The Institute defines itself as bringing together "the concerns and practices that deal with the many faces of, and close relations between, freedom from fear and freedom from want." The Institute seeks to connect academia with professional practice, with a special aim to conduct research that is operationally relevant through education, conferences, and fellowships. Both the research and education components of the Institute focus on three areas: Protection and promotion of the rights of at-risk populations; empowerment of people through dialogue, negotiation/mediation, political participation, and training; and promotion of responsible government and institutional practices. Specialists from multiple areas such as law, nutrition, politics, public health, psychology, business, and economics collaborate within IHS.
History
The Institute for Human Security was founded in the year 2001 and its creation was elucidated by leaders of The Fletcher School as a response to the accelerating change since the end of the Cold War. Among the foundational supporters was General John Galvin, Dean of the school. The Institute was inaugurated "to create leadership skills for future heads of NGOs", to eradicate the extreme misery, oppression, and violence, working at the intersection of humanitarianism, development, human rights, and conflict resolution. IHS was one of the earlier institutions that placed emphasis on human security as a field of study in a body of academic literature. The Leir Charitable Foundations was among the early supporters of the Institute. Peter Uvin, during his tenure at Fletcher, became the Institute's first director. Uvin's scholarship focused on the violence, governance, and development in the African Great Lakes region. In 2014, Uvin was succeeded by Eileen Babbitt, Professor of Practice of International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at The Fletcher School, as the Director of the Institute. Babbitt is also a Faculty Associate of the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Before joining Fletcher, Babbitt was Director of Education and Training at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C, and the Deputy Director of Harvard's Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She has worked as a trainer and facilitator for conflict resolution projects in the Balkans and the Middle East. In 2014 the Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded a $1 million grant to IHS, with the aim to connect academics and policymakers and help professors influence policy, as part of the Corporation's “Rigor and Relevance Initiative.” Specifically, the Institute was awarded the funds to develop novel, feasible ways to bridge the gap between academics working on complex foreign policy issues, and policymakers dealing with the same concerns. IHS aims to focus the resources to develop and communicate strategies to enhance the legitimacy of fragile states across political, economic, justice and security sectors. One of the projects undertaken with the support of the Carnegie grant is the Corruption, Justice, and Legitimacy project, which advances systems approaches to corruption analysis in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. In 2015 the Henry J. Leir Human Security Award was established, with the inaugural award going to Maria J. Stephan, for scholarship in civil Resistance and nonviolent conflict. In 2017 the Institute was renamed the Henry J. Leir Institute for Human Security. As of 2017, IHS has two endowed professors supported by the Leir Charitable Foundations: the Henry J. Leir Professor in Global Migration, and in International Humanitarian Studies.
In association with IHS, the students of The Fletcher School manage an annual, peer-reviewed journal, , which provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and seeks to promote innovative research in the same intersection of fields of study that the Institute focuses on.
