Candour Challenges
No challenge is open.
A Candour Challenge is a funded investigation of a question worth answering. The house has not launched one.
Candour House Press remains a publisher. Books on the list are the work a reader can take up now. A challenge, when one exists, is a way of getting to the next book, paper or better question — not a substitute for the list.
Sponsors fund questions. They do not buy answers.
- Question
- Challenge
- Support
- Investigation
- Review
- Publish
- Better Question
Forms a challenge may take
Research fellowship. A named person is supported to investigate a defined question for a defined period.
Commission. The house asks a particular researcher or author to do a particular piece of work.
Open challenge. A question is published and qualified people may apply. It is not a slogan contest.
Evidence review. The work is to establish what is already known, and how strong that knowledge is.
Collaborative investigation. More than one investigator, with the roles and the conflicts written down.
A legitimate result can be that the premise was wrong, that the evidence is insufficient, that several answers remain plausible, or that the original question was badly framed. Candour will not invent a winner to make the format feel complete.
The gate
A pilot does not launch until these can be answered convincingly.
- Is this genuinely unresolved?
- Does answering it matter?
- Is it framed neutrally enough to permit surprising results?
- Can meaningful progress be measured?
- Can credible investigators be found?
- Can conflicts be managed?
- Can a sponsor tolerate findings it dislikes?
- Can enough of the result be published to matter?
- Is Candour adding genuine intellectual/editorial value?
- What happens after publication?
Sponsor a question · For researchers · The questions register