About

The Program on Global Ethics and Social Trust seeks to enhance the multidisciplinary approach to global issues in Catholic universities worldwide. The Program is an initiative of the Provost's Office, launched with the support of Porticus, in partnership with the Office of Global Engagement and the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society.

In the pilot phase 2023-2025, two working groups of scholars from predominantly Catholic research universities on five continents investigated the role of global ethics and social trust in the problems of—and our responses to—climate-driven migration and democratic education. In 2026, the Working Group on Climate Change and Migration continues work on two major projects in India, and on Pacific and Caribbean islands.
The goal of our working groups is not to "solve" these deep-seated problems, but rather to create better ways of addressing them across academic and professional boundaries. By learning to look at issues that threaten our world from multiple perspectives, we open our own areas of inquiry to a new and forgiving critique of how we so often proceed.
Statue of Ignatius Loyola on Boston College Campus

Program Goals

  • To exemplify effective ways of addressing urgent global issues across academic and professional boundaries in our work as teachers, scholars, and engaged citizens
     
  • To ensure that diverse global insights and ethical perspectives are brought to bear as we do that work, rebuilding social trust in the process 
     
  • To foster multi-disciplinary collaboration and formative education among Catholic research universities around the world

 

Program Leadership

  • James F. Keenan, SJ, Principal Investigator
  • Erik Owens, Director
  • Katie Young, Chair, working group on Climate Change and Migration
  • Jonathan Laurence, Chair, working group on Democracy, Governance, and Education
  • Jessie Babcock, Staff Assistant

Full bios

“ I think social trust across the globe needs to be rebuilt in a very different way and that, as Boston College becomes more and more globally engaged, we can propose models for more credible and lasting impact in responding to our world that is ever more precarious. ”
James F. Keenan, SJ

Working Groups

Climate Change and Migration

Learn More

Democracy, Governance and Education

Learn More

Connect With Us

Back To Top