How the Institute
works with partners.

University laboratories, research institutes, and independent researchers in cognitive science, affective computing, HCI, natural language processing, and computational social science.

• A research counterpart, and shared inquiry on a defined question.
• Access to working datasets, instruments — distortion detection, persona‑contract framework, severity‑test protocols — and deployment evidence.
• Co‑authorship on the resulting peer‑reviewed publication; director participation in writing, severity‑testing, and reviewer response.

• A peer‑reviewed publication as the shared deliverable.
• Reciprocal contribution — data, instruments, theoretical scaffolding, or fieldwork the Institute does not have.
• Willingness to pre‑register the failure modes that would make the result not hold.

A funded contract, a service relationship, or a way to source labour. Collaboration is intellectual, not commercial.

Per the paper — typically 18 to 36 months.

Enterprises and institutions whose AI deployments operate in cognitive contexts the Institute studies — finance, regulated industry, mental‑health‑adjacent products, executive deliberation, cross‑cultural reasoning.

• A research direction agreed in writing at outset, aligned to one of the four Programmes.
• Decomposition of the cognitive context, specification of functional metrics distinct from benchmark metrics, and severity‑tested prototyping.
• Director‑led oversight; named research staff or affiliated post‑doctoral fellows assigned to the work.
• Quarterly written progress with milestone review; a final report, and one external‑facing publication subject to mutual approval.

• A sponsorship at research‑budget scale — not a consulting day rate.
• Domain context, anonymised data where applicable, and a named counterpart for substantive review cycles.
• Acceptance that the scope is research, not delivery — the Institute does not staff implementation teams.

A vendor engagement, a managed‑services arrangement, or staff augmentation. Implementation is carried by your engineering team or a partner firm; the Institute carries the research and the methodology.

12 to 24 months, with annual review.

Individuals and institutions who wish to sustain the long horizon of cognition‑aware research — and who accept that the work the patronage funds is the Institute's, not their own.

• Proximity to the inquiry — working papers as they take shape, private briefings, and conversations that will not appear in print for some years.
• Standing acknowledgement in the Institute's permanent record, where the patron chooses to be named.
• For Institutional and Founding patrons — one closed‑door workshop per year, scoped to questions the patron carries.
• For Founding patrons — a standing seat at the annual Patrons' Roundtable.

• A multi‑year commitment to the Institute's independence — not a research scope.
• Acceptance that the work the patronage sustains is the Institute's, not the patron's.

A purchase of services, a research engagement, or sponsorship of named deliverables. Patrons sustain the position; they do not direct the inquiry.

Annual, multi‑year by intention.