Institutional Research
The Gülen Institute promotes social science research on the role of civic initiatives, volunteerism and education on the establishment of stable peace, social justice, and social harmony.

It is widely recognized that our civilization in terms of human relationships lags far behind our technological achievements. Poverty, crime, armed conflicts, persecution, economic exploitation, drug abuse, human trafficking, and environmental pollution continue to affect hundreds of millions of people every day.

The Gülen Institute sponsors research programs that help identify those dynamics of the civil society that contribute to more humane relationships. The Institute’s research programs consists of three components: Research conducted directly by the institute’s research fellows with collaboration from external institutions, sponsored research and graduate student scholarships. Institutional research focuses on themes such as shared values of humanity, the role of education in peace-building, volunteerism, the role of non-governmental institutions for strengthening civil society and democracy; economic, political, ethnic, historic and religious dimensions of social conflicts; peaceful means for conflict resolution and the role of mass media in public education.

The goal of the research program on shared values of humanity is to analyze how values are defined by individuals with different backgrounds, whether they have any impact on their lives, and what values have the potential to serve as a basis for fostering social harmony.

The goal of the research program on education is to explore the different ways in which public and private education can help instill a culture of respecting and valuing diversity. The program on volunteerism and non-governmental organizations explores how civic initiatives can complement and augment governmental measures toward elimination of social problems and development of social harmony. The program on social conflicts explores the multidimensional nature of such phenomena in order to help promote multi-dimensional responses. The institute believes that naïve perspectives on social conflicts ultimately lead to ineffective or counterproductive solutions.  

Sponsored Research
The Gülen Institute sponsors research projects in all fields of social work, social science and humanities. Faculty members and researchers in social work, education, sociology, anthropology, political science, international relations, religious studies, and communications are encouraged to submit grant proposals on topics that are related to the Institute’s goals as expressed in the mission statement. There is no annual deadline for proposal submissions. The committee for sponsored research meets quarterly and considers proposals in the order of submission. The procedure for submitting individual or collaborative grant proposals are posted on the institute’s web site.

Sample Research Project 1: Impact of Gulen-inspired Schools in East and Southeast Turkey
Sociologists and Philosophers from Texas Tech University conducted a field study in 2008 on some of the recent and current activities of the Gülen movement in three cities in Southeast Turkey, Dıyarbakır, Elazığ, and Malatya, as illustrations of the movement in action.  The researchers argued that the activities of this movement provide people of goodwill all over with a viable model for social action that can address real social problems. Empirical information was collected in group interviews with students, teachers, and parents at various schools and other educational institutions in the three cities, as well as the businessmen who sponsor these institutions and activities.  Open-ended questions were asked, and the ensuing discussions were recorded.  The results, while qualitative and unrepresentative, nevertheless represent an excellent insight into how the participants of the movement themselves think about what they are doing. The researchers were able to observe and document the positive impact of the movement institutions and activities on the economically underprivileged Kurdish population, who are at risk of being recruited by terrorist causes. Some of the findings of the researchers were presented at a conference on the movement held at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge in Spring 2009.

Sample Research Project 2: Professional Woman Participants of the Gulen Movement.
Anthropologists from University of Houston, Clear Lake studied the professional women participants of the Gulen movement. The study looked into the means in which women participate in movement projects, their volunteer roles and how they manage a professional life, family responsibilities and volunteer work. The researchers are presently in the proces of publishing their findings in the form of a book. 

Sample Research Project 3: Impact of Gulen-inspired Schools in Mardin, Turkey and in Kenya
Political scientists have investigated the impact of Gulen-inspired schools, tutoring centers and reading rooms in Southeast Turkey. The findings were in line with the findings of other researhers, namely that these institutions provide hope for a career and upward mobility to tens of thousands of youth in this region who otherwise have limited opportunities in quality colege or high school education. The second leg of the project looked into Gulen-inspired schools in Kenya, their foundation, funding mechanisms, student demography, and values cherished by school teachers and administrators. Some of the findings of researchers were published in book format and presented at a conference in fall 2008.
It is widely recognized that our civilization in terms of human relationships lags far behind our technological achievements. Poverty, crime, armed conflicts, persecution, economic exploitation, drug abuse, human trafficking, and environmental pollution continue to affect hundreds of millions of people every day.  The Gülen Institute sponsors research programs that help identify those dynamics of the civil society that contribute to more humane relationships. The Institute’s research programs consists of three components: Research conducted directly by the institute’s research fellows with collaboration from external institutions, sponsored research and graduate student scholarships. Institutional research focuses on themes such as shared values of humanity, the role of education in peace-building, volunteerism, the role of non-governmental institutions for strengthening civil society and democracy; economic, political, ethnic, historic and religious dimensions of social conflicts; peaceful means for conflict resolution and the role of mass media in public education. The goal of the research program on shared values of humanity is to analyze how values are defined by individuals with different backgrounds, whether they have any impact on their lives, and what values have the potential to serve as a basis for fostering social harmony. The goal of the research program on education is to explore the different ways in which public and private education can help instill a culture of respecting and valuing diversity. The program on volunteerism and non-governmental organizations explores how civic initiatives can complement and augment governmental measures toward elimination of social problems and development of social harmony. The program on social conflicts explores the multidimensional nature of such phenomena in order to help promote multi-dimensional responses. The institute believes that naïve perspectives on social conflicts ultimately lead to ineffective or counterproductive solutions.