Research
Major Research Initiatives

The Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity
The Ford Program conducts and supports research toward understanding how people become aware of their own capabilities and responsibilities. Our research points to sustainable solutions to problems identified by our partners and community members with whom they work while offering students a rich and practical hands-on learning experience.

Policy and Practice Research Labs
The Kellogg Institute's Policy and Practice Research Labs support high-impact, high-yield research intended to have a tangible influence on policies and practices affecting democracy and human development. The labs intentionally bridge the worlds of research and policy while maintaining a focus on rigorous scholarly inquiry.

Research Clusters
Since 2017, the Kellogg Institute has supported faculty-led research clusters in distinctive areas of high-impact, mission-driven research and programming. Through competitive three-year grants, these clusters promote innovative, interdisciplinary research on the Institute’s core research themes of democracy and human development.

The Varieties of Democracy Project
Varieties of Democracy ("V-Dem") is an ambitious international effort to produce new indicators of democracy for all countries since 1900. With measures of democracy in great demand, V-Dem provides the global community with the world’s most comprehensive, accurate, and detailed democracy ratings.
Spotlight
V-Dem Research Highlights
The Varieties of Democracy project has steadily advanced research in many areas since the release of its dataset. Here are a few highlights of the impact the project has had.