LSRI awarded John Templeton Foundation grant

The Laudato Si’ Research Institute has been awarded a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to lead a new research project examining the impact of genetic technologies in the Global South.

Invasive insect species represent a significant threat to animals, to ecological systems, to food security, and to human health in different countries in the Global South. Recent advances in gene drive engineering hold out the prospect of managing this threat by means of scientific intervention. Pilots are already planned in South American countries. But what are the political, cultural, and religious issues that will determine public attitudes and public response to this technology, particularly in countries with Catholic-majority populations?

This three-year developmental project will gather a cohort of international experts to evaluate the philosophical, ethical, and theological implications of new genetic technologies in this region. Its aim is to produce a new intellectual framework by which scientists, governments, and policymakers can support public engagement on this issue in the years ahead.

Principal Investigator and Director of the LSRI, Dr Celia Deane-Drummond, comments:

I am delighted that this prestigious grant has been awarded to the Laudato Si’ Research Institute. At a time when we are witnessing both an unprecedented expansion of new scientific outputs, but also increased public concern about their deployment in everyday life, theological and philosophical engagement with this issue is crucial. This new project will enable the LSRI to be at the forefront of integrated research on genetic technology and its reception by different global communities.

The project will begin in October 2021 and will last three years. It will be supported by Dr Tim Howles, Assistant Director for Research Programming at the LSRI, alongside a number of scholars from the University of Oxford and from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

A dedicated website, including public-facing explanatory videos, will be published later in the year. Provisional findings will be reported by 2023 and launched at a public event in Oxford.

For more information about the project, please contact Dr Tim Howles.