Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): Pastoral UC awarded the winners of the XIX Research and Creation Contest for Academics
Since it was established, this contest has financed more than 250 investigations, with contributions ranging between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 for the development of the different proposals. This call sought to promote cooperation towards research or creation projects around current problems in Latin America in the light of faith.
The Directorate of Pastoral Care and Christian Culture, together with the Vice-rectory for Research and International Affairs, announced the names of the 10 projects that were awarded the funds of the XIX Research and Creation Contest for Academics .
This version of the contest seeks to encourage university professors, from the UC and other Chilean and foreign higher education institutions, to contribute to the evangelizing mission, presenting original research projects, oriented to truth, the common good and beauty, on a path of dialogue of faith and reason, to contribute to society with a Christian perspective.
In a ceremony held at the UC Extension Center in Alameda, the academics who lead the awarded research projects and their teams were recognized.
On the occasion, the rector Ignacio Sánchez congratulated the academics who dedicate their time to conducting research with a seal marked by the evangelizing role of UC: “This is a special contest where faith is the center of research and reflection. I want to highlight what the Pastoral does but also what is promoted from the vice rectories. In addition, it is important to remember the role of the jury. They are anonymous contributions from people who had to allocate hours of work in the afternoon, night or on the weekend. Many times in the anonymous is the reflection of academic work. To that jury, a very special thanks.”
“Today, I highlight the effort to highlight the dialogue between faith and reason. I commend the work that each one of you will begin so that its results may be effective instruments for the evangelization of today’s culture” – Fr. Jorge Merino, Senior Chaplain of the UC Pastoral
“This year, like the previous year, the contest sought to promote an academic fraternity, calling to address current Latin American problems of the sociocultural and/or Church reality ,” said the Senior Chaplain of Pastoral UC, Fr. George Merino.
“Today, I highlight the effort to highlight the dialogue between faith and reason. I commend the work that each one of you will begin so that its results are effective instruments for the evangelization of today’s culture,” said the priest.
The vice-rector for International Affairs, Lilian Ferrer , detailed the participation of other national and foreign institutions: “ 24 proposals were received, with 45 UC researchers participating in the process, 23 as responsible researchers and 22 as co-investigators . Within the teams there were 20 researchers from other Chilean universities and 15 from other international universities. We are very happy about that.”
Research and/or creation teams were invited to form in two modalities: at the national level, incorporating academics from other Chilean universities into the teams as co-investigators, and at the international level, incorporating academics from other foreign universities into the teams. . With this invitation, collaboration was sought around the activity of research and/or creation.
“ Doing science from a Catholic university calls for research in a different way . That is why the Vice President for Research and Pastoral Care has been collaborating for 19 years, promoting research that brings faith into dialogue with culture and science. In addition, we promote interdisciplinary collaborative research and international links” explained María Elena Boisier, Research Director of the Research Vice-Rectory.
For his part, Nicolás García, director of Formation and Christian Culture of the UC Pastoral , pointed out: “About to celebrate 20 years since the first version of this contest, as Pastoral we are grateful for the path traveled in promoting faith-reason dialogue. in the research and creation of our university.The 252 projects awarded in these 19 years have been thanks to the high interest of researchers in joining the effort to make their disciplines dialogue with faith, and also thanks to the selfless collaboration of so many academics who year after year support our contest with the evaluation of projects. In this sense, we understand this contest as a collaborative effort, of true academic fraternity, which is materialized in the 10 teams awarded in this call ”.
“We understand this contest as a collaborative effort, of true academic fraternity, which is materialized in the 10 teams awarded in this call” – Nicolás García, director of Christian Training and Culture of the UC Pastoral
Empathy, immigrants, ecology and more
The selected projects cover various themes, which in all cases help unite faith, culture and reason.
One of them is that of Professor Carlos Cornejo, from the School of Psychology, who leads the winning project team: “Empathy, human encounter and community” . He says that nowadays there is a hiatus between the human sciences and Christian anthropology: “We believe that pastoral work can and should benefit from psychological traditions, which have been prominent at certain times in the 20th century, but which feed on a vision human being different from mainstream psychology, which works on either rationalist or mechanical visions of the mind. Our project seeks to contribute to a comprehensive anthropological conception, which better bases human relations from the encounter rather than from dissent and alterity”.
“Empathy is the most basic anthropological mode of human encounter and manifests itself very early in both ontogeny and phylogeny. Rethinking the way we build community relationships is very important today, when we observe the fragmentation of community life into strongly polarized social types that cast doubt on fraternity within the community”, explains the academic. [Note: Ontogeny analyzes the development of an individual, phylogeny studies the evolutionary history of a biological group].
For his part, Professor Guillermo Zamora, from the Faculty of Education, leads a national team, corresponding to the project “What do we learn from life when death comes to school? Towards an understanding of the meanings of life that young people make in the face of the death of a member of the school community”.
He explains that various studies agree that the experience of death of a close person constitutes a vital experience, which pushes new learning about the meaning of life, and that the school constitutes a particularly propitious space to elaborate these new meanings.
“Investigating the meanings that young people have elaborated in the face of a death in the school context and how the school has favored these elaborations, will allow us to get closer to understanding our young people more in their process of giving meaning to their lives. Likewise, it will allow us to provide knowledge so that schools can accompany and guide their students in the great questions of human existence”, indicates the researcher.
Virginia McRostie, academic from the School of Anthropology, leads the project: “Diagnosis for the development of an integral ecology in the National Protected Property and Customs Mouth of the Loa River, I-II R, Chile” . The academic says that the density of pre-Columbian and historical evidence from that area is due to the fact that the Loa River is and was an ecological and cultural corridor in the Atacama Desert. “Its mouth is a maritime-terrestrial ecotone, where a wetland is formed and important species of flora and fauna take refuge,” she indicates.
“This rich natural and cultural heritage is currently in a state of abandonment, reflecting a global crisis that requires considering all the variables that affect its condition and care.This project seeks to pave the way to promote “Integral Ecology” proposed by Pope Francis in his Encyclical Laudato si’. This urges us to face the ecological crisis as a complex phenomenon that involves environmental, economic, cultural and social issues, in the daily life of our actions, and at a scalar and intergenerational level. At the same time, it is inspired by faith for a common good, which is capable of advancing towards the care of “Oikos”. This is a first, but solid project aimed at making a diagnosis for the development of an Integral Ecology in the place, bringing together academics from various disciplines and national universities”, explains the academic.
Professor Haddy Bello, from the Faculty of Theology, who directs the project “Towards the critical edition of the works of Santa Teresa de los Andes (Part I: Diary and personal notes)” says that her motivation to carry out an investigation that unites faith , reason and culture, is “first, because I recognize that the three nourish each other; and second, because it is a concrete way of getting our work and research out of the four walls of the discipline itself. In my opinion, opening spaces for dialogue between faith, reason and culture is essential to enrich ourselves as a society, regardless of what our beliefs are.”
“Carrying out the critical edition of the manuscripts of Santa Teresa de los Andes has been a desire that has been present for years. Samuel Fernández invited me to think of him, who made it possible to put together an excellent team to carry out this task. Certainly it is a recognition of the legacy and spiritual heritage of Saint Teresa, which in Chile, I believe, has not been valued as it should”, emphasizes the theologian.
List of awarded projects
Among the 10 awarded projects, there are academics from the following national universities: University of Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Universidad Católica del Norte, Universidad Católica de Tarapacá, Universidad de los Andes, Universidad Autónoma, Universidad de Talca and Universidad de Concepción.
And there are also academics from the following international universities: Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary), Universidad Marista (Mexico) and Universidad del Salvador (Argentina).
In this call, 10 proposals were awarded, 8 in the national category and 2 in the international category. Each of them from different disciplines, techniques, methodologies and approaches, attend to different realities and needs of our societies.
National Category
How is success and failure understood in Catholic schools? Towards an understanding of the new meanings of school achievement. National Team led by Patricia Imbarack, Faculty of Education.
What do we learn about life when death comes to school? Towards an understanding of the meanings of life that young people make in the face of the death of a member of the school community. National Team led by Guillermo Zamora, Faculty of Education.
“The right of the boy and the girl to be heard: minimum conditions for the proper integration of migrant children”. National Team led by Carmen Domínguez, Faculty of Law.
Diagnosis for the development of an integral ecology in the National Protected Good and Customs Mouth of the Loa River, I-II R, Chile. National Team led by Virginia McRostie, School of Anthropology.
Empathy, human encounter and community. National Team led by Carlos Cornejo, School of Psychology.
Towards the critical edition of the works of Santa Teresa de los Andes (Part I: Diary and personal notes) . National Team led by Haddy Bello, Faculty of Theology.
Prevention of psychological disorders in patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit through the implementation of a Spiritual Care Strategy. National Team led by Paula Repetto, School of Psychology.
Processes of change in social-clinical interventions carried out by social workers in cases of child sexual abuse. National Team led by Nicolle Alamo, School of Social Work.
International Category:
Citizenship for Fraternity: The Potential of Citizen Initiatives to Care for Vulnerable Neighborhoods and Communities . International Team led by Giovanni Vecchio, Institute of Urban Studies.
Disaffiliation and spirituality in the context of secularization in current Chile . International Team led by Eduardo Valenzuela, Institute of Sociology.