The Fundamentalism Project was an international scholarly investigation of conservative religious movements throughout the world, funded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The project began in 1987, directed by Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, concluding in 1995. The understanding of fundamentalism framing the project was considered controversial in some cases, though even those scholars with criticism of the assumptions upon which the project was based admit that there is a great deal of useful empirical information to be found in the publications that grew out of the project.[citation needed]
