DAWNING Information

DAWNING is an unconventional research nonprofit, both in how we do research and in how we understand its public life. Our mission is to pursue the truth about social and environmental challenges in forgotten corners of the globe, to collaboratively understand them alongside those living them, and to explain them to the world in innovative narratives in which the protagonists feel dignified and comfortable. We envision a world where their voices influence policy and shape public dialogue on the global stage. DAWNING is the only research organization in the world that integrates documentary photographers and graphic artists as scientific collaborators from the start of every project — not to illustrate findings, but to reach dimensions of human experience that conventional methods cannot access. In a field dominated by quantitative, top-down social science, DAWNING bets on the opposite: rigorous, long-term qualitative investigation embedded in communities, producing knowledge that can circulate beyond institutions and enter public understanding. Unlike most qualitative research, our work is the product of tight-knit interdisciplinary teams of diverse professionals working closely together. For us, process is as important as results. Our projects do not end when they are released. They begin again when they enter the world. Since 2014, more than 200 professionals from over 25 countries have collaborated with us across 15 large-scale investigations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.