Studying how people actually behave—individually, in groups, and in interaction with computational systems—often requires research infrastructure that is difficult and expensive to build independently. ICONS Research provides that infrastructure: a controlled, web-accessible environment for studies requiring structured interaction between humans, or between humans and computational systems, with comprehensive behavioral data capture, along with four decades of accumulated methodological expertise within the ICONS team.
ICONSnet 4.0 is the ICONS Project's simulation and interaction platform. It provides controlled environments where participants, individually or in teams, can interact or respond to questions and prompts using familiar interface tools and realistic communication channels—direct messaging, group discussion, negotiation interfaces, document sharing, and simulated media environments including social media and broadcast news. External AI systems, computational models, databases, and software can be integrated directly into these environments via API to broaden the range of experiences and interactions that can be studied. All interactions, activities, communications, and decisions are logged in real time with full metadata capture to support both in-session facilitation and post-hoc analysis. Built-in management tools help facilitators control participant onboarding and access and coordinate other aspects of the research project. No special software installation is required of participants, and ICONS Research experts can collaborate on platform setup, custom integrations and tooling, and even research design as needed.
Research Possibilities
ICONS Research supports a wide range of research designs across the social, behavioral, and information sciences, including:
- Social science experiments—controlled multi-party interactions, behavioral studies, decision-making research, anonymous participant designs, negotiation and agreement formation, group deliberation
- Policy and strategy—testing participant responses to proposed interventions, messaging and communication strategies, or institutional designs before field implementation
- Human-AI interaction—trust dynamics, reliance patterns, behavioral adaptation, and unintended consequences of AI integration in individual and multi-party settings
- Human-in-the-loop and model-in-the-loop architectures—experimental comparison of different divisions of labor between humans and computational systems
- Social media behavior and misinformation—user behavior within simulated social media environments, including information flow and responses to interventions
- Applied scenarios—decision making, policy analysis, wargames, training, tabletop exercises, negotiation, etc.
The ICONS Project has a long history of leading studies, collaborating with external researchers, making ICONSnet available for research projects, and building custom tools when needed. ICONS Research now offers this service in a formal capacity. Studies over the years (and their funders) have included:
- Incorporating advanced analytical tools into wargaming (DoD Basic Research Office)
- Reverse-engineering participant interactions in a role-play simulation (DoD Basic Research Office)
- User behavior in simulated social media environments (DARPA)
- Ethics in software development practice (NSF)
- Counter-narrative simulation for influence operations (DoD Strategic Multilayer Assessment)
- Mediation dynamics in international crisis scenarios (NSF)
- Crisis negotiation and cognitive diversity (NSF and USIP)
Collaboration Model
ICONS Research engages collaborators not just as a platform provider but as a research partner. Our team brings expertise in designing studies that combine participatory and computational methods, managing complex multi-party scenarios in real time, and supporting the full research lifecycle from design through data management. ICONS Research is a division of The ICONS Project, a unit of START (the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism) in UMD's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS). It maintains a strategic research partnership with the Complexity Solutions Lab at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) in the School of Public Policy (SPP). These institutional homes connect ICONS Research to networks spanning the social and behavioral sciences, security and policy studies, international affairs, civic engagement, and systems thinking. Past collaborations have also included researchers from UMD's College of Information (iSchool), the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), the Asymmetric Threats Analysis Center (ATAC), and other units offering expertise in AI, cybersecurity, complex systems modeling, defense and intelligence analysis, and human-machine systems.Partnership arrangements are flexible: ICONS Research can engage as platform provider, subcontractor/subawardee, or co-investigator, depending on the needs of the project. All research is conducted under University of Maryland Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight or joint oversight with a collaborator's IRB.
Getting Started
- Consultation. We begin by discussing your research questions, design requirements, and methodological needs to determine how ICONSnet can best support your work and what the likely resource requirements will be.
- Configuration. We adapt the platform to your specific protocols and build custom tools when needed. You focus on your research; we handle the technical implementation.
- Support. We provide technical and methodological assistance throughout data collection and help with data export and analysis setup.
To discuss a potential collaboration, contact icons@umd.edu or reach out to ICONS Director Dr. Robert D. Lamb.