Global Perspectives project makes $1.2 million in awards

For more information:
David Hibbard, news bureau director
(336) 278-7413 or dhibbard@elon.edu

FEB. 15, 2005 -  The Global Perspectives on Science and Spirituality (GPSS) program has awarded 18 major grants to scholars worldwide totaling $1.2 million. The grants will fund research into questions that link spiritual and religious experiences with discoveries and advancements in modern science. This is the largest grants competition to ever target Asia and Central/Eastern Europe in the field of science and religion.

The GPSS program is based at Elon University and the Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris (U.I.P), a small research and teaching institute that specializes in the study of science and religion. The program is headed by Pranab Das, chair of the physics department at Elon. It operates under a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant of funds from the John Templeton Foundation with support from Elon and U.I.P.

The GPSS program seeks to support the growth of interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarship as well as the catalysis of a new field of study in science and spirituality/religion.

During 2004, Das led teams of GPSS personnel in trips to dozens of cities worldwide to meet with and solicit applications from leading intellectuals. By the deadline for preliminary applications, approximately 160 candidates had applied.

Following two rounds of application and judging, 18 of these candidates were selected to receive monetary awards ranging from $40,000 to $130,000. These awards will support scholarly research as well as academic and public programs designed to invigorate and enhance the dialogue on science and spirituality worldwide. In addition, three scholars will receive “Special Recognition” awards of $3,000 each and 17 will receive “Honorable Mention” awards of $1,250.

Award winners will attend a major gathering in Paris in July of this year and will continue their work through mid-2006. Award recipients will conduct research, develop interdisciplinary teams, publish scholarly and popular articles and books and hold colloquia, symposia, lectures and public media events.

A list of winners may be downloaded here. Some of the highlights are:

  • One of India’s leading young philosophers who will head a team investigating the concepts of consciousness and agency in light of Indian religions

  • An elite Buddhist research center in Japan that will undertake pioneering work on the relationship between Buddhism and modern science

  • One of Asia’s most respected religious studies institutes that will organize colloquia, publish papers and books and create a nexus for academic dialogue on science and religion

  • Several Chinese scholars spanning the spectrum of religious backgrounds from Taoism and Confucianism to Christianity and exploring these spiritualities’ interaction with modern society in the world’s fastest-developing country

  • A research group centered at Russia’s leading university whose philosophical inquiries will focus on the possibility of synthesizing the perspectives of Orthodox wisdom traditions with the unique cultural context of post-communist modernity and its scientism

  • An institute in St. Petersburg that is among the first to establish public courses in science and religion and is working to develop ideas for the constructive engagement of science and religion in school curricula

  • Groups in South Korea, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland whose foci range across the spectrums of religion, culture and academic approach

Global Perspectives on Science and Spirituality’s principal investigator and program director is Pranab Das. Its program manager is Thomas Mackenzie. Jean Staune is senior advisor and managing director, and Philip Clayton is senior advisor.

For more information on the grant recipients, visit the GPSS Web site at http://www.uip.edu/gpss_major/

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