A New Science of Virtues Grant Competition

In what ways might the humanities and the sciences cooperate to develop richer understandings of virtue for modern societies?

In March 2009, almost 700 scholars and scientists from around the world submitted letters of intent as entry into this research grant competition. This is a multidisciplinary research initiative that seeks contributions from individuals and from teams of investigators working within the humanities and the sciences. We support highly original, scholarly projects that demonstrate promise of a distinctive contribution to virtue research and have the potential to begin a new field of interdisciplinary study.  In 2010, about twenty (20), two-year research grants totaling $3 million will be awarded, ranging from $50,000 to $300,000 each.

The University of Chicago is pleased to announce the forty (40) finalists.  They will submit full proposals by October 1, 2009 (5:00pm CST) and go on to compete for one of twenty awards at the New Science of Virtues Symposium (Chicago) in January 2010.

 

Jeffrey Bishop
Associate Professor, Medicine and Biomedical Ethics
Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society
Vanderbilt University, United States

 

The Economy of Virtue: Virtue Theory in Light of Poverty and Neuroscience

 

 

Mary Kathryn Coe
Associate Professor, Health Promotion Sciences
Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
University of Arizona, United States

 

Forgiveness as a Cross-Cultural Virtue that Facilitates Recovery from Historical Trauma

 

 

Edward Cokely
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cognitive Psychology
Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany

 

The Heuristics of Virtue — Integrating Virtue Ethics and the Science of Heuristics

 

 

Mary Collins
Associate Professor, Social Service Administration
School of Social Work

Boston University, United States

 

Finding a Lost Virtue: Observing Compassion in Social Policy and Programs

 

 

Jesse Couenhoven
Assistant Professor, Moral Theology
Department of Humanities
Villanova University, United States

 

Virtues and Perils of Forgiveness

 

 

Roger Crisp
Professor, Moral Philosophy
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
University of Oxford, United Kingdom

 

The Good Life in an Information Society: A New Account of the Epistemic Virtues

 

 

Farr Curlin
Assistant Professor, Medicine
MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics
The University of Chicago, United States

 

Project on the Good Physician

 

 

Steven Daskal
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Virginia Tech, United States

 

Assessing the Effectiveness of Virtue Education in Crime Prevention

 

 

James Fishkin
Professor, Communication and Political Science
Department of Communication
Stanford University, United States

 

Deliberative Democracy and the Virtues of Democratic Citizenship

 

 

Richard Gonzalez
Professor, Psychology
Department of Psychology

University of Michigan, United States

 

Social, Affective, Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of How People Decide Virtue

 

 

Susan Greenfield
Professor, Pharmacology
Department of Pharmacology
University of Oxford, United Kingdom

 

What is the Neuroscientific Basis of Virtue in the 21st Century Mind?

 

 

James Heckman
Professor, Economics
Harris School of Public Policy
University of Chicago, United States

 

The Virtue of Self-Control

 

 

Talma Hendler
Assistant Professor, Medicine and Psychology
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tel Aviv University, Israel

 

The Great Virtue of Anger Control - What Culture Tells and Brain Records

 

 

Daniel Hruschka
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Sante Fe Institute, United States

 

Virtues in Conflict: A Cross-Cultural Study of Virtue Dilemmas and Their Resolution

 

 

Webb Keane
Professor, Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
University of Michigan, United States

 

Moral Science: Anthropology and the Study of Virtue

 

 

Mark Landau
Assistant Professor, Psychology
Department of Psychology
University of Kansas, United States

 

The Psychological Foundations of Virtue: Conceptual Metaphor in Virtue-Relevant Thought and Behavior

 

 

Peter Lawler
Professor, Government
Department of Government and International Studies
Berry College, United States

 

Toward a True Science of Being Stuck with Virtue

 

 

Robert Layton
Professor, Anthropology
Department of Anthropology

Durham University, United Kingdom

 

Evolving Virtue: A Phylogenetic Comparative Analysis of Virtues in the World Religions

 

 

Jonathan Lear
Professor, Philosophy
Committee on Social Thought
University of Chicago, United States

 

Imagination as a Virtue

 

 

Richard Lerner
Professor, Psychology
Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development
Tufts University, United States

 

The Structure and Function of Virtues in the Positive Development of American Adolescents: Expansion and Extension of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

 

 

John List
Professor, Economics
Department of Economics
University of Chicago, United States

 

Exploring Motivations for Charitable Giving Using Field Experiments, Lab Experiments, and fMRI

 

 

Dan McAdams
Professor, Psychology
School of Education and Social Policy
Northwestern University, United States

 

The Good Story: Generativity and the Construction of Virtue Across Generations

 

 

Gilbert Meilaender
Professor, Christian Ethics
Department of Theology
Valparaiso University, United States

 

Acceptance of Decline or Thirst to Live: The Challenge of Anti-Aging Research

 

 

Mara Merlino
Assistant Professor, Social Psychology
Center for Research Design and Analysis
University of Nevada, Reno, United States

 

The Virtue of Equity and Judicial Decisions to Use Court-Appointed Experts

 

 

Carrie Miles
Senior Research Fellow, Social and Organizational Psychology
Center for Economic Study of Religion
George Mason University, United States

 

Does Virtue Matter? A Field Experiment on the Impact of Agape Love on Marriage, Family, and Child Mental Health in Africa

 

 

Richard Miller
Professor, Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies
Indiana University, United States

 

The Virtue of Empathy: Humanistic and Scientific Investigations

 

 

Richard Neugebauer
Research Scientist
Medicine
New York State Psychiatric Institute; Columbia University, United States

 

The Rwandan Genocide and the Inculcation of Virtue

 

 

Graham Oddie
Professor, Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
University of Colorado at Boulder, United States

 

The Science of Honor: A Philosophical and Scientific Investigation into the Foundations of the Ethics of Honor

 

Wilmot Peirce
Director, Leadership Development Programs
Values-Based Leadership Programs
Health for Humanity, United States

 

Enhancing the Effects of Technical Training in Building Medical Capacity: Values-based Leadership Training and Virtues Development

 

 

Noah Pickus
Associate Professor, Politics
Kenan Institute for Ethics and Sanford Institute of Public Policy
Duke University, United States

 

Almost Honest: Integrity and the New Science of Virtues

 

 

Laurie Santos
Associate Professor, Psychology
Department of Psychology
Yale University, United States

 

The Origins of Justice: A Comparative and Developmental Approach

 

 

Donald Searing
Professor, Political Science
Department of Political Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

 

The Virtues and Vices of Liberal Democratic Leadership

 

 

Alesha Seroczynski
Associate Professor, Developmental Psychology
Department of Psychology
Bethel College, United States

 

Reading for Life: A Narrative Character Education Intervention for First-Time Offending Juvenile Delinquents

 

Nancy Snow
Associate Professor, Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Marquette University, United States

 

Landscapes of Hope: The 'What', 'Why' and 'How' of Hope

 

 

Robert Sternberg
Professor, Psychology
PACE Center
Tufts University, United States

 

A Multifaceted Approach to Cultivating Virtue

 

 

Alex Tuckness
Associate Professor, Politics
Department of Political Science
Iowa State University, United States

 

The Death of Mercy

 

 

David Wasserman
Director of Research, Law
Center for Ethics
Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University, United States

 

Emotion, Morality, and Virtue: Philosophical, Religious, and Neuroscientific Perspectives

 

 

Philip Yu
Professor, Computer Science
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Chicago, United States

 

Virtue-informatics: Monitoring, Analyzing and Mining Virtue-related Opinions on the Web

 

 

Paul Zak
Professor, Economics
Center for Neuroeconomic Studies
Claremont Graduate University, United States

 

The Two Sides of Altruism: Empathy and Gratitude