Research Programs
Updated Mar 2026 — Ryan Research Institute
Ryan Research Institute currently advances seven flagship programs, each addressing a distinct layer of affective sovereignty and human–AI interaction:
- NADI / ANEST — narrative–affect discrepancy × self-regulation × geometric state-space (4-paper line + large-scale dataset; Dataset paper published in Data in Brief, Elsevier, 2026)
- Affective Thermodynamic Relationship (ATR) — collapse curve of emotion × affective energy × entropy modeling (formal thermodynamic law of emotion)
- Affective Sovereignty (ASov) — formal foundations × sovereign-by-design × computational governance (Published in Discover Artificial Intelligence, Springer Nature, 2026)
- RAF — resonant amplification & cognitive circuit breakers (Published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports, Elsevier, 2026, Vol. 21, 100975)
- PESAM — computational emotional selfhood (agent-level unified model)
- DefMoN — defensive motivational nodes × reproducibility framework (Published in Machine Learning with Applications, Elsevier. Includes the original DMN theory)
- DMN — the original theory underlying DefMoN: utterance-level defense × affect inference
🔽 Detailed descriptions can be found below.
▶️ NADI / ANEST — Narrative–Affect Discrepancy & Self-Regulation Program (4 Papers + 1 Dataset)
▶️ Affective Thermodynamic Relationship (ATR) — Collapse Curve of Emotion
▶️ Affective Sovereignty (ASov) — Formal Design Right for Emotional AI
▶️ Resonant Amplification Framework (RAF) — Cognitive Circuit Breakers for Human–AI Interaction
▶️ PESAM — Predictive Emotional Selfhood in Artificial Minds (Unified Variational Framework)
▶️ DefMoN — Defensive Motivational Nodes (language × defense × affect × reproducibility)
▶️ DMN — Defensive Motivational Nodes (language × defense × affect)
Collaboration
Interested in co-developing standards, evaluations, or deployments? → ryan@ryanresearch.org