Accelerate Your Research with AI. Expand the Frontiers of Freedom.
The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS), in partnership with the Cosmos Institute, is launching the AI-Accelerated Scholarship Program — a funding program equipping scholars with cutting-edge AI tools, best practices, and community support to accelerate research that advances human flourishing.
Why It Matters
Academia is at a turning point. While AI sparks debate, its potential to deepen scholarship, broaden audiences, and speed the pace of discovery is enormous. This program offers a first-mover advantage for scholars ready to apply AI to research that drives society forward.
Who Is Eligible
Faculty, graduate students, and academic researchers working on projects in the humanities and social science disciplines as well as philosophy, public policy, and law are eligible to apply for funding.
What You'll Gain
Access funding to purchase AI tools and join a community to enhance your research.
Funding for AI Research Tools
Receive $500-$5,000 in funding for commercially available AI-powered platforms for writing, analysis, and discovery.
Exclusive Access to ScholarsEdge
Save time and research dollars with this IHS AI-powered research hub.
Best Practices & Guidance
Learn approaches for using AI that preserve rigor and creativity while avoiding pitfalls.
Community of Peers
Benefit from a growing network of scholars testing and sharing methods for responsible, innovative AI use.
Visibility & Support
Be among the first to shape how AI serves academic inquiry in the liberal tradition.
How to Apply
The AI-Accelerated Scholarship Program Grant is being offered through IHS's Expense Support program.
Best Practices for AI in Research
From our experience supporting scholars, here are a few principles that will guide the program:
Amplify, Don’t Substitute
Use AI to surface connections, generate ideas, and explore new directions, while keeping judgement and interpretation firmly in your hands.
Treat Outputs as Provisional
Use AI as a sparring partner, not a replacement for reasoning.
Direct AI Toward the Unseen
Harness tools to reveal hidden sources, patterns, and comparative insights that could take years to find manually.
AI Tools To Explore
The program will provide up to $5,000 in funding for scholars to access commercially available AI tools, including but not limited to:
Generative AI platforms
for brainstorming, drafting, and comparative analysis.
Possibilities Include:
OpenAI
Claude
PerplexityAI
Elicit
Data analysis & visualisation tools
that streamline interpretation of complex data.
Possibilities Include:
Tableau
PowerBI
Thoughtspot
Research assistants
for transcription, summarization, and citation management.
Possibilities Include:
OtterAI
Zotero
Descript
Scholarcy
NotebookLM
Digital humanities tools
that help scholars navigate large text corpora and archives.
Possibilities Include:
AntConc
NVivo
Transkribus
Recogito
Other AI tools that fit your research needs!
What Scholars Are Saying
Ed Timmons
Archbridge Institute
"[ScholarsEdge] frees up our capacity and our time to be better engaged in testimony... we've been able to comment on twice as many bills as we did the previous cycle…we wouldn't have necessarily been able to keep tabs on [legislation] without having access to the tool."
Adrian Rubio
European University Institute
“The ability to use AI to locate specific legal materials significantly reduces the transaction costs of navigating different state law portals."
