The Human Flourishing Program’s Flourishing Network (formerly Community of Practice) convenes regular online discussions of best practices and different approaches to assessing and promoting flourishing in a wide variety of settings. The Flourishing Network connects people around the world interested in flourishing research and practice with one another, and provides opportunities to engage with and utilize the flourishing framework and research of the Human Flourishing Program and to develop collaborations on the topic of flourishing. More information on the flourishing framework and measurement approach of the Human Flourishing Program is available elsewhere on the Program website.
The group was founded in April 2019, with an initial focus on educational contexts, but has since expanded its purview to health care organizations, workplaces, communities, and other settings. Conversations have covered the measurement of flourishing among different groups, the development of interventions to enhance specific domains of well-being and overall flourishing, and the revision of K-12, university, and medical school curricula to emphasize the centrality of flourishing and its pathways for leading a good life and building a better society.
In addition to connecting people, the Flourishing Network hosts a number of more specific Interest Groups. Some of these groups function as Communities of Practice, which has been defined as, “a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Participation in these various interest groups and communities of practice is also welcome.
On May 25, 2021, we hosted our first public webinar, "Education as Regenerative Space," followed by a symposium on the "Economics of Wellbeing & Global Human Flourishing" on July 26, 2022, and a symposium on "Promoting Flourishing in Schools" on August 31, 2022. More recent offerings can be found on our events page.
On June 4, 2021, we announced our inaugural group of "Senior Fellows": Amrita Chaturvedi, Beth-Ann Tek, Emmie Bidston, Katy Granville-Chapman, Kristine Larson, and Noémie Le Pertel. Also on this date, we named the recipients of our "Educational Innovation Award," Tara Segree and Jamie Culp, as well as the Harvard Student Representative, Gabrielle Landry (Harvard class of '22). Jan Artem Henriksson was appointed as a Senior Fellow on January 19, 2023.
Our Network co-sponsors Flourish FM, "a podcast for the good life," which launched in the summer of 2022 and is hosted by long-standing Network members Jonathan Beale and Nick Holton. In the fall of 2022, we launched a webpage to help disseminate resources created by members of the Network.
At present, we meet via Zoom on the final Tuesday of each month at 3:00 pm Eastern Time (United States). The founding director of the Network is Matthew Lee and he has been co-leading it since the summer of 2022 with Christina Hinton and Jonathan Beale. For information on joining the Flourishing Network as a guest or member, please contact Jonathan Beale.