About

We are a hub for intellectual exchange.

The Forum for Scholars and Publics at the Franklin Humanities Institute is a place where scholars and various publics — local, national, and global — can interact and intersect to generate greater exchange between the university and the broader world. Founded in 2013, the Forum at Duke has hosted over 300 conversations, performances, workshops, and panel discussions and welcomed over 500 invited guest speakers from around the world.

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We advocate for the role of knowledge in society.

By organizing programs at Duke, in Durham, and beyond, curating a dynamic digital space for sharing research and commentary, and hosting working groups and residencies, we serve as advocates for the dual and complementary roles in society of community expertise and scholarly knowledge.

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We support faculty engagement.

We host a network of events, working groups, and classes in which students, faculty, and guests debate, practice, and critique various forms of public scholarship and engagement, learn about others doing parallel work, and develop innovative ways for communication and exchange. Our events at Duke and beyond engage faculty with members of different communities and contribute to faculty conversations online.

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We model public scholarship.

We invite our participants to explore new methods of sharing their work and new models of research that engage local and global communities more directly. We fund and host short-term residency programs for visual and performing artists, journalists, filmmakers, scholars, activists, organizers, entrepreneurs, curators, and others who contribute to our programs.

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Find us at Duke and in the communities beyond.

We offer a set of flexible resources that can help transform the ways people work within, through, and beyond the university. Ultimately, our goal is to create generative spaces that can provide a leading example of new ways to connect scholars and publics locally and globally.