Projects and Initiatives

Nationhood Lab is an interdisciplinary research, testing and dissemination project focused on counteracting the authoritarian threat to American democracy. The project delivers effective tools with which to describe and defend the American liberal democratic tradition and better understand the forces undermining it.

The public parses reality and sorts the importance of events through narrative frameworks, rather than the cold logic of facts and data. 

On Story in the Public Square, an eight-time Telly Award-winning program broadcast nationally on PBS stations as well as on SiriusXM satellite radio's POTUS Channel, the Pell Center unpacks those narratives with outside impact on public understanding and public policy. Hosted by Jim Ludes and G. Wayne Miller, the show seeks to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.

The Pell Center’s research project on U.S. political polarization adds nuance to the complexities of our divide while highlighting our shared identity as Americans. Through research studies, data projects and events, we explore the causes and impacts of polarization to better identify ways out of this pervasive conflict.

Voices of Value is an annual survey project to analyze Rhode Islanders' perceptions of political polarization, track media consumption habits, and monitor support for various political actors. Through a deeper understanding of what Ocean State residents hold as highly important, the data complicates the narratives surrounding polarization, going beyond an oversimplified story of "us vs. them."

In the modern era, states have mastered the dark arts of lies, distortions and active measures to undermine domestic politics, international alliances and the very understanding of reality. At the Pell Center, we track ongoing disinformation campaigns and report on them each week in the Active Measures Newsletter and Podcast.

The Pell Center's research project focused on emerging issues that have great potential to shape the international environment for generations, stretching beyond traditional international relations to grapple with emerging political, technological and environmental concerns.

Our latest work, The Project on U.S.-China Technology Competition, delves into the fierce and fraught relationship between the two global superpowers, parsing the complicated history of how we got here to identify productive pathways forward.

Ocean State Stories is a media outlet serving all of Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and the many diverse communities that comprise the region. The focus is journalism about issues that often are neglected or under-reported. The stories are told with data, expert input and, importantly, the personal experiences of Rhode Islanders.