2,893 Inspirational Passion Project Ideas

Turn inspirations into your passion project.

This collection of project ideas, shared by Polygence mentors, is meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Check out some projects

Fix Section 230

Section 230: seems like everyone loves to hate it. Trump hates it. Some Democrats hate it. What gives? Is it the bane of our existence in a world of big tech and big power? Or is it the key to freedom on the Internet? What does it even entail exactly? Put together a policy proposal about how to (if at all) revise Section 230 that would have a chance of bipartisan support.

Philosophy

Stanley

What Can fMRI Tell Us About the Brain?

In the mind sciences, the use of fMRI in research is ubiquitous. Not only is it a noninvasive and fairly cost-effective research technique, but it allows us to see large scale functional connectivity between brain regions whose observation would escape more invasive techniques. On the other hand, fMRI suffers from numerous issues in collecting and interpreting the data it generates. In this project, we can explore how fMRI works in detail, generating a paper at the end that explores, in philosophical and scientific detail, the epistemology and methodology of fMRI research with an eye towards evaluating currently existing fMRI studies.

Philosophy, Neuroscience, History, Literature

Jake

German Art Song (Lieder)--the Philosophy of Music and Poetry

I wrote my beloved dissertation on a form within the so-called German classical music tradition called "art songs" or "Lieder" (singular: "Lied"). A Lied is a poem set to music, usually by someone other than the poet. The poet may or may not have known the composer, or given their blessing to having it set to music--there was no copyright in those days, so the composer could use any text they wanted and do anything they pleased with it. My greatest fascination is with the meeting--or confrontation--of two separate artistic wills, and the magical transformation that happened when a composer like Franz Schubert or Robert Schumann set a poem to music. When it went well, the whole is more than the sum of its two parts. I'm hoping to turn this dissertation into a book and will need help with many parts of the process, including finding citations for quotes and sources that I already have, and also finding new material to enhance or deepen the argument. I might even need help getting permission from various places to use quotes, materials, or pictures (don't worry, I'd help you help me with technical stuff like that!). If you're interested in queer studies, there's also a connection (even if not a very obvious one) between that and my German art song project that I'd love help developing. Knowledge of German, or at least curiosity about it and a desire to learn, is helpful though not required--same goes for music.

Music, Philosophy, Linguistics

R.J

Applications of game theory in industrial organization

In this project, you would examine product pricing history in an industry dominated by a few companies and analyze how companies treat their competition strategically, model the levels of rationality of firms and consumers, examine how well price-setting, quantity-setting and leader-follower models represent business decisions, and determine the impact of competition policy on markets and consumer welfare. You can take this project in either an empirical or theoretical direction based on your interest.

Philosophy, Economics, Math

Mallika

Conference Paper/Presentation

As an undergraduate, I produced 2 academic papers a year which were presented at international conferences and published in academic journals. Conducting an independent research project will allow you to explore a personal area of interest in more depth and demonstrate your dedication to pursuing knowledge for the sake of learning. Together we will explore your interests, develop the scope of the project (qualitative or quantitative), and learn how to navigate the landscape of current literature to produce a focused, applicable, and professional article of original research.

Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Creative Writing, Social Science

Cayla

Law and Justice

Creating a blog, podcast or written project on law and justice today, questioning different forms of justice and trying to understand how the law relates to society. This could relate to current issues in the news or a historical topic of interest.

Philosophy

Joshua

Literary or Philosophical Analysis--Project of Your Choice!

Critical reading of any text that sparks your interest.

Music, Philosophy, Linguistics

R.J

Write, Design, and Edit Your Own Zine!

First appearing in science-fiction circles as early as the 1930s, zines are a creative outlet that has become synonymous with counter-culture and self-expression. From 1980s punk zines to photography and poetry zines, this versatile art and literary form is meant to be self-published and shared to create networks with like-minded people. In this project, I will guide you through the wonders of zine-making, to create your very own self-published zine! Whether you are looking to expand your creative writing skills, considering a more journalistic approach, or even want to connect to a fan community through your writing and art, this project will be the perfect opportunity to expand your writing and crafting abilities!

Philosophy, Literature, Languages

Lucia

How to Write an Argument.

Throughout our lives, we encounter arguments. They are designed to provide reasons for us to come to conclusions about the world, and are necessary to convince anyone of anything. For that reason, they are integral to professional and academic success. However, arguments are often difficult to articulate, can be complex and therefore difficult to understand. The goal of this project is to make you better at making arguments in your papers. We'll discuss the logical structure of arguments, common fallacies, examples of strong arguments, and examples of bad arguments. We will finish the project by writing a paper on a topic of your choice that implements the qualities of good argumentation that we have learned.

Philosophy, Social

Will

TEDx Pitch

Plan, write and pitch a TEDx talk to your local TED initiative or another speaking society. This will involve researching a topic that you are already familiar with or have some personal stake in, and sharing this with a wider audience.

Philosophy

Joshua

Monuments, Morality, and Memory: Exploring the Intersections of Ethics and Aesthetics

This project explores how monuments (or other kinds of public art) preserve important historical events and considers the ethical implications of that preservation. First, we’ll explore how a physical object like a carved stone represents historical moments and moral values. We’ll ask questions about where ‘the ethical’ is located in a physical object and in what ways the ‘meaning’ of a physical object can change over time. We’ll explore who determines the ‘meaning’ of an art piece and its interpretation. How much should we weigh the artist’s intention, the values held by the community at the time of the monument’s creation, or the community in which the monument exists at present when considering what virtues or meaning a monument represents? Finally, we will explore what to do about monuments that might be unethical or no longer representative of the values a community currently hold, whether that be moving the monument, destroying the monument, erecting a plaque, or leaving it alone.

Philosophy

Elisabeth

Finding Meaning In Game: How Video-Games Use Literature and Philosophy to Create Meaningful Experiences

In this project, a student focuses on a popular video-game and explores how the game's setting, story, characters, and maybe even mechanics are influenced by works in Literature and Philosophy. The student's research would focus on drawing parallels between the game a specific literary/philosophical works and also explores how the presentation of those ideas in the context of the game deviate or align with the original work. A particularly ambitious student might also work on developing a thesis addressing why these texts serve as inspirations for the game or even how the game's use of specific themes and ideas can help illuminate social, political, or economic problems in the present.

Philosophy, Psychology, Arts, Literature

Douglas

Void

How do we represent nothingness? Is it even possible? Curated art exhibit featuring visual representations of oblivion, nothingness, the formless. Also features clippings from literature and the arts that touch upon the things that exist in this void: ghosts, monsters, dreams, and the ethereal.

Philosophy, Psychology, Literature, Creative Writing

Kelley

Cognitive Compensation Strategies for Individuals with Cognitive Impairment

This project could be a review paper on research-based strategies to help people compensate for cognitive difficulties that may be a result of different physical or mental health conditions. Tasks involved in this project would include exploring current research studies in fields such as clinical psychology, rehabilitation psychology, or others that apply these kinds of interventions and discuss their effectiveness. This could be specialized to a certain population or diagnosis, such as dementia, traumatic brain injury, or others. Ideally, the findings of these studies would be summarized and discussed in a written review, with the goals of professional presentation or publication in a peer-reviewed journal. This could also be a more practically focused piece that could be published in an academic blog or other formats more easily accessible to the general public.

Philosophy, Cognitive, Statistics

Alexander

Podcast or YouTube Channel

I have co-hosted an evidence-based mental health podcast for two years and was previously hired by TVGuide to host a recap podcast. Given my experience, I can help students craft episodes that incorporate research on a topic of their choice.

Philosophy, Psychology, Creative Writing

Jacqueline

Problem White-paper:

Are you interested in a problem and want to raise awareness about it? We can brainstorm causal factors, find the latest research, and identify key stakeholders. White-papers are often used to help decision makers learn more about a topic.

Philosophy

Amanda

Social Media Engagement and Attention

The constant influx of fast paced media such as tiktok has led many to question if these platforms will have effects on cognitive processes, such as attention and memory. This experiment will compare social media usage and/or screen time with performance on a cognitive task. One option is the flanker task, which the student can code, for example, in HTML. Demographic measures, or any other behavioral measures the student is interested in, can be added as well.

Psychiatry, Philosophy, Cognitive

Kristina

Machine Learning for Handwriting Recognition

One of the earliest and most successful applications of machine learning is extracting text from images. For this project, we can investigate different machine learning models for handwriting recognition. We can start with the easier task of extracting digits, and then move to alphanumeric text.

Philosophy, Computer Science, Economics, Math

Aditya

Politics and Op-ed Journalism

Ever thought about writing a political op-ed for a national magazine? In this project, we'll read some works of political philosophy and their approaches to hot button political topics like the welfare state, universal health care, universal basic income, feminism, and affirmative action. We'll also look at some examples of successful op-ed writing in the political arena. The project will include both a political and writing component: we'll look at how to formulate good political arguments while learning how to craft a well-written op-ed. The project will culminate in your own op-ed piece, which I will help to try and get published.

Philosophy

Chang

Policy Analysis and Persuasion:

We can identify policies and programs that could solve a given problem. We can then craft a policy memo or prepare an oral presentation depending on the decision maker.

Philosophy

Amanda