What will your impact be?
Democracy is in crisis with a loss of trust, increasing polarization, and adaptive challenges, so a lab for democracy must place a heavy emphasis on interdisciplinary innovation and problem-solving. RDL invites students, faculty, and staff from across the university to partner with us to create civic opportunities ranging from interactive workshops to cutting-edge research. We offer an assortment of internship and fellowship programs to catalyze innovative ideas to strengthen civic life, guided by the notion that to learn democracy is to practice it. Each of our programs taps into the expertise and talent of all disciplines–from the arts to zoology (and everything in between!)–and diverse members of the Rutgers and local communities to advance creative solutions to democracy’s biggest challenges.
Our Programs
The Technology and Democracy Hub examines how social media, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies influence political behavior. Through rigorous research and collaboration with community members and practitioners, the Hub generates insights with national impact, contributing to the broader understanding of democracy’s evolution in the digital age.
The Center for Youth Political Participation celebrates and supports political learning and engagement among young people through research, public service and education, driven by the potential impact of Gen Z on American democracy.
A university-wide initiative aimed to equip educators, staff, and students to have productive conversations about difficult and sometimes divisive issues. We do this by offering support and opportunities to learn and apply the theory and the practice of respectful dialogue.
An initiative where students from academic programs across the university work alongside faculty, practitioners, and community partners to address complex, multidisciplinary issues. Participating students receive stipends and academic credit.
A nonpartisan effort to register, mobilize and engage Rutgers University students to participate in politics and vote in local, state and national elections.
A program where students support CYPP and RDL staff in creating eye-catching, viral-worthy content for RDL's social media channels to promote youth voter turnout, political awareness, and campus-based engagement at Rutgers.
An initiative to fund research focused on or clearly relevant to American democracy, prioritizing projects that address deliberative dialogue, the effects of AI on democracy, and democratic innovation.
A civic education initiative providing high school and middle school students with the motivation and the civic, political, and expressive tools they need to address public problems in their community.
The Rutgers Democracy Lab (RDL) works with students, faculty, staff, and communities at Rutgers–New Brunswick, Camden, Newark, and Health. Our work has four focus areas: