GTVÄÐͬ

Private philanthropic organizations’ proclaimed goal is to contribute to the public good by funding projects that support and improve people’s health, preserve the natural environment and defend human rights and democracy around the world. At the same time, however, their monetary capital and its expansion rely on the current consumptogenic system, which is driving the interlinked health, inequity and environmental crises. While often, and fairly, criticized for their dependence on the current system, private philanthropic organizations’ ‘good’ purpose opens a window of opportunity for these private actors, differently from for-profit ones, to be partners in changing to a system driven by planetary health equity rather than profit.  

For such system change to happen, research plays a very important role. In fact, in a world where evidence-based policy is the mantra of governments and international organizations, what is funded or not funded in research impacts on the knowledge available to policy makers. Private philanthropic organizations have been historically important contributors to research funding, so their research agenda can have important repercussions for the system change needed. However, not much is known about what private philanthropic organizations fund in research and why. Therefore, this research investigates what type of research private philanthropic organizations in the Global North fund, and which factors determine their priorities. The aim is to provide insights into the diverse ecosystem of private philanthropy in the Global North, and highlight which approaches favour research priorities more in line with the achievement of planetary health equity.

During her Mid-Term Review, Gio will present the current state of her research, including some preliminary funding and reflections on the ongoing data collection. She would like to gather feedback on refining the last part of data collection and theoretical inputs for the analysis and framing of the data. 

This seminar is Gio's mid-term doctoral candidature presentation.

GTVÄÐͬ the speaker

is a health scientist by formation and a systems thinker by passion. Gio holds a master degree in Biomedicine from Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and a second master in Sustainable Management from Uppsala University (Sweden). She is a member of the European Research Network on Philanthropy's PhD Circle.

Gio's research focuses on investigating why health philanthropic organizations fund specific types of research and what are the implications for planetary health equity, 'the equitable enjoyment of good health on a stable Earth system'.

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