HSI works with universities, companies, foundations, and public institutions on research the Institute could not do alone: the questions they are already living with, the settings where those questions play out, and the data that makes an answer credible.
Partnership does not confer control over findings.
Most partnerships combine more than one of these. What they share is a defined question, a defined contribution, and a written understanding of what each side gets and does not get.
Joint inquiry with a partner institution, published under both names. The research question is agreed at the outset; the findings are not. Co-publication means shared authorship and shared editorial standards, not shared approval rights.
Access to a real institutional setting: a governance function being rebuilt, an AI deployment under supervision, a workforce transition in progress. Cases can be published named or anonymized, agreed before work begins.
Standing relationships with faculty and research centres: shared supervision of contributing researchers, seminar exchange, methods review, and joint work on questions that sit across a pillar boundary.
Co-hosting a salon, working session, or field session: venue, programming, and the invitation list built jointly. Convenings are held under the Chatham House Rule, and a partner's involvement is disclosed to those invited.
Programme or project funding for a defined line of research. Grants are scoped to a question and a period, not to a conclusion. Contributions of $25,000 or more are disclosed in the Horizon Outlook.
Datasets, survey access, technical review, or practitioner expertise contributed to a project. Contributors are credited; contribution does not carry review rights over the analysis it informs.
The sequence is deliberately short. Most partnerships move from first conversation to agreed scope in four to six weeks.
We start from a question, not a deliverable. If the question does not sit under one of the four pillars, or if HSI is not the right institution to answer it, we say so early. Our public research agenda is the fastest way to see where a partnership would land.
A short written scope covers the question, the contribution each side makes, the output and its timing, attribution, and how the work is disclosed. Editorial independence is stated explicitly rather than assumed.
Every partnership is screened against the Institute's conflict of interest policy and its entity separation policy. Funding from foreign government or state-linked entities is reviewed and disclosed regardless of size.
Partners see the work as it develops and can correct factual errors about their own institution. They do not review conclusions, approve publication, or receive editorial input. Where a partner disagrees with a finding, we will publish the disagreement alongside it.
This is the condition on which every partnership rests. Partnership does not confer control over findings. A partner's support, access, or funding never carries the right to direct, review, delay, or suppress what the Institute publishes.
Partners and funders support the mission and the pillars, but do not direct research conclusions, review work before publication, or receive editorial input. Partners may correct factual statements about their own institution; they may not revise analysis or judgment. Where a project is funded or supported by a partner, that relationship is disclosed in the publication itself.
We disclose all individual and institutional contributions of $25,000 or more in our Horizon Outlook, and review and disclose any funding from foreign government or state-linked entities regardless of size. HSI does not accept partnerships conditioned on a predetermined finding, and will end a partnership rather than alter a conclusion.
Horizon Search Institute is the registered trade name of HSI Research Foundation, a Delaware nonprofit corporation (EIN 42-1954110). Tax-deductible contributions are received through the Foundation's fiscal sponsor, Fiscal Sponsorship Allies, Inc. (EIN 85-0839183), a 501(c)(3) public charity that retains variance power over donated funds as required by law.
A co-published Special Report with NYU PREP on consultation, authority, and who is actually consulted when institutions claim a consultative process. PREP's Peace AI programme works on inclusive AI governance and community-centred approaches across Kenya, Malawi, and the Philippines. Pillar IV.
Standing relationships with graduate researchers at the London School of Economics, Northwestern, NYU, and George Washington University, contributing byline-credited research across the pillars.
Further partnerships are in development and will be listed here once agreed and under way. The Institute lists partnerships when work has actually begun rather than at the point of first conversation.
The most useful first message is short: who you are, the question your institution is facing, and what you could contribute to answering it. Inquiries receive a personal response from the Executive Director within two business days.