About the Institute
The 1864 Research & Innovation Institute was established in 2026 to generate rigorous, independent evidence on some of West Africa's most difficult policy questions — those at the intersection of security, justice, and equality.
We work with communities, institutions, and policymakers to ensure that evidence is not just produced but used. Our research is designed from the start to be actionable.
Meet our researchers →2026
Year established
2
Core research areas
Nigeria
Primary geography
2yr
Research horizon
2026–2028 Research Programme
Understanding the institutional, community, and systemic factors that shape crime and violence in Nigeria — and the conditions under which peace is built and sustained. Our work centres on evidence that can inform justice sector reform and security policy.
Questions we ask
How do institutional factors shape crime response capacity?
What drives community-level violence and what enables resolution?
How do complaints and incidents move through Nigeria's security landscape?
Examining how gender shapes access, opportunity, and vulnerability across Nigeria's economic and social landscape. We focus on generating evidence that is grounded in the realities of women and men in diverse Nigerian contexts — and useful to those working to change them.
Questions we ask
How do gender norms shape economic participation and firm outcomes?
Where do gender-based disparities concentrate — and why?
What interventions shift norms, and what evidence do we have?
How we work
We believe that poorly designed research on difficult topics does more harm than no research at all. Every project we take on is designed to answer a specific question, with methods chosen to answer it honestly.
We work independently. Our findings go where the evidence leads — not where funders or governments prefer.
We start with a policy question that matters, then design the method — not the other way around.
We have no institutional position to defend. We publish what we find.
We work with local researchers and communities from the start, not as an afterthought.
Every output is designed to reach a decision-maker, not just a journal.
Have a research question
we should be working on?
We are open to research partnerships with institutions, governments, and civil society organisations working on crime, violence, peace, and gender in Nigeria and West Africa.
Get in touch →