As a Gibson Fellow in Democracy, Iris de Rode is helping to develop and contribute to the Karsh Institute’s public programming linked to the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 2026. 

De Rode earned her doctorate from Université de Paris 8 in November 2019 with a dissertation titled François-Jean de Chastellux (1734-1788): Un Soldat-Philosophe dans le Monde Atlantique à l'Époque des Lumières. This work was published by Éditions Honoré Champion and won the Prix Guizot from the Académie Française for "Best History Book of the Year 2023." Along with her PhD supervisor, Prof. Bertrand van Ruymbeke, she co-authored Le Journal de Dumas (16 juin-6 octobre 1781): Sur les Traces de l'Indépendance des États-Unis (Monfaucon: Éditions Jean-Jacques Wuillaume, 2018). 

De Rode is currently working on a new English book titled "En Route to Revolution," as well as several articles. She has received more than 20 fellowships for her work, including from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, George Washington's Mount Vernon, the Society of the Cincinnati, and the American Philosophical Society. 

From 2013 to 2022, de Rode taught American and transatlantic history at SciencesPo Paris and SciencesPo Reims. Currently, alongside her book writing, she is involved in public history initiatives with the National Park Service, the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, the Philadelphia Museum of the American Revolution, George Washington's Mount Vernon, and the French embassy in Washington, D.C.