U.S. universities in support of social scientists from the Arab Region

Date

Sep. 12, 2013

Duration

60 months

Project Title

For a joint project, with the University of California, Berkeley and Duke University, on global strategic challenges and foreign policy

Date

Dec. 15, 2011

Duration

30 months

Project Title

For investigative reporting focused on America's immigration detention facilities

Date

Sep. 16, 2010

Duration

6 months

Project Title

Toward convenings to consider changes in the Presidential primary schedule for future elections

Date

Mar. 06, 2008

Duration

12 months

Project Title

Toward the establishment of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate

Date

Mar. 02, 2006

Duration

16 months

Project Title

Toward a commission on federal election reform

Date

Jun. 09, 2005

Duration

12 months

Project Title

Toward dissemination of the recommendations of a commission on federal election reform

Date

Dec. 01, 2005

Duration

48 months