Planetary Health as a new, interdisciplinary field of science studies the relationship between people's health and their (global) environment, in the context of the ecological crisis. The project Existential Challenges of Planetary Health seeks to develop knowledge needed for a ‘worldview-shift’ in response to this ecological crisis.
Such a worldview-shift involves our views on the fundamental precarity of life, personal and shared values, sources of inspiration, experiences of connectedness and engagement, but also of loss and grief. We need a fundamental shift in ways of inhabiting the Earth, to safeguard the health and survival of living species. Against this backdrop, the research objectives of our project are:
- Developing Planetary Health beyond an anthropocentric focus on human health, as this is part of a problematic worldview of human dominance that obstructs the transformation needed.
- Developing a Humanities’ view on planetary health with a focus on change at an existential level with regard to our value and belief systems.
- Developing ways of fostering spiritual transformation that do justice to the existential dimension of planetary health.
Principles of the project
- interconnectedness of the health and well-being of all life on earth;
- ecosystem regeneration instead of an anthropocentric focus on human health;
- holistic view on health, including a spiritual dimension.
Research question
How can the existential dimension of planetary health be understood, and in what ways can spiritual transformation in how we inhabit the Earth be promoted?\
Subprojects
- How can research into existing ecocentric worldviews in religious and wisdom traditions contribute to the development of the scientific field of Planetary Health?
PhD research: Renée Robbers - How can philosophical research into the cultural imagining and valuing of relationships between humans and more-than-human existences, contribute to understanding the existential dimension of planetary health?
Postdoctoral research: Lisa Doeland - How can the academic profession of spiritual care contribute to spiritual health and transformation, in the full awareness of collective loss and ecological grief?
PhD research: Evanne Nowak
Additional research funded by the Apostolic Center for Religious Humanism: How can love be understood from a religious-humanist perspective and what does this imply for the apostolic notion of love-based commitment to a humane and worthy world?
PhD research: Stephan Huijboom
Supervision of these subprojects: Hans Alma and Pim Martens
More about this project
Start/end Date
1 November 2024 - 31 October 2029
Team
Leader: Hans Alma
Team: Pim Martens, Lisa Doeland, Evanne Nowak, Renée Robbers, Stephan Huijboom
Fund
NWO – Open Competition