This nine-hour interdisciplinary course aims at helping PhD students to define their research path and to better relate their research work with their personal development. It introduces PhD students to the foundations of Integral Human Development (IHD), understood as the development of each person and the whole person. IHD connects the development of knowledge with the development of the person who produces it and of those who may be reached by it. The course examines how IHD can deepen doctoral research by revealing underlying assumptions, inspiring new questions and broadening reflection on the human, social, ethical, cultural, spiritual and ecological dimensions of knowledge. It also invites participants to consider the PhD as an opportunity for personal, scientific, relational and professional growth, while reflecting on their relationships with research participants and communities and on the potential reach of their findings. It is designed for doctoral students from all disciplines and at every stage of their research.

Every research project is grounded, explicitly or implicitly, in a particular understanding of the person, society, knowledge and progress. This course invites PhD students to examine these underlying assumptions through the perspective of Integral Human Development (IHD) and to consider three interconnected questions: What knowledge am I producing? What kind of person and researcher am I becoming? And to whose flourishing might my research contribute?

Integral Human Development proposes the development of each person and the whole person. Human flourishing is a core dimension of this approach; however, IHD extends beyond individual well-being, fulfilment or success. It encompasses dignity, freedom, relationships, participation, justice, solidarity, subsidiarity, culture, meaning, spirituality, the common good, sustainability and care for our common home. It therefore offers an interdisciplinary framework for examining the human, social, ethical, cultural and ecological dimensions of research.

The course explores how IHD can broaden and deepen a doctoral project without compromising its focus or scientific rigour. Participants will be encouraged to identify assumptions that may otherwise remain implicit, formulate new questions and consider how the perspective of IHD may enrich their theoretical framework, methodological choices, interpretation and discussion of findings. Particular attention will be paid to the dignity, voice and participation of those involved in research, as well as to the communication, relevance and potential scientific, human and social reach of the knowledge produced.

The PhD will also be considered as an opportunity for the researcher’s personal, scientific, relational, ethical and professional growth. Participants will reflect on critical thinking, intellectual humility, autonomy, resilience, purpose, communication, and their relationships with supervisors, peers, research participants, communities and institutions.

The course adopts a participatory methodology, combining interactive presentations, critical reflection and practical exercises supported by pedagogical resources specifically designed for this training. Each session follows three stages: to Understand, by engaging with the foundations, concepts, authors and debates of IHD; to Question, by critically examining their implications for science and the doctoral journey; and to Apply, by relating them to each participant’s research topic, questions, methods, theoretical framework and potential reach.

For students in the early stages of their PhD, the course offers new perspectives for exploring and defining their projects. For those at a more advanced stage, it provides concepts, authors and literature that may strengthen the theoretical framework, discussion of findings and reflection on the significance and reach of their research.

Session 1 & 2 | Integral Human Development: A Radical Proposal Concerning The Person And Development

• The genesis and evolution of the concept of Integral Human Development.
• The radical nature of IHD: the development of each person, of the whole person and of all people.
• IHD as a process, a possibility and a shared responsibility, rather than an ideal state or a guaranteed outcome.
• Human dignity as the foundation, criterion and purpose of development.
• Human flourishing as a core dimension of IHD, without reducing development to fulfilment or individual well-being.
• The person as a relational, interdependent and situated being: development takes place in relationship with others, communities, institutions, culture and our Common Home.
• Freedom, participation, solidarity, justice and the common good.
• The tensions between development, progress, growth, power, exclusion and the instrumentalisation of the person.
• Assumptions concerning the person, society, knowledge and progress present in scientific research.

Session 3 & 4 | The Dimensions Of Ihd And The Deepening Of Doctoral Research

• The multidimensionality of Integral Human Development.
• The relational and communicative dimension as a cross-cutting element: no dimension of the person develops in isolation, and no research is conducted or communicated outside relationships.
• The thesis as training for a greater work of communication: learning to listen, ask questions, argue, receive criticism, engage in dialogue with different perspectives, and make complex knowledge rigorous and understandable.
• The development of the researcher: identity, responsible autonomy, intellectual humility, openness to complexity, perseverance, meaning and responsibility for the knowledge produced.

Session 5 & 6 | Conducting Research With And For People: Serious Leisure And The Reach Of Knowledge

• Research as a relational reality.
• Research participants as subjects with dignity, experience, voice and knowledge, rather than merely as sources of data.
• Listening, autonomy, participation, reciprocity, communication, power asymmetries and the prevention of instrumentalisation.
• Free time during the doctoral journey: rest, distance, creativity, identity, relationships and the renewal of the capacity to think.
• Serious Leisure as a possibility for IHD: the development of capabilities, perseverance, identity, belonging, meaning, relationships and contribution to the common good.
• The different forms of flourishing that research can foster.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Explain Integral Human Development (IHD) in their own words, recognising that it seeks the development of each person, the whole person and all people;
• Identify the assumptions about the person, society, knowledge and progress embedded in their research, as well as its potential contributions in these areas;
• Select the dimensions of IHD most relevant to their research and identify at least one concrete way of using them to deepen their project while preserving its clearly defined scope and scientific rigour;
• Recognise the centrality of relationships within IHD and examine communication throughout the doctoral journey, identifying practical ways to improve listening, dialogue, reasoned argument, openness to criticism, and the clear and rigorous presentation of knowledge;
• Examine relationships with research participants and communities and assess the conditions under which the research process may promote the dignity, participation, reciprocity and human flourishing of those involved;
• Recognise how the PhD contributes to their development as both a person and a researcher, and establish priorities for their personal, relational, ethical and professional growth;
• Identify ways in which free time and Serious Leisure may support the doctoral journey, particularly by fostering rest, creativity, perseverance, identity, relationships, meaning and contribution to the common good, and
• Develop an IHD-informed roadmap for their doctoral project, connecting the researcher’s development, the deepening of the research, relationships with those involved, the communication of findings, and the potential scientific, human and social reach of the knowledge produced.

Bibliography

• Azétsop, J. (Ed.). (2019). Integral Human Development: Challenges to sustainability and democracy. Pickwick Publications.
• Deneulin, S. (2008). Beyond individual freedom and agency: Structures of living together in Sen’s capability approach to development. In F. Comim, M. Qizilbash, & S. Alkire (Eds.), the Capability approach: concepts, measures and applications (pp. 105-124). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511492587.005
• Keleher, L. (2018). Integral human development: Development of every person and of the whole person. In J. Drydyk & L. Keleher (Eds.), Routledge Handbook  of Development Ethics (pp. 29- 34). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315626796-4
• Pope, S. J. (2019). Integral human development: From paternalism to accompaniment. Theological Studies, 80(1), 123–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040563918819798
• Sedmak, C. (2023). Enacting Integral Human Development. Orbis Books

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