With the support of the National Science Foundation (BCS #2020156), HRAF held three years of Summer Institutes for Cross-Cultural Anthropological Research from 2021-2023. In total, these Summer Institutes trained 44 faculty, researchers, and advanced graduate students in theory and state-of-the art methods for conducting regional and worldwide comparative research. The primary instructors were Carol R. Ember (Human Relations Area Files at Yale University, USA), Fiona Jordan (University of Bristol, UK) and Séan Roberts (Cardiff University, UK). Additional lectures were delivered by Damián Blasi, Alexandra Brewis Slade, Joshua Conrad Jackson, Jeremy Koster, Erik Ringen, Eleanor Power, and Amber Wutich.

HRAF is pleased to announce that at the end of October we are making course materials based on these Summer Institutes available to the public. These materials are a more advanced version of Introduction to Cross-Cultural Research.

Carol Ember, HRAF's President, will introduce these course materials in a workshop offered on the following dates.

Register here:

Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 1pm ET

Thursday, Nov. 13 at 11am ET

Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 11am ET

Click here to read about the Research Methods Course

HRAF will host an event in celebration of International Archaeology Day on Thursday, October 16. Each October, the Archaeological Institute of America and organizations around the world present archaeological programs and activities. This will be HRAF’s fourth annual Archaeology Day event co-sponsored by the UConn Stamford Anthropology Society. Matthew Longcore, Ph.D., Director of Membership and Outreach at HRAF, teaches Anthropology at UConn and is the faculty advisor for the UConn Stamford Anthropology Society.

UConn students have been invited to New Haven for a day exploring anthropology and cross-cultural research. We will begin our day with a visit to the HRAF offices. There will be a presentation on cross-cultural research from President Carol Ember, Ph.D., followed by a discussion about the Melvin Ember Internship with current interns Hattie Berke and Jonathan Zhang.

Following the visit to HRAF, the group will take a tour of the historic Yale University campus. The day will conclude with a visit to the Yale Center for British Art. The museum has an ongoing exhibition from 2025 to 2027 titled In a New Light: Five Centuries of British Art. This exhibition features ethnographic insights from British artists working in India, the Caribbean, and elsewhere.

Click here to read about the Archaeology Day Celebration

HRAF is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for the HRAF Global Scholars Program 2026.

This program provides scholars around the world with one year of free access to both of our databases, eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology. Should further access be desired beyond the award year, memberships are available in our lowest dues category. Our current cohort of HRAF Global Scholars includes six individuals representing Argentina, Ghana, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and South Africa.

The application deadline is November 15, 2025.

Awardees will be notified in December and access to the eHRAF databases will be granted for the 2026 calendar year.

Click here to read about the HRAF Global Scholars Program

Please join us for an upcoming workshop hosted by Matthew Longcore which will provide an informative overview to teaching and conducting research using the eHRAF databases.

Register here:

Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 1 pm ET

Thursday, Nov. 6 at 11 am ET 

Thursday, Dec. 4 at 1 pm ET

These workshops are designed for faculty members and librarians at colleges that have membership with the eHRAF databases, or those who are interested in learning more about membership.

HRAF has developed resources to support teaching, learning, and research. We will explore Teaching eHRAF and the eHRAF Workbooks.

Click here to read about the eHRAF Workshops