Projects - Civil society research outfits

Research!America

Arlington, VA

A Research Advocacy Alliance

Busara

Nairobi

The Busara Lab is now the largest behavioral science lab in the world with a panel of more than 133,000 participants across sites in India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda.

Democratic Erosion Consortium (DEC)

United States of America 🇺🇸

The Democratic Erosion Consortium (DEC) is a nonpartisan, collaborative effort to address the global challenge of democratic erosion through research, teaching, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Data Center Watch

We’re a boutique research firm tracking the growing opposition to data center development

CIVICUS

Johannesburg

CIVICUS is a global alliance that champions the power of civil society to create positive change.

The Society for Technological Advancement (SoTA)

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧

The Society for Technological Advancement (SoTA) is a new venture designed to cultivate optimism about technoscientific development and build capacity for it to happen, forming a cross-disciplinary community around this mission.

EquiLabs

Berlin

EquiLabs is a digital rights laboratory driving a future where data and AI serve people and the planet, putting human rights, fairness, and accountability first.

XOF Research

Europe

OSINT research organization focused on political technology

Youth Political Participation: Literature and Policy Review 1980–2023

Brussels

The aim of this research was to conduct a literature review of landmark research pieces and major policies in the field of youth political participation to support the design of EPD programmes.

Global Citizens' Assembly Network (GloCAN)

Birmingham, UK

The Global Citizens’ Assembly Network (GloCAN) is a research collective that generates actionable insights to inform policymakers, funders, process designers, advocates and the wider community of practice designing, implementing, and evaluating global citizens’ assemblies.

Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi)

Berlin

The Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) is an independent non-profit think tank based in Berlin. We conduct research, offer ideas and advice and facilitate dialogue, seeking to contribute to a world that is more peaceful, just and equipped to address global challenges.

Data & Technology Politics at GPPi

Berlin

Research division focused on new digital technologies and politics

Expanding Our Understanding of Evidence for Meaningful Participation

Amsterdam

There is a widely held belief that participatory grant-making can democratise philanthropy and transform power dynamics, but the evidence supporting these claims needs to be bolstered. That's why Porticus is commissioned [this] study.

reports

Local Policy Lab Action Lab

San Diego, CA

The LPL Action Lab is a think tank and civic lab, rolled into one, combining theory and practice to generate ground-breaking, actionable ideas for cities.

city

The State of Independent Technology Research 2025

A report on the struggle to keep public-interest technology research alive—and the growing Coalition working to protect it. DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

reports

Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS)

San Francisco

The Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS) is a nonpartisan think tank that engages experts across the U.S., allied, and partner nations to deliver concrete, technically sound policy research.

AFL-CIO Tech Institute

Washington, DC

The AFL-CIO Tech Institute works at the intersection of technological innovation in the workplace, centering worker knowledge, expertise, and interests in our modern innovation-based economy with the goal of ensuring that technological change creates widespread prosperity for all American workers.

New Local

London

We are home to over 50 councils and partners, united in a drive to create sustainable, inclusive and community-powered public services.

local

Institute for the Future of Work

London

labor

Tech Global Institute

Toronto

Promoting equity for the Global South on the open Internet

Global South Alliance

Aláfia Lab

Salvador

Laboratório de pesquisa independente e multidisciplinar de política digital

Global South Alliance

Atlantic Council Democracy + Tech Initiative

Washington, DC

The Digital Forensic Research Lab’s Democracy + Tech Initiative centers human rights and democracy in technology and policy debates.

human rights

GovTech Intelligence Hub

Connecting governments, technology, and academia with GovTech intelligence to enhance public service delivery.

EU System for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society (EU SEE)

Raamweg 16, Den Haag

The EU System for an Enabling Environment is designed to document changes and shed light on critical trends in the enabling environment for civil society across 86 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, the Americas and the Caribbean.

AISA Policy Lab

Manila

Our Southeast Asia Policy Observatory (SEA Observatory) provides a comprehensive overview of the state of AI policy and governance in the region.

Instituto Procomum

São Paulo

Inventar, ativar e participar de redes cujo foco é promover acordos de convivência e modelos de colaboração para a transformação social, contribuindo de forma criativa e inovadora para a construção de um mundo comum entre diferentes.

Good Jobs First

Washington, DC

Good Jobs First is a national policy resource center that promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development.

ParticipationAI

Spain (España) 🇪🇸

ParticipationAI explores the intersection of public participation and Artificial Intelligence (AI),focusing on integrating diverse civil society perspectives into the public procurement process.

Clever Together

London

We help forward-thinking leaders to embed evidence, expertise, and lived experiences into the heart of decision-making.

Centro de Pensamiento y Acción

Asunción, Paraguay

Los centros de pensamiento son «asociaciones de investigadores, de áreas diversas del saber, que, mediante la investigación, el debate académico, la producción de documentos y la relación con sectores y problemas estratégicos de la realidad nacional, definen e inciden, a partir de su trabajo en red, en la evaluación y formulación de políticas públicas».

Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft (HIIG)

Humboldt-Institut Berlin, Invalidenstraße, Berlin, Germany

Impulsgeber für die digitale Gesellschaft

United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV)

Guimarães, Portugal

As a forward-thinking policy-oriented entity, we lead innovation, actively exploring and advocating emerging technologies to transform public service delivery on a worldwide scale.

United Nations

Digital Government Assessment Programme

Guimarães, Portugal

This project aims to conduct a comprehensive study of the relevant and available literature and present research findings that will assist the Digital Government Authority (DGA) in enhancing the online presence of key government entities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Rhetorical Labs

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧

We are a research collective dedicated to providing public communication campaigns with rigorous, state-of-the-art tools for message development. Our methodology combines machine learning, crowdsourcing, and adaptive randomized controlled trials.

One Project

We’re building tools for participatory funding connecting resources directly to community-controlled funds on Common, our digital platform that connects people, organizations, and resources to coordinate and grow economic democracy to global scale.

Careful Industries

London

Careful Industries gives good advice to leaders navigating the intersections of social justice and technology.

Social Change Lab

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧

Using social movement research to tackle the world's most pressing problems

Beloved

New Orleans, LA

Beloved Community offers a number of consulting services to support organizations and communities to drive change within organizations by providing teams with custom coaching and the necessary thought leadership to advance equity journeys.

Project Liberty

New York City (NYC / New York, NY)

Project Liberty is advancing responsible development of the internet, designed and governed for the common good.

Open Environmental Data Project (OEDP)

Building spaces to grow the global conversation on environmental data access and use

Demos

London

Britain’s leading cross-party think tank. We put people at the heart of policy-making to create bold ideas and a more collaborative democracy.

TICTeC 25

SHARE LAB

Serbia (Srbija) 🇷🇸

Research & Data Investigation Lab - Where indie data punk, meets media theory pop to investigate digital rights blues

User Research Library

Hackney, London

A library of local-gov focused research in the UK

Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP)

Washington, DC

"The Center for AI and Digital Policy aims to promote a better society, more fair, more just — a world where technology promotes broad social inclusion based on fundamental rights, democratic institutions, and the rule of law."

JUST AI

London

JUST AI is an independent network of researchers and practitioners committed to understanding the social and ethical value of data and AI

Center for News, Technology & Innovation

United States of America 🇺🇸

The Center for News, Technology & Innovation will provide issue primers with research and legislative activity from around the world and host deliberative discussions among thought leaders in journalism, technology, and policy.

Research ICT Africa

Cape Town

African think tank that has operated for over a decade to fill a strategic gap in the development of a sustainable information society and network knowledge economy.