Faith Institutions Advancing Transformation (FIAT)

Project Overview

FIAT (Faith-Institutions Advancing Transformation) is a research project under the Canada Research Chair in Transition to Sustainability. It explores how Church institutions—particularly Catholic and ecumenical— (can) act as agents of transformation towards a future-proof society in the face of global sustainability challenges.

With two empirical “project legs” in the Amazon and Canada, it inquires into the roles and network effects of faith institutions innovating governance models and reimagining society through cultural, spiritual, institutional, and material transformation.

Conceptual-theoretical Foundation

Embeddedness

In a context dominated by sustainability governance models that rely on individualist and technocratic assumptions, FIAT instead draws on critical social theory to understand individuals and organizations as embedded in cultural, institutional, and power structures. It emphasizes the role of discourse, practice, and institutional change in shaping sustainable futures.

Governance for and in Transition

A second conceptual focus of FIAT is exploring how the concept of governance itself is being and must be transformed for an effective engagement with sustainability transitions.

Methodology

The project follows an abductive research design, combining inductive and deductive reasoning. It uses mainly qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups, and document analysis, supported by interpretive and comparative frameworks rooted in pragmatism and hermeneutics, but also foresees a survey to be conducted in the Amazon for the purpose of systematizing otherwise scattered and unevenly processed information

Research Focus

FIAT investigates the conditions under which religion can function as a sustainability Transition Agent (STA), focusing on identifying and typifying roles and network effects of church institutions, with particular emphasis on emerging networked structures both in Amazonia and in Canada, and how they relate to more conventional structures, sometimes conflicting with and sometimes potentiating them.

Key Questions

– How and why are social-ecological narratives, practices, and institutions (not) transformed through the mediation of the Church?

– Under what conditions can religion effectively perform the role of a sustainability transition agent?

Project Phases

Phase I (2022–2023)

Desk research and literature review on sustainability governance and church involvement in Amazonia.

Phase II (2024–2025)

Fieldwork in Amazonian communities and Canadian church organizations and data analysis and interpretation.

Phase III (2026–2027) 

Fieldwork with global church actors. Data analysis and interpretation. Identification of enabling and blocking factors in church-mediated transitions.

Phase IV (2027) 

Theory-building and synthesis. Development of a model for religion’s role in global sustainability transitions.

Outputs and Engagement

– Peer-reviewed articles and working papers

– Public-facing content (e.g., op-eds, blogs)

– A project website and blog

– Contributions to international academic networks, such as the Earth System Governance)

Student Involvement

The project integrates undergraduate and graduate students in all stages—from literature review to fieldwork and dissemination—enhancing research-based learning and international collaboration through The King’s University and partner institutions.