Democratic Innovations Student Research

The Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) is funding undergraduate student research under its Democratic Innovations program. This can include research funding for senior theses, term papers, summer research, or other independent student research activities. The Democratic Innovations program is a research initiative of the ISPS that seeks to “identify and test innovative ideas for improving the quality of democratic representation and governance” by asking questions such as, but not limited to, “What changes to our political institutions will promote honest, efficient, evidence-based decisions?” and “What new possibilities for government and representation are introduced by modern technology?” Under this program, students who have research proposals about innovative democratic governance can submit proposals to receive up to $2,000 in research funding. Examples include funding to purchase survey responses, access to unique data sources, and public transportation travel costs to conduct qualitative interviews. Funding may not be used for salary or personal living expenses. If you are an undergraduate student interested in democratic reform with a potential research proposal, we encourage you to apply with a project idea.

Expectations of Research Projects:

Projects must have a faculty sponsor.
Projects must be focused on the scientific study of improving how we engage in representation and government, with a focus on novel democratic institutions and improving democratic governance.
Projects must present their findings at the end-of-year Democratic Innovations Student Symposium at the end of each spring semester.
Projects must produce an end-of-year research report (ideally a draft paper that would be submitted to an academic journal for peer review) and a one-page executive summary, which will be shared on the ISPS website.
If the research project involves human subjects, IRB approval must be received.
Projects must not involve any lobbying or political campaign activity. Students are expected to review the relevant university policies on lobbying and campaign activity.

Please email any questions to Professor Josh Kalla, the Democratic Innovations Faculty Coordinator, at josh.kalla@yale.edu.

Funding Information:
Up to $2,000 is available for each project depending on that project’s justifiable needs. After a project is approved, it must submit funding requests to the ISPS to justify all expenses. Funding may not be used for salary or personal living expenses.

Faculty Sponsor

Professor Josh Kalla, Democratic Innovations Faculty Coordinator

Posted Date

11-07-23

Application Description

Eligibility: Projects must originate from undergraduate Yale students with a demonstrated interest in researching democracy. Co-authored projects between groups of Yale students (including with a graduate student) are eligible and encouraged to apply.

To Apply: To apply, please email a 1-2 page project proposal to josh.kalla@yale.edu. In the project proposal, include a description of the democratic innovation that you would like to research, why you think researching it is valuable, your proposed research design, expected funding needs, budget justification, your proposed project deliverables (e.g., research report, academic publication, etc.), and a timeline. Faculty sponsors must also submit a brief paragraph endorsing the project and agreeing to mentor the student.

Deadline: Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling monthly basis subject to available funding. To be considered, proposals must be submitted by the 10th of each month.

Organization

Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS)