Unsurprisingly adademic centres devoted to the study of Freemasonry are much fewer in number and their approach is quite different from Research Lodges. The latter primarily cater for the needs and aspirations of its members and other Freemasons whereas academic centres focus on the needs of scholars in the academic world very many of whom are not Freemasons. Most of these centres are not devoted entirely to Freemasonry but is included in a wide field such as religious studies. Some of these academic centres are listed below and others will be added in due course.

Centre for Research into Freemasonry (University of Sheffield)

Institut fur Religionswissenschaft (University of Heidelberg)

OVN (a Dutch Foundation for Academic Research into the History of Freemasonry in the Netherlands)