Creating a Science of Wisdom

The Opportunity:

In partnership with the Templeton Foundation and with support from Arete, the University has made establishing Chicago as a center for wisdom research a priority. In the Defining Wisdom Project, social psychologist and neuroscientist Howard Nusbaum, with help from Arete, managed a regranting program to seed a new field of research through funding 23 research projects around the world by up-and-coming investigators in diverse fields, including psychology, neurobiology, medicine, philosophy, and the classics.  In the process, Nusbaum built an interdisciplinary cadre of University of Chicago faculty interested in taking wisdom research to the next level. This faculty interest then led to the Chicago Wisdom Project to develop a science of wisdom through research projects, core resources, a Wisdom Forum, an undergraduate curriculum, and engagement with relevant professional and scholarly communities.

What we did for them:

• Convene interdisciplinary partnerships across the University
• Convene and manage University support and leadership
• Scale up and expand program scope
• Facilitate strategic, long-term institutional planning
• Develop programs and initiatives
• Engage foundations

Principal Investigator:  Howard Nusbaum

Website: www.wisdomresearch.org