Eleven awards will pursue groundbreaking science in the field of human flourishing. 

In 2020, Templeton World Charity Foundation announced a $60 million commitment to support bold research on human flourishing. The area of inquiry includes a range of dimensions under which human beings are at their best, such as physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. The contemporary study of human flourishing encompasses diverse subjects and often joins disciplines as disparate as neuroscience, engineering, and philosophy.

The 11 inaugural awardees will pursue projects in two broad areas: (1) global flourishing and (2) listening and learning in a polarized world. The researchers will influence the Foundation’s thought leadership initiatives exploring innovations at the heart of human flourishing. Awardees will also advise the Foundation on future initiatives and take part in opportunities to amplify the science and innovations.

The Winning Ideas and Teams

We propose Templeton World invests in building a deep and scientific understanding of what listening is, when and why it matters to the well-being of people, and in what circumstances.
Netta Weinstein, University of Reading
Guy Itzchakov, University of Haifa

What does cultural evolution look like in the 21st century and how can we use the answer to ensure continued human flourishing?
Michael Muthukrishna, London School of Economics

Our goal is to radically expand the conceptual space of a good life, by moving beyond the current hedonic vs. eudaimonic dichotomy to include a psychologically rich life, or a life full of diverse interesting experiences.
Shigehiro Oishi, University of Virginia

Understanding the determinants of flourishing among adolescents with the goal of developing a conceptual framework that integrates elements of physical, mental and social dimensions of well-being through a gender transformative lens.
Carol Henry, University of Saskatchewan
Rebecca Tiessen, University of Ottawa
Judy White, University of Regina
Lydia Kabiri, Makerere University, Uganda
Melani O'Leary, World Vision Canada 

Taking a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary ecological systems approach, the idea is to empower human flourishing through epistemic vigilance in truth-seeking by exploring how truth is defined and produced, how it is evaluated and transmitted at different levels of society, how it is related to moral, spiritual and socio-political orientations, and how interventions can create more knowledgeable and resilient societies.
Jocelyn B. Dautel, Queen’s University, Belfast
Kathleen H. Corriveau, Boston University
Emma Flynn, Queen’s University, Belfast
Mariah Kornbluh, University of South Carolina
Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University
Christin Scholz, University of Amsterdam
Lara A. Wood, Abertay University
Jing Xu, University of Washington; National Academy of Education

Redress the gap in human flourishing globally by studying how it is achieved in low income countries, specifically Africa, where the concept of human flourishing is defined as communal rather than individual.
Toni C. Antonucci, University of Michigan
Members of the Capacity Building Program, jointly funded by the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) and the Jacobs Foundation

We propose to study emotion as a psychological system influencing prejudice, and to use this research to develop better anti-racism programs.
Jordan Mansell, University of Western Ontario
Victoria Essess, University of Western Ontario
Mathieu Turgeon, University of Western Ontario
Amanda Friesen, Indiana University–Purdue University
James Gross, Stanford University
Allison Harell, Université du Québec à Montréal
Robert Hinckley, University of SUNY Potsdam
Sukhvinder Obhi, McMaster University
Valérie-Anne Mahéo, Université Laval
Mosaic Institute, Toronto Canada

Studying persons living under conditions of extreme physical, economic, or socioemotional adversity will challenge, advance, and refine what is known about flourishing.
Deborah Carr, Boston University
Catherine Caldwell-Harris, Boston University
Suchi Gopal, Boston University
Jonathan Greenacre, Boston University
Amie Grills, Boston University
James Katz, Boston University
Eric Kolacyzk, Boston University
Nicolette Manglos-Weber, Boston University
Brenda Phillips, Boston University
Parker Shipton, Boston University
Wesley Wildman, Boston University
Harvey Young, Boston University
Jonathan Zaff, CERES (Community-Engaged Research and Evaluation Sciences) Institute for Children & Youth, and Boston University

This project will study human flourishing in multiple cultural groups beyond WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) populations, in order to: render it more accessible and applicable to world populations; illuminate various models of flourishing; define common factors and differences in flourishing across cultures and degrees of affluence, and identify a variety of barriers to flourishing across cultures.
Blaine Fowers, University of Miami
Guerda Nicolas, University of Miami

Our idea, through interdisciplinary research, is to discover the meaning and mechanisms of human flourishing in the context of suffering, to understand how compassion alleviates suffering and promotes flourishing in healthcare settings, and to develop large-scale evidence-based programs to promote compassionate, high-quality national health systems. 
David Addiss, Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics, The Task Force for Global Health
Matthew Lee, Harvard University Human Flourishing Program
Katelyn Long, Harvard University Human Flourishing Program
Jennifer Wortham, Harvard University Human Flourishing Program
Jennifer Mascaro, Emory University
Shams Syed, World Health Organization (WHO) Global Learning Laboratory for Quality UHC
Chintan Maru, Leapfrog to Value
Shane Sinclair, University of Calgary Compassion Research Lab

Through science and design, we aim to better understand the stories we tell ourselves - about our place in the world, what motivates others, and what the future likely holds - and explore how these stories form; influence behavior, wellbeing and achievement; differ across cultures and generations; and change with meaningful intervention from families, mentors, and media.

Brie Linkenhoker, Worldview Studio and its network of university-based collaborators