Baylor University has announced that researchers from its Institute for Studies of Religion are partnering with those from the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University's Institute for Quantitative Social Science on the launch of a five-year, $43.4 million initiative to investigate the factors that influence human flourishing.

The Global Flourishing Study (GFS) will analyze longitudinal data on the patterns, determinants, and social, psychological, spiritual, political, economic, and health-related constituents and causes of human flourishing. Research will include information from two hundred and forty thousand individuals from twenty-two countries and incorporate a partnership with the Center for Open Science to make the data an open-access resource for researchers, journalists, policy makers, and educators as well as the data collection and management knowledge of Gallup.

The initiative includes support from the John Templeton Foundation, the Templeton Religion Trust, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, the Paul Foster Family Foundation, the Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation, Well Being Trust, and the David & Carol Myers Foundation.

"There are several examples of probability-based, nationally representative studies that track the same respondents over time in a single country," said Rajesh Srinivasan, global research director of the Gallup World Poll, "but few have attempted to cover multiple countries. The scope of this project is unprecedented and likely to yield valuable insights for global survey research using this type of methodology."