[1] It is part of the Department of Politics, Philosophy, and Religion at Lancaster University, where its members publish research, hold lectures and workshops, and run academic outreach programmes.

[6] During this time the Institute not only published academic papers, but also released an animated film about the nature of human communication in the United States.

[7] On 1 October 1978, with funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the institute returned to Lancaster University as an autonomous body of the Politics Department.

[9] Its early minor course in conflict & peace research proved particularly popular, and the institute became renowned for lecturing in "unashamedly behavioural" models of social science.

Since 2012 the institute has published on such diverse topics as Indo-Pak relations, sexuality in the Anglican Church, and maritime cyber operations, and the ESRC has rated its research as outstanding.