Project Liberty’Institute

Sciences Po is a founding partner of the Project Liberty’s Institute (former McCourt Institute), created by entrepreneur Frank McCourt to advance tech for the common good. 

Technology and the common good in the light of the social sciences

The rapid and continual expansion of technological innovation calls for an increase in academic research, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, to better understand its impact on contemporary societies. To support the academic community’s commitment to studying, deciphering, and clarifying the major issues that new technology raises for the common good, Sciences Po entered a partnership with the McCourt Institute on 21 June 2021. 

Under this agreement, Sciences Po will receive a $25 million grant over 10 years to fund annual or multi-year research projects conducted by its research community on topics related to technology for the common good, particularly public policy and ethical and legal issues. To date, eight projects and 11 researchers are supported through the partnership.

An international mission to build an Internet that serves citizens.

Through research conducted by Sciences Po in partnership with Georgetown University in the US, the Project Liberty’s Institute aims to identify solutions for building a civic and equitable technological infrastructure for all, along with new governance models. “Can we ensure privacy in our lives online? Should our online relationships and personal information be owned by corporations or by each of us? How do we build a new digital ecosystem that unites developers, investors, and users . . . and society itself? Can we replace surveillance capitalism with a new digital shared economic model?” These are the questions that the Project Liberty’s Institute, Sciences Po, and Georgetown University intend to answer. The focus is on developing a new Internet architecture, designed and built for the common good, which optimises access and equity for all.

Steering Committee

Research projects conducted and funded under the partnership are selected by a steering committee which meets twice a year: 

• Michael Bailey, Walsh Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy and Department of Government, Georgetown University
• Jacques-Henri Eyraud, President, McCourt Europe, Middle East & Africa
• Maria Cancian, Dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
• Pierre François, Dean of the School of Research, Sciences Po
• Stephan Haimo, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sciences Po American Foundation
• Nathalie Jacquet, Head of Strategy and Development, Sciences Po
• Don Moynihan, Professor and inaugural McCourt Chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
• Guillaume Plantin, Professor, Research and Faculty Dean, Sciences Po, CEPR Research Fellow
• Xavier Ragot, Director of the French Economic Observatory (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques, OFCE)
• Shéhérazade Semsar⁠–⁠de Boisséson, Inaugural Executive Director, McCourt Institute
• Lisa Singh, Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Georgetown University
• Braxton Woodham, McCourt Global, President of Unfinished Labs

Liaison officers

• Gordon Berlin, Research Professor, McCourt School for Public Policy, Georgetown University
• Maxime Marzin, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Sciences Po.

The Steering Committee submits high-impact projects from all areas of research at Sciences Po.

Research projects selected by the steering committee

• Teaching Online News: Access to Digital Media, News Consumption and Political Knowledge – Evidence from a Randomised Experiment
  Julia Cagé, Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Sciences Po
• Styles of Moderation: Meeting Users’ Diverse Expectations and Practices for a More Decentralised Governance of Online Speech
  Sylvain Parasie, Professor of Sociology and Director of médialab, Sciences Po; Donato Ricci, Research Designer at médialab, Sciences Po; Dominique Cardon, Professor of Sociology, médialab, Sciences Po.
• How does ID verification on social media influence political and social behaviour?
  Romain Lachat, Associate Professor at CEVIPOF, Sciences Po.
• From Viral to Verified: A Cross-Country Study on Misinformation Sharing and Flagging to Improve Policy Making
  Achim Edelmann, Assistant Professor in Computational Social Science, médialab, Sciences Po.
• Analysing Dynamics of Metaverse communities for the understanding of determinants of metaverse adoption
  Kevin Mellet, Assistant Professor, CSO, CNRS/SciencesPo; Christine Balagué, Professor, Institut Mines Telecom-Business School, Chair Good in Tech, Member of Dataia, Member of CSA expert group on misinformation
• Promoting a Safe Use of Artificial Intelligence by Fighting Against Cognitive Heuristics-Driven Misperceptions
  Lou Safra, Assistant Professor in Political Psychology at CEVIPOF, Sciences Po
• Interventions to Reduce Misinformation and Deep Fakes: Cross-Country Experimental Evidence
  Nicolas Sauger, Professor of Political Sciences, Director of CDSP, Sciences Po.

A series of presentations will be held on the different projects. 

Find out more

• The Projet Liberty’s Institute
• Watch the inaugural conference in full.

Contact-Us

Charlotte Aumaître
Deputy Director for S
trategy and Development
+33 (0)1 45 49 55 53charlotte.aumaitre@sciencespo.fr