Incite at Columbia University
Insights thrive in unlikely company.
Insights thrive in unlikely company.
At Incite Institute, scholars, change makers, artists, and others unite to engage the social world in surprising new ways.
A home for unconventional ideas
Together with our collaborators, we ask and pursue ambitious questions, embracing experimentation even at the risk of failure.
Latest news
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go to the Telling Our Own Stories: Inside the Movements Against Mass Incarceration Retreat & Showcase news
Telling Our Own Stories: Inside the Movements Against Mass Incarceration Retreat & ShowcaseTwenty-six partners from across the country gathered in New York this June to celebrate the pre-release of the Movements Against Mass Incarceration oral history archive, with panels on reflection, art, and activation from justice-impacted organizers, artists, and scholars. -
go to the Introducing the 2026 Inaugural Incite Institute Doctoral Dissertation Fellows news
Introducing the 2026 Inaugural Incite Institute Doctoral Dissertation FellowsWe're excited to announce this year's cohort of Incite Dissertation Fellows. In keeping with Incite Institute's commitment to bringing disciplines together across the university, the Fellows Program brings together PhD candidates at the dissertation writing stage for a year of close, sustained engagement with the thinking of colleagues from disciplines other than their own. -
go to the Incite's Investigative Journalism Oral History Lands in Mother Jones 50th Anniversary Retrospective news
Incite's Investigative Journalism Oral History Lands in Mother Jones 50th Anniversary RetrospectiveFor its 50th anniversary issue, Mother Jones turned to Incite's developing oral history archive of investigative journalism, using interviews conducted by project lead Adiel Kaplan as primary sources for its founding history. -
go to the Incite’s Trust Collaboratory Hosts The First Community Conversation for AI Research Project news
Incite’s Trust Collaboratory Hosts The First Community Conversation for AI Research ProjectOn June 29, the Trust Collaboratory's TeLLLMe project gathered researchers, skeptics, and community members in Harlem for the first in a series of conversations aimed at building a more democratic, publicly accountable AI platform.
Because social issues need social insights
The biggest issues of our time aren't just technical—they're social. We bring together partners from inside and outside the academy who approach these issues with different forms of expertise.
Featured Projects
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go to the The Elders Project project
The Elders Project Capturing the stories of elders who have shaped America—from Civil Rights activists to tribal leaders to survivors of Stonewall—before they’re lost to history. -
go to the Movements Against Mass Incarceration project
Movements Against Mass Incarceration
Building the United States' first archive to center the political ideas and movement-building of incarcerated people.
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go to the Obama Presidency Oral History project
Obama Presidency Oral History
Creating a comprehensive oral history of the Obama years with over 450 officials, activists, organizers, and extraordinary people from all walks of life.
Building new capacities
Through our projects, funding opportunities, training programs, and public events, we strive to build capacity in people and organizations so that they can drive transformation on their own terms.
Upcoming events
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go to the Introduction to Oral History for Research news
Oral History Workshops Introduction to Oral History for Research An interactive half-day oral history workshop with Amy Starecheski. Workshop -
go to the Unhomely Earth: The New Geopolitics of the Underground and the
Extraterrestrial news
Unhomely Earth: The New Geopolitics of the Underground and the Extraterrestrial The Unsettlement Project's inaugural symposium explores how climate crisis, war, and extractive AI technologies are reshaping the relationship between the earth and the human. Symposium