Global crises are multiplying – deepening inequality, armed conflicts, new zoonotic diseases, rising authoritarianism, shrinking civic space, to name a few – all of which are framed (and exacerbated) by the wider context of climate change, biodiversity loss and ecological degradation. These crises cannot be addressed in silos; they demand an integrated response. As Laudato Si’ puts it, ‘if we are truly concerned to develop an ecology capable of remedying the damage we have done, no branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom can be left out, and that includes religion and the language particular to it.’ (§63)

Recognizing that ‘we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation’ (§48), Laudato Si’ proposes an innovative and constructive methodology to address both in an integrated way, what it calls the “integral ecology” paradigm. This new paradigm invites everyone to adopt a radical new awareness of the wisdom of those whose voices are not usually heard in the corridors of power, including indigenous and other marginalised peoples.

The idea of setting up the Institute emerged in 2017 as part of a broader initiative of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) to bring Laudato Si’, with its invitation ‘to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home’ (§3), to the UK.  After a lengthy discernment process, Dr Celia Deane-Drummond, then Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, was appointed Director and tasked with establishing the Institute at Campion Hall, the intellectual hub of the Jesuits in Britain.  

In its early days, the Institute’s primary focus was on building its structural capacities, as well as developing a network of partners and collaborators. In 2020 and 2021, the Institute went through a rapid expansion, including the appointment of key new researchers and operational staff to support its vision. The Institute was formally launched in June 2021, with an online conference on Women, Ecology and Solidarity, after a one year delay due to COVID. It now works across a number of research clusters in fields as varied as political ecology, inter-faith environmental theology, the ethics of biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, and endangered cultures and languages. All these clusters are unified by a concern to address the contemporary socio-ecological crisis in an integrated way. Our work is supported by a programme for visiting Fellows and by a global scholarly affiliate network. 

In the next few years, the LSRI will continue to engage in research clusters relating to the contemporary socio-ecological crisis, with new clusters in the pipeline. A major initiative is the ongoing development of the Global Integral Ecology Research Network (GIERN). This will seek to advance collaborative research with scholars and practitioners across the globe, particularly those in the Global South. Once up and running in 2023, the GIERN will both inform and amplify the impact of our work and disseminate our distinctive research methodology inspired by Laudato Si’. In the year ahead, we will also start publicizing our research to a wide audience beyond academia through a new integral ecology website called ‘The Polyhedron Magazine’ with inspiring and thought-provoking multimedia articles, stories and art.