Science and Ethics for Happiness and Well-being (SEH) Project.
SEH is an initiative hosted and managed by Monsignor Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, in partnership with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and Columbia University. Prof. Phoebe Koundouri is an invited member.
Monsignor Sorondo, Jeffrey Sachs, Owen Flanagan, and Alejandro Adler will lead a series of meetings at the Pontifical Academies over the next two years to explore ways of leveraging the synergies of Science, Ethics, and Faith for Happiness, Well-being, and Sustainable Development (in short, Science and Ethics for Happiness and Well-being, or “SEH”). The objective is an actionable synthesis based on scientific findings, philosophical wisdom, and theological teachings. The expected outcomes are research collaborations, academic publications, policy reports, and active policy work with governments. The SEH program will build upon and augment the happiness and well-being programs already well established at the SDSN, including the World Happiness Report, supported by the Ernesto Illy Foundation, and the Global Happiness and Well-being Council, initiated and supported by the United Arab Emirates, now collaborating with the OECD. It will also draw upon the proceedings of the Ethics in Action initiative, led by the Pontifical Academies and SDSN, in partnership with the Blue Chip Foundation. We will engage the preliminary thematic domains listed below via SEH’s three paradigmatic pillars: science, ethics, and theology. The meetings of the project take place at at the Pontifical Academies in Vatican City, Rome.
