The Gibbons Institute organizes its research in “houses” — distinctive scholarly communities, each dedicated to a specific domain of inquiry within human ecology.
How Houses Work
Each Research House is a community of scholars — senior fellows, research fellows, junior fellows, visiting scholars, and research associates — working on shared questions from diverse disciplinary perspectives. Houses have their own research agendas, regular seminars, and publications, while contributing to the Gibbons Institute’s broader mission.
Crucially, fellows may inhabit multiple houses. A philosopher working on economic thought might inhabit both the House of Social Thought and the House of Political Economy. A demographer studying household economics inhabits both the House of Family and Population and the House of Political Economy. This cross-pollination is not a complication — it is a feature that reflects how scholarship actually works and what makes The Gibbons Institute distinctive. Our houses are interdisciplinary communities, not departmental silos.
The Five Houses
House I
The House of Social Thought
Fundamental questions of freedom and responsibility, family, civil society and the Church, virtue and comparative institutions — pursued across the full breadth of Western thought.
Signature Initiatives
- Initiative in Catholic & Classical Political Thought
- The Papal Encyclicals Initiative
- Working Group on Natural Law and Civil Society
House II
The House of Political Economy
The nature of economic life — studied as a moral and social science, not merely a technical discipline.
Signature Initiatives
- The Röpke–Wojtyła Fellowship
- Research in Classical & Austrian Economics
- Economics and Catholic Social Teaching
House III
The House of Family & Population
The family as the fundamental unit of society — studied with both empirical rigor and humanistic depth.
Signature Initiatives
- The American Family & Fertility Project
- The Leonine Social Research Initiative
- Maternal and Child Health Research
- The Paidaxiology Podcast
House IV
The House of Beauty & Culture
Beauty as essential to human life — not ornament, but a transcendental alongside truth and goodness.
Signature Initiatives
- Beauty at Work
- The Catholic Beauty Initiative
- Sacred Arts & Liturgical Studies
House V
The House of Natural Ecology
The created order in its fullness — its intelligibility, design, and purpose; the stewardship of land, body, and health — grounded in Catholic teaching on the sanctity of creation.
Signature Initiatives
- Initiative on Design & the Philosophy of Nature
- Stewardship & Subsidiarity in Food Systems
- Catholic Environmental Ethics
- Regenerative Agriculture and the Common Good
