SCRIBE is the Social Centre for Research for Inclusive, Better and Equal Life.

We are an independent research and campaign group interested in a simple question:

How can everyday life be made better, more inclusive, more private and more humane?

A lot of the systems people live inside are treated as fixed simply because they are normal. SCRIBE looks at those systems, the assumptions behind them, the people they leave out, and the alternatives that might work better.

Our work can cover things like privacy, bodily freedom, human variation, social expectations, institutional design, stigma, accessibility, comfort, dignity and the right to make harmless personal choices.

We publish research, essays, briefings, campaigns and practical proposals. Sometimes that means defending established ideas that work well. Sometimes it means asking whether something everyone takes for granted deserves another look.

Privacy is one of SCRIBE’s core principles. People should be able to live lawful private lives without unnecessary surveillance, exposure, data collection or pressure to explain themselves.

We are not interested in replacing one rigid way of living with another.

The aim is more choice, less unnecessary harm and systems flexible enough to fit actual human beings.

What we believe

People are different.

Different bodies, needs, capacities, preferences and ways of living should not automatically be treated as failures to conform.

Comfort matters.

Privacy matters.

Dignity should not depend on performance.

Institutions should justify restrictions on people, rather than expecting people to justify every harmless difference.

And when there is a better way to organise something, being used to the old way is not a good enough reason to keep it.

What we do

SCRIBE may:

• research overlooked questions;
• publish papers and public briefings;
• examine social and institutional norms;
• run public-interest campaigns;
• develop voluntary standards and practical resources;
• support independent research and publishing;
• collaborate with organisations working toward compatible goals.

SCRIBE also operates initiatives including the Information Economy Alliance, which supports serious independent publications and news services.

Independent by design

SCRIBE is independent.

We are not a government body, university, statutory regulator or registered charity.

Our research and campaigns reflect our own stated principles, and where we have relevant institutional, commercial or funding relationships, we aim to disclose them.

We do not claim to get everything right.

We do claim to try.

When evidence changes, we can change with it.

The idea

SCRIBE exists because normal is not the same thing as inevitable.

A better life should not require everybody to live the same one.