Engagement Science Lab — Now Booking 2026 Enterprise Engagements Applied Research · Communication Audits · Training · Advisory The Authority on Affective Intelligence in the AI Era Engagement Science Lab — Now Booking 2026 Enterprise Engagements Applied Research · Communication Audits · Training · Advisory The Authority on Affective Intelligence in the AI Era
A property of Elizabeth Edwards · Elizabeth Edwards · Volume PR · The Affect Institute
Engagement Science Lab
Applied Research · Audits · Training · Advisory
For Enterprise & Institutional Leaders

The applied research lab for organizational communication in the AI era.

The Engagement Science Lab is the applied research, audit, training, and advisory practice for organizations integrating Affective Intelligence — the science of how human beings actually process meaning, make decisions, and respond to communication. The Lab translates that science into structured engagements for the institutions navigating the most consequential shift in modern leadership.

Engage The Lab See Services & Programs
25yrs
Of Original Behavioral Research
Fortune 500
Through Enterprise Clients
9
Industries Served
National Awards
For Applied Research
01. What The Lab Does

Four pillars of institutional work.

The Lab operates across four interconnected pillars — research and insights, audits and diagnostics, training and curriculum, advisory and consultancy — each grounded in the same body of integrated science and tuned for the institutions, sectors, and outcomes the engagement is designed to serve.

i.

Research & Insights.

Original applied research on the affective dynamics of organizational communication, leadership, AI mediation, and institutional trust. Published as briefs, white papers, and proprietary reports for partner organizations and the broader field.

  • Quarterly research briefs on AI & communication
  • Custom white papers for partner organizations
  • Applied research on industry-specific affective dynamics
  • Field-leading analysis of the Intelligence Era's effects
ii.

Audits & Diagnostics.

Structured diagnostics that evaluate an organization's current communication architecture against the science of how human beings actually process messages. The Lab uses proprietary frameworks — NOISE Analysis, NEIGHBOR Analysis, Affective Architecture Audits — to map where capacity is being expanded and where it is being eroded.

  • Affective Architecture Audits for enterprise comm functions
  • NOISE & NEIGHBOR diagnostic analyses
  • AI Blind Spot & signal architecture audits
  • Pre- and post-engagement behavioral measurement
iii.

Training & Curriculum.

Cohort-based training programs for organizational teams, leadership functions, and academic institutions. The Lab's curriculum integrates Affective Intelligence with AI implementation, organizational communication, and ethical influence — designed for application, not theory.

  • Multi-session leadership and communication cohorts
  • Enterprise AI implementation training
  • Train-the-trainer programs for internal AI champions
  • Custom curriculum design for academic and corporate partners
iv.

Advisory & Consultancy.

Long-arc advisory partnerships where the Lab functions as an embedded research, audit, and training partner across multiple business units. Engagements range from C-suite and board advisory work to multi-quarter integration of Affective Intelligence as an organizational operating system.

  • Multi-quarter enterprise integration partnerships
  • Executive and board advisory engagements
  • AI ethics and organizational governance counsel
  • Cross-functional communication strategy & integration
02. The Methodology

The integrated science the Lab operates from.

The Lab's work is grounded in the integration of disciplines that have historically operated in isolation from one another — disciplines whose convergence is now reshaping the conditions of organizational communication, public reasoning, and institutional trust.

The Lab does not specialize in any single discipline. It specializes in the integration — the place where these sciences intersect, where their findings cohere, and where the practical implications for organizational leadership become operational.

Every Lab engagement draws on this integrated foundation, calibrated to the specific institutional context and outcomes the engagement is designed to address.

i.
Affective Neuroscience
ii.
Behavioral Science
iii.
Communication Theory
iv.
Psychoneuroimmunology
v.
Embodied Cognition
vi.
AI Ethics & Mediation
03. Research & Insights

Selected research and applied case work.

A representative sample of the Lab's published research, applied case work, and field-leading analysis — including award-winning behavioral communication frameworks and the foundational essays defining the Intelligence Era.

Field-Defining Series

PR 3.0 & the Intelligence Era.

The Lab's foundational analysis of the structural transformation reshaping public relations — naming the shift from publicity (PR 1.0) and platform reputation (PR 2.0) to AI-mediated trust architecture (PR 3.0).

Read the Series
Foundational Reclassification

You're Not Irrational. You're Instinctive.

The Lab's reclassification of the cognitive bias canon — establishing biases as adaptive instincts on calibrated spectra rather than cognitive defects, with operational implications across leadership, training, and policy.

Read the Essay
Award-Winning Applied Research

The Idaho STEM Behavioral Framework.

A multi-award-winning behavioral communication framework developed by the Lab for the Idaho STEM Action Center — recognized with the 2024 Hermes Platinum Award and Gold MarComm Award for measurable shifts in audience engagement.

Inquire About the Case Study
Documented Outcome

A 19% Lift in Market Acceptance.

An applied research engagement on gene-edited animal welfare communication — using affect tuning rather than traditional messaging — that produced a measurable 19% increase in purchase likelihood among targeted audiences.

Inquire About the Case Study
Industry Feature

Trust, Language & the Limits of AI Persuasion.

A featured industry analysis on why most AI-driven persuasion strategies are failing — published by Progress / MarTech Next as a foundational piece on the affective limits of automated influence.

Read on Progress
Ongoing Publication

The Affective Intelligence Substack.

The ongoing public-facing research publication of the Lab — where new analysis, frameworks, and applied research findings are published weekly. The home of the field as it is being built.

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04. University & Pedagogy

Rebuilding the field's pedagogy.

For Universities, Schools, & Communication Programs

Communication pedagogy is not being updated. It is being rebuilt.

"Either stratum alone would be a generational reformation. Both at the same time is the moment we are in."

Stratum One i.

The AI Reengineering of Communication.

AI is performing substantial portions of the work the field has historically prepared professionals to do — research, analysis, content production, media relations, and the search-mediated formation of authority. The honest answer to what the profession becomes has to move up a level — into the kinds of judgment, governance, ethical agency, and human capacity the field is responsible for cultivating. Most programs are responding by adding AI literacy modules to an existing curriculum. That is the path of institutional least resistance.

Stratum Two ii.

The Sciences on What Communication Is.

The integrated sciences — affective neuroscience, behavioral science, embodied cognition, psychoneuroimmunology — have established what communication actually is and how it actually shapes human beings. Communication is biological intervention. Pedagogy that does not teach this is now incomplete in a way the field can no longer afford. The Lab's curriculum work integrates both strata at once — because the moment requires both.

i.
Curriculum Consultation.
Working synthesis on rebuilding communication pedagogy across both strata — for departments, programs, and faculty leadership networks updating their curriculum architecture.
ii.
Faculty Development.
Programs that bring faculty into fluency with Affective Intelligence and the AI-era operational realities the field is now navigating in the working profession.
iii.
Guest Lectures & Residencies.
Lectures and short-form residencies for graduate, undergraduate, and executive education programs at universities updating their communication curricula.
iv.
Research Partnerships.
Joint applied research engagements with university faculty on the affective dynamics of AI mediation, public trust, organizational communication, and the new pedagogy.
v.
Conference & Symposium Programming.
Curricular keynote programming for academic conferences, symposia, and faculty development gatherings on the rebuilding of the discipline.
vi.
Leadership Network Engagement.
Working sessions with university leadership networks shaping the future of strategic communication education in the United States and beyond.
Inquire About a University Engagement See Example Lectures
05. Selected Research Partners & Clients

Where the Lab's work has landed.

A representative selection of the Fortune 500 enterprises, healthcare systems, government agencies, universities, and breakthrough technology companies whose communication work has been informed by the Lab's research, audits, and training programs.

Sony
Technology
BMW
Enterprise
Charter
Telecommunications
Allstate
Insurance
Novartis
Health Science
Transamerica
Financial Services
Shriners
Hospitals
Healthcare
Arizona State University
Higher Education
Delta Dental
Health Insurance
Operation Lifesaver
National NGO
Idaho STEM Action Center
Public Sector
PRSA · NSPRA · CAPIO
Associations
06. Why The Lab

Three reasons institutional leaders choose the Lab.

i.

Original research.

The Lab is not a training vendor. It is a research practice with twenty-five years of original applied work, peer-recognized awards, and a body of integrated science the field is now actively adopting as the new operational standard.

ii.

Field-leading frameworks.

PR 3.0. Affective Intelligence. Signal architecture. NOISE and NEIGHBOR analyses. The Lab originated and continues to develop the frameworks the profession is now teaching, citing, and adopting at the level of curriculum and operational practice.

iii.

Operational integration.

Engagements are designed for institutional adoption — measurable outcomes, embedded teams, multi-quarter integration partnerships, and audit-grade methodology that holds up to the scrutiny of enterprise procurement, board oversight, and academic rigor alike.

07. About the Lab

Built on twenty-five years of integrated science.

The Lab's research, frameworks, and operational methodology are the product of more than two decades of original work at the intersection of behavioral science, communication, and the integrated human sciences — a body of work that has only now reached the institutional moment it was built for.

EE
Founder

The Engagement Science Lab was founded by Elizabeth Edwards, originator of the Affective Intelligence framework. The Lab's research, audits, training, and advisory engagements are delivered by its dedicated research and training team.

Read About Elizabeth
Engage The Lab

For institutions ready to integrate the science.

Most Lab engagements begin with a discovery conversation — to understand the institution, the outcome, and the shape of the engagement that would produce the most consequential change.

Inquire About a Lab Engagement Visit The Affect Institute