Reformers are bringing citizens directly into policy decisions through new forms of deliberation, with little settled evidence about whether or how that strengthens liberal-democratic institutions. The character a free and pluralistic society demands of its citizens is widely invoked and rarely examined. And artificial intelligence is remaking the news and information that a free society depends on. To address these issues, IHS has opened three new research funding opportunities for scholars examining them.
Deliberative Democracy and the Effects of Deliberation
Citizen assemblies, deliberative polls, and similar experiments are increasingly promoted as a remedy for polarization and distrust. Reformers are bringing citizens directly into policy decisions, faster than the evidence on whether it helps.
Do these interventions actually reduce partisan animosity, or only appear to, and when does deliberation strengthen liberal-democratic institutions rather than undermine them? Through this RFP, IHS invites scholars across disciplines to explore these questions.
The Nature of Liberal Civic Virtue
A free society makes real demands on its citizens. They must accept constitutional limits on majority power, extend rights to people whose views they reject, and live alongside deep differences of belief and practice. These dispositions have to be cultivated, yet what they are and what makes them specifically liberal is rarely examined.
This RFP puts those questions to scholars: what virtues a free, pluralistic, self-governing society requires; how they relate to liberal values like liberty, dignity, and equality; and where they take root in the liberal tradition.
IHS is especially interested in collaborative projects that work across disciplines or philosophical perspectives, and in new methods for identifying and grounding liberal civic virtue.
Agentic AI and the Future of News and Information
Agentic AI is already changing how news and information are produced, distributed, and consumed. Most of the attention goes to what the tools can automate. The deeper question is institutional: what keeps a future information environment honest?
IHS invites scholars across journalism, computer science, communications, media studies, and technology policy to examine the “new news” institutions now taking shape, the journalistic methods being rebuilt around AI tools, and the mechanisms that keep information trustworthy.
These three calls are part of IHS's broader work funding scholarship on the conditions of a free society. IHS funds the research, supports the scholars doing it, and connects them with one another to further the conversations their work speaks to.
For questions about any of these opportunities, reach out to our grants team at RFP@TheIHS.org.