Its research programmes will aim to develop an ?integral ecology?that responds?to the cry of the earth? and the cry of the poor?, and provide resources both for academics and practitioners in fields such as development, and for influencing government policies and decision-making at national and global level. Established under the aegis of Campion Hall, LSRI will have Jesuit traditions as a defining element of its research identity while being open to insights from other faiths, including indigenous traditions, and collaborating with other religious and secular traditions. In the spirit of Pope Francis? encyclical, LSRI research will pay particular attention to the insights of marginalised people on such crucial issues as sustainable development goals and international climate agreements. The recently appointed director of LSRI is Celia Deane-Drummond, until last year professor of theology at Notre Dame university, Indiana. With a background in natural sciences, having specialized in plant physiology at Cambridge, Reading, and Durham universities, Celia Deane-Drummond holds a doctorate in systematic theology from Manchester university. At Notre Dame she taught systematic theology in relation to biological science (evolution, ecology, and genetics), and bioethics (including sustainability and ecotheology). Her many books and publications include:Genetics and Christian Ethics(2006),Ecotheology(2008),Christ and Evolution: Wonder and Wisdom(2009),Creaturely Theology: God, Humans and Other Animals(joint editor) (2009),Religion and Ecology in the Public Sphere(joint editor) (2011), andA Primer in Ecotheology: Theology for a Fragile Earth(2017). LSRI is based in Albion House, Littlegate Street, (below St Ebbes Street), OX1 1SG. After some 800 years in which Oxford has been one of the western world?s great centres of academic religious study, the ambitious aims of the Laudato Si? Research Institute will help position the city as a world-leading centre of contemporary religious research in the context of the current global ecological crisis.
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