The Center partners with scholars and practitioners across disciplines to expand inquiry into contested public affairs and policy questions.
CEVIHE develops research agendas around consequential questions that are often underexamined, fragmented across disciplines, or shaped by settled assumptions. The Center brings academics into conversation with journalists, advocates, industry representatives, and government officials; supports early-career scholars; and produces work that can be tested, cited, taught, debated, and adapted.
Research at CEVIHE is guided by intellectual breadth and scholarly rigor. Projects emphasize evidence, disciplinary standards, methodological scrutiny, and serious engagement with competing interpretations. The aim is to make contested questions more intellectually productive while remaining candid about uncertainty and the limits of existing knowledge.
Scholarly Convenings
CEVIHE uses conferences and workshops to identify difficult questions, surface competing premises, connect academic disciplines with professional experience, and establish agendas for further inquiry. Public conversations make the central disagreements accessible, while smaller expert discussions allow participants to examine evidence, trade-offs, and research needs in greater depth.
The Regulation of Vice
In March 2026, CEVIHE convened its first research conference. The Regulation of Vice examined how societies should respond to gambling, recreational drugs, and pornography, activities that can be pleasurable, profitable, harmful, stigmatized, addictive, or morally contested.
A public panel discussion, Policy Responses to Gambling, Recreational Drugs, and Pornography, was followed by an expert workshop on autonomy, harm, consent, commercialization, and state responsibility. Participants compared regulatory approaches across domains and identified questions for future research.
U.S. Foreign Policy and the Separation of Powers
In September 2026, CEVIHE will convene U.S. Foreign Policy and the Separation of Powers in partnership with the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The conference asks whether the United States can exercise global power effectively while preserving a constitutional order of divided authority, democratic legitimacy, and individual liberty.
The program will examine the evolving balance among Congress, the presidency, the courts, and the national security state in the conduct of foreign policy. Topics include war powers, economic statecraft, judicial review, the national security bureaucracy, U.S. grand strategy, and the relationship between American power abroad and constitutional governance at home. Learn more and register for the conference.
Emerging Research Agendas
Artificial Intelligence in Government and Public Administration
CEVIHE is developing an interdisciplinary research agenda on the use of artificial intelligence by governments and public agencies. The work will examine where AI may improve state capacity, policy analysis, and public service; how automated systems alter administrative discretion and accountability; and what standards should govern reliability, transparency, security, fairness, and human oversight.
This agenda connects technical questions to institutional and democratic ones. It asks what public officials can responsibly delegate to automated systems, how agencies should evaluate competing values and risks, and how the growing use of AI may reshape the relationship between citizens and the administrative state. As the agenda develops, CEVIHE will seek collaboration among scholars of public administration, political science, law, ethics, computer science, and related fields.
The Future of Higher Education and Civil Discourse
CEVIHE also develops research and public scholarship on how colleges and universities can respond to polarization, groupthink, and declining trust through their core academic work. Areas of inquiry include intellectual pluralism; classroom climate; student formation and leadership; faculty incentives and research culture; public convenings; constructive disagreement; and the design and evaluation of institutional reforms.
The Center’s thought leadership is both analytical and practical. CEVIHE studies its own programs, distinguishes activity from impact, documents what works and what remains uncertain, and translates emerging lessons into annual reports, case studies, curricular resources, workshops, media commentary, and partnerships with peer institutions. This work contributes to national discussions about the purposes of higher education and the conditions under which universities can strengthen civil discourse. Explore CEVIHE’s public scholarship and media engagement.
Postdoctoral Fellowship and Scholarly Community
The Postdoctoral Fellowship in Expanding Viewpoints supports early-career scholars whose research and teaching illuminate overlooked questions and perspectives. Fellows pursue independent research, teach within Tufts departments and programs, mentor students, and contribute to an interdisciplinary community committed to open inquiry and constructive disagreement.
CEVIHE also works with faculty collaborators, visiting scholars, research assistants, and external partners. Together, these networks help broaden research agendas, strengthen mentorship, and connect scholarship to teaching, public discussion, and institutional practice.
Research Outputs and Partnerships
The form of each project follows the question. CEVIHE’s research may produce academic articles, working papers, edited volumes, workshop reports, public scholarship, evaluation tools, and resources for educators and institutional leaders. The Center also supports science communication and careful public engagement with uncertainty, methodological disagreement, and responsible dissent.
Scholars and institutions interested in proposing a research project, joining a convening, or exploring a partnership are invited to contact CEVIHE.