A New Chapter for the VHI

Over the last year the VHI has been reconsidering its mission. As we look towards our thirtieth anniversary year, which will fall in the 2017-18 academic year, it is a good time to refresh our vision and identity.

The first fruits of that process are now with us. After a long period of consultation with many VHI stakeholders—research associates, local academic and non-academic collaborators, the VHI Committee, advisory board and patrons, partner institutions in the UK and beyond—and sustained work from our brilliant designer (Mark Mniszko at Cambridge Design Studio) the VHI has a refreshed name and logo. These have now been approved by the VHI Committee, the College Council, as well as the Governing Body. We will henceforth be known as the:

VON HÜGEL INSTITUTE for CRITICAL CATHOLIC INQUIRY

Although the Von Hügel Institute is well known as such, that name alone does not clearly express the kind of work we do. The addition of ‘critical catholic inquiry’ fills that gap very well. It indicates both the Roman Catholic heritage and identity which were key to the foundation of the College and Institute, but it also indicates the catholicity, or inclusiveness and openness, as well as the rigour which characterise the deep interdisciplinary research work the Institute will be doing under its new vision. The characteristics of VHI work are further filled out by the three dynamic participles which will be seen in the full version of the logo: analysing, imagining, transforming. The VHI of the future will be committed to critical, rigorous analytic thought which is aimed at improving our shared future, transforming our thinking and practices to increase the common good. Rooted in the long and riotously diverse catholic traditions of philosophy, theology, and ethics it reaches out to dialogue creatively with all disciplines, seeking the good, the true, and the beautiful wherever they can be found: nothing is excluded.

The new logo in its different versions can be found at the foot of this page.

We will be making further exciting announcements in the coming weeks related to the renewal of our mission, including changes to our Advisory Board and Patrons and the launch of a new Institute Brochure. We will also shortly be advertising for a new Development position.

Philip McCosker, Director

 [click to enlarge]