The Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, commonly called just the Ronin Institute, is an independent scholarly research institute located in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

, United States. The institute is dedicated to multidisciplinary study of science and the humanities and supports the work of

independent scientist An independent scientist (historically also known as gentleman scientist) is a financially independent scientist who pursues scientific study without direct affiliation to a public institution such as a university or government-run research and ...

s and

scholars A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher ...

.Keith O'Brien
"The Ronin Institute for Wayward Academics"
''Boston Globe'', May 27, 2012 The institute consists of research scholars from a range of fields and disciplines, such as

computational economics Computational Economics is an interdisciplinary research discipline that involves computer science, economics, and management science.''Computational Economics''."About This Journal"an"Aims and Scope" This subject encompasses computational model ...

high energy physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and b ...

earth sciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four sphere ...

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. The majority are independent, while others hold faculty appointments at traditional universities. The institute meets regularly for seminars, conferences, and grants management.

History

In 2012, Jon F. Wilkins, an

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...

, and former member of the

Harvard Society of Fellows The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intell ...

and

Santa Fe Institute The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, includ ...

, founded the Ronin Institute in New Jersey. The institute's original mission was to aggregate "fractional scholarship" happening outside the academy by creating a new model to support independent researchers.Samuel Arbesman
"The Rise of Fractional Scholarship and the Ronin Institute"
''Wired.com'', May 1, 2012 According to its official mission, the institute remains "devoted to facilitating and promoting scholarly research outside traditional academic research institutions"Ronin Institute
''Mission''
Organizational Website, accessed September 2020 and providing an alternative to the traditional academic career path and

tenure track Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

appointments. The name "Ronin" derives from the legend of

Rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...

: samurais who broke with the code of feudal Japan by refusing to commit suicide upon the deaths of their masters. According to Wilkins, the metaphor is analogous to scholars who leave the academy, but continue to pursue scholarly research:

Organization

The institute is governed by a board of directors with grants and financial administration and a community-level advisory board. Each member of the advisory board leads a working group that focuses on one essential aspect of the community: governance, communications, events, infrastructure, membership, and research. The institute has a single academic rank, the "Research Scholar", to create a more egalitarian structure. Research Scholars meet virtually and in-person, with researchers from 33 countries.

Notable scholars

* Lee Altenberg, evolutionary theory * Laurel Haak, research policy * Arkadiusz Jadczyk, quantum theory *

Diane Kelly (scientist) Diane Kelly is a Professor of Microbiology, Institute of Life Science, Swansea University Medical School and Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. Career After undergraduate study in London, she undertook a PhD at Swansea University followed ...

, neuroscience *

Kristina Killgrove Kristina Killgrove (born March 10, 1977) is an American bioarchaeologist, science communicator, and author who primarily covers anthropology and archaeology news and engages in research on ancient Roman skeletons. She is a regular contributor t ...

, biological anthropology *

Marios Kyriazis Marios Kyriazis ( el, Μάριος Κυριαζής) (born 11 March 1956) is a medical doctor and gerontologist. He is known for work, publications and involvement with life extension. Applying the concept of hormesis on anti-ageing medicine, K ...

, biology and aging *

Jocelyn Scheirer Jocelyn Scheirer is an American entrepreneur, scientist, and artist who has been working in wearable technology since the late 1990s. Her research focuses on Affective Computing, which she pursued while pursuing her PhD (pending) at MIT Media's ...

, technology *

Anders Söderholm Anders Söderholm (born 26 October 1961) is the current rector of the Mid Sweden University and was a professor in Business administration at Umeå School of Business. Söderholm obtained his PhD from Umeå University in 1991, with his thesis on ...

, organization theory

References

External links

* {{Coord missing, New Jersey Research institutes in New Jersey 2012 establishments in New Jersey Montclair, New Jersey Research institutes established in 2012