Online Research Forum
Presented by Australian Compassion Council Scholars Network
For More Information and to Register:
https://charterforcompassion.com.au/comp_forum/
About the Event
In our fractured world, we are witnessing the global suffering caused by COVID-19, social injustice, political polarization, and catastrophic bushfires. To alleviate and prevent this suffering the scientific understanding of empathy and compassion has never been more important.
Compassion research is a rapidly emerging field of science with significant implications for improving our collective human wellbeing. Around Australia there are outstanding academics and university centres that specialise in compassion research and its application, and they have recently been brought together in the Australian Compassion Council (ACC) Scholars Network.
The ACC Scholars Network, in partnership with the University of Sydney’s, Body, Heart and Mind in Business Research Group has organised the first National Compassion Research Forum. Entitled Managing Change and Complexity with Compassion: New Research and Application, this forum will take place online from 9.30am-12.30pm (AEDT) on 9 November 2020.
International keynote speaker for the forum is Professor William Mobley, Neuroscientist and Director of the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion at the University of California San Diego. As Mobley puts it, “I can’t think of another research discipline that can assist so rigorously in the process of growing social justice and global wellbeing in such a fundamental way.” He believes that “we now have an incredible opportunity to improve humanity’s wellbeing, but we first need a massive breakthrough in terms of our basic human care for one another.”
The aim of this Inaugural Forum is to showcase and share the wide diversity of compassion research taking place in numerous institutions around Australia. Projects include randomised trials of: compassion training in early childhood using the Think Equal program; an online training for adults CompassionateUs; and compassion training for teachers and parents. Evaluations are also underway of the effects of Compassion Focused Therapy in populations with mental health problems.
The National Director of the ACC Scholars Network, Professor Felicia Huppert, points out that “learning from disciplines such as neuroscience, psychology, organisational and management theory, and evolutionary biology is allowing us to better understand not just the problems of the human mind, but also the positive qualities, including compassion and empathy.”
Research reveals that we can now literally ‘see’ where and how empathy and compassion show up in the brain. MRI technology is giving us an important collection of data demonstrating that empathy and compassion, and the underlying brain structures can be strengthened through training. The online compassion forum is open to everyone interested in the scientific understanding of empathy and compassion, and their application in today’s world.
Contact: Professor Felicia A Huppert - felicia@huppert.com.au ; National Director, ACC Scholars Network Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Founding Director of the Well-being Institute, University of Cambridge, UK Honorary Professor with the Body Heart and Mind in Business Research Group, University of Sydney Business School
Dr Lynne Reeder – l.reeder@federation.edu.au m) 0431 608958; National Director, Australian Compassion Council (ACC) Adjunct Research Fellow, Federation University Australia Founder, Mindful Futures Network
Location: Online via Zoom