The institute for Independence Studies is registered as a company under the name of Independence Studies Ltd, Company Number 12789528.
1 The Aims and Objects of the Institute are:
2 To study ideologies of social and national emancipation, and to propagate the understanding of them, by consolidating and extending the activities of a number of precursor organisations existing since the 1980s which have effectively come to operate collectively as a fully-functioning Institute.
3 To encourage and sponsor research at the highest level, in coordination with universities and other learned institutions, in such a way as to fill gaps in the study and understanding of these ideologies in the existing intellectual, academic and cultural life of this country.
4 To source funds both domestically and internationally to provide research grants for this purpose, where possible working through universities and other learned institutions in such a way as to further their provision of academic qualifications for higher degrees, including at Masters and Doctoral levels and their equivalents in other professional and learned institutions, and further research of sufficient standard to contribute their institutions’ ratings in the Research Excellence Framework and other accepted measures of academic excellence.
5 To consult and advise applicants for research grants from government Research Councils and other funding bodies, and to offer consultancy to those bodies on issues within the Institute’s field of interest.
6 To develop formal partnerships with relevant academic, cultural and other relevant organisations domestically and internationally, and to promote and fund mobility of researchers and students, through exchange of delegations, joint research projects, jointly organised conferences and seminars, joint publications, visiting lectureships, student exchange, joint funding applications and other means of academic interaction.
7 To organise and fund conferences, seminars, workshops, policy forums, roundtables and other intellectual, academic and political events, social receptions, concerts, festivals, art exhibitions, theatrical performances and other social and cultural events, and to encourage, sponsor and fund participation by individuals and delegations in equivalent events domestically and internationally where these are related to the Institute’s fields of interest.
8 To provide advice and engage in constructive discussion with individuals and organisations engaging in business, NGO operations, political, cultural and other activities and events in situations where furthering the understanding of ideologies of social and national independence is of mutual benefit, and to provide briefing materials and undertake relevant research for such individuals and organisations, where appropriate assisting in the provision of material in printed form where such material is of assistance to them in developing their contacts and presence in such situations. 9 To maintain an information base consisting of archives, books and pamphlets relating to the study and propagation of ideologies of social and national emancipation within this country.
10 To catalogue these information resources and publish details on the Institute’s website, interlinking its catalogue entries with those of the British Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics, and other national collections and information bases which hold relevant material, with particular emphasis on ensuring the national availability of unique or rare pamphlets and other items where these are not otherwise available.
11 To commission, edit, publish, promote, market and sell books, pamphlets, working papers, music and other output relevant to the Institute’s objectives, both in online form on the Institute’s web page, and in hard copy and CDs, building on the former publishing experience and publishing ventures of the Institute’s Patron and founding Directors and those associated with them.
12 To encourage, commission, edit and publish material relating to the life and work of those who have contributed to the distinctive ideological current outlined in statements of the Institute’s principles issued by its Patron and founding Directors from time to time, so as to ensure that this current of thought is sustained and continues to be developed and applied to political and other public debates and policy formation, and is communicated to different audiences in a variety of formats.
13 To write letters to the press and undertake radio and television interviews by spokespeople for the Institute on issues of current public concern, and to encourage such media activity by other individuals sharing the Institute’s standpoint on the issues in question.
14 To publish on its website information and news relevant to its objectives, including links to items published on the internet by domestic and international news agencies and academic and other institutions engaged in related fields of interest, and to develop interaction with such information sources, so as to keep abreast of relevant current developments and debates in such a way as to sustain the targeting of the Institute’s activities and output in a strategic direction.
15 To build on the past work and continuing activities and contacts of those associated with the Institute in campaigning in favour of international law, international friendship and peace initiatives, including the exchange of delegations, the organisations of press conferences and meetings in Parliament and elsewhere, the organisation of conferences, seminars, social receptions and touristic and cultural activities for visiting delegations, and other activities contributing to mutual understanding, solidarity and international friendship.
16 To explore possibilities for establishing premises at a site or sites convenient for interaction with universities and other institutions of learning, for the employment of staff at these premises, and for the utilisation of such a site or sites not only for the activities of the Institute itself, but also for providing facilities, whether on a paid or unpaid basis, to other friendly organisations for their events.
17 To establish and consolidate Advisory Boards consisting of academics, politicians, journalists, cultural and social personalities and other informed persons, to consult and advise the Institute on its various fields of activity, as a means of developing wider expertise and contacts, and, in the case of high-profile individuals, as a means of gaining publicity, as well as, in cases where Board members come to commit themselves the Institute’s values and principles, a means of recruitment to the directorships, trusteeships and other offices in the Institute and its associated organisations and thus to further the scope and scale of the Institute’s culture and organisational structure.
18 To advise, consult, assist and where necessary campaign, on matters arising in connection with the Institute’s academic, political, cultural and other relations with organisations and individuals in establishing relations with equivalent circles in this country, for example in applying for visas, gaining access to media outlets, speaking locations and other academic facilities, as well as banking issues in the international movement of research funds and other funds, for example where their countries face exceptional scrutiny or even sanctions affecting such transactions.
19 To monitor and address in a creative manner issues of academic independence and freedom of speech generally where these involve interaction with countries with different social and political systems, and to further the understanding of the political and ideological background where these are unfamiliar on one or both sides, so as to promote friendly and mutually advantageous outcomes for open and constructive discussion and debate.