Research Program

The CISL research program focuses on the

• Development of conceptual and operational frameworks that rely on and/or integrate with existing and emerging computational techniques;
• Establishment of a transdisciplinary perspective on institutional analysis by integrating diverse disciplines (such as legal, policy, economics, behavioral studies) and computational approaches for the study of institutions;
• Design of standards & protocols that may aid in developing methodological consistency for existing and novel computational approaches to institutional analysis, specifically in support of comparative research;
• Development of software and tools as relevant to support institutional analysis within or across different disciplines;
• Training of young and emerging scholars interested in computational approaches to institutional analysis.

Research Themes

Research themes corresponding to each aspect of the scientific program:

Theory and Concept: Development and integration of theory and concepts and their interaction with computational techniques for the study of institutions. Efforts focus on ensuring consistency in conceptual application, exploring novel opportunities to generate theory based on the use of computational techniques, as well as harmonizing existing efforts that draw on computational applications to research institutions.

Computing: Development of computational techniques to perform large-scale data analysis to draw analytical insights into institutions as well as development infrastructure to perform computation (e.g., high-performance computing) and data handling, and the usage of both to develop novel analytical applications.

Software Development: Developing purpose-built software to support the study of institutions. This can involve the accommodation of specific theoretical concepts, logic-driven approaches to institutional analysis, or the development of tools to support the collection, analysis or interpretation of institutional information. Developing custom software to support computational institutional analysis aims at strengthening the strong conceptual linkage to theory and furthering the development of novel analytical techniques.

Applications: Practical application of computational techniques for institutional analysis within different domains. Emphasis on diversity in domains and applications to establish and ensure the broadest possible reflection of field and discipline-specific interests when fostering the use of computational techniques for the study of institutions.