2022 Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing
On 29 and 30 November 2022, the inaugural Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing was held. This virtual event featured the latest scientific advances in understanding human flourishing across cultures, and showcased innovative new tools and strategies to promote greater flourishing around the world.
2022 Speakers
Program
Click on a session title to watch its corresponding conference recording.
November 29, 2022 - Day 1: Flourishing and Our World
Day 1 of the conference introduced the topic of human flourishing and positioned it within a global context. The sessions explored definitions of, and barriers to, human flourishing.
Welcome Address
Featuring:
Dr. Andrew Serazin, President, Templeton World Charity Foundation
Heather Templeton Dill, President, John Templeton Foundation
Introduction to Global Human Flourishing
Featuring: Tyler VanderWeele, Professor, Harvard University; Yuria Celidwen, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley; Diane Gashumba, Ambassador of Rwanda to the Nordics; Thupten Jinpa Langri, President, Compassion Institute
Moderated by Redi Tlhabi, Broadcasting Journalist
This session will serve as an introduction to the field of human flourishing amid global challenges and adversity, addressing the key question: What does it mean for all to flourish?
Innovation in Education - Reorientation for Future Human Flourishing
Featuring:
Andreas Schleicher, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; Pilvi Torsti, Former State Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland; Tho Ha Vinh, Founder, Eurasia Learning Institute For Happiness and Wellbeing; Charles Kigundi Odong, Headteacher, Project Shelter Wakadogo
Moderated by Redi Tlhabi, Broadcasting Journalist
This session will address how we create educational ecosystems, such as policies, structures, curricula, learning communities, assessments, in different global contexts to promote flourishing for all.
Methods & Measurements for Human Flourishing
Featuring:
Jon Clifton, CEO, Gallup; Meike Bartels, Professor In Genetics and Wellbeing, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Antonella Delle Fave, Professor of Psychology, University of Milano, Italy; Tom Griffiths, Professor of Psychology and Computer Science, Princeton University; Julian Thayer, Emeritus Professor, The Ohio State University
Moderated by Milica Momcilovic, President, World Federation of Science Journalists
This session will explore different methods for measuring human flourishing amid modern challenges and adversity, with a focus on how we can generate better data to gain more explanatory power about what it means to flourish for individuals and communities in vastly different contexts.
How Forgiveness Promotes Flourishing
Featuring:
Cheryl Strayed, NYT Bestselling Author
Suzanne Freedman, Professor, University of Northern Iowa
MILCK, Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Activist
Moderated by Ben Arthur, Artist and Host, Songwriter Podcast
Organized as a “podcast within a conference,” SongWriter podcast host Ben Arthur will moderate an in-depth conversation exploring the lived experience of forgiveness and the science that illuminates it.
November 30, 2022 - Day 2: Flourishing and Each Other
Day 2 of the conference positioned human flourishing at the intersection of the individual and the community. Sessions explored the skills and habits we can build in the next generation to promote flourishing amid collective challenges like climate change; how generosity, kindness, sacrifice and our common humanity can help us flourish as we age; how technology and artificial intelligence can help build bridges or sow divisions between individuals and communities; and finally, how we can build flourishing societies that make peoples’ lives better.
Day 2 Welcome
Finding Beauty and Purpose to Flourish
Featuring:
Dacher Keltner, Co-Director, Greater Good Science Center; Katherine Cotter, Associate Director of Research, Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, University Of Pennsylvania; Frank Wilczek, Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Live performance by ELEW, American Jazz Pianist
Moderated by Philip Ball, Science Writer
In this session, we will explore the relationships between beauty, transcendence, art, and the human mind within the pursuit of human flourishing amid modern challenges and adversity. Speakers will delve into questions of: how does the perception of beauty and art affect our brains? What can the sciences tell us about experiences of beauty and the transcendent in the natural world, in cultural spaces, and in the sciences as we find purpose to survive, thrive and contribute?
Climate Change and Other Global Challenges to Human Flourishing
Featuring:
Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist, The Nature Conservancy; Dekila Chungyalpa, Director, Loka Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison; David DeSteno, Professor of Psychology, Northeastern University
Moderated by Philip Ball, Science Writer
This session will delve into the seemingly insurmountable challenges to human flourishing globally, with a focus on climate change, to understand what insights the science can bring to finding solutions through individual and collective action, and through influencing policy.
Human Flourishing as We Age
Featuring:
Arthur Brooks, Professor, Harvard University, Bestselling Author, and Columnist at The Atlantic; Anna Corwin, Associate Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies; Tom Osborn, Co-Founder & CEO, Shamiri Institute
Moderated by Laura Helmuth, Editor-in-Chief, Scientific American
This session will explore what flourishing amid modern challenges and adversity means at different life stages across cultures. Speakers from various perspectives — and life stages — will share their thoughts on how the differences and similarities in feelings of purpose, happiness and life satisfaction across the life course impact flourishing.
Designing Technology for Human Flourishing
Featuring:
Isabela Granic, Professor, McMaster University; Maria Modigh, Co-CEO, 29k Foundation; Srinija Srinivasan, Co-Founder of Loove
Moderated by Philip Ball, Science Writer
This session will focus on how technology research and innovation, and specifically artificial intelligence, can propel breakthroughs that enhance human ethical capacities and improve the human experience — not hinder it.
Human Flourishing at the Heart of Policy
Featuring:
David Goodhart, Dept. Head, Policy Exchange; Parth Shah, Co-Founder & Director, Indian School of Public Policy; Ari Wallach, Founder & Executive Director, Longpath; Thierry Watrin, Green Economy Advisor to the Minister of State, Rwanda
Moderated by Laura Helmuth, Editor-in-Chief, Scientific American
This session will interrogate and challenge different schools of thought within human flourishing on how to make short- and long-term policy change by leveraging the findings and applications arising from the research.
Concluding Remarks
Featuring:
Dr. Andrew Serazin, President, Templeton World Charity Foundation
2022 Abstract Presentations
Science Spotlight 1:
Richard Appiah, The Inspired Life Program: Development and Evaluation of a Multicomponent Positive Psychology Intervention for Adults in a Low-Income African Context
Science Spotlight 2:
Michael Ungar, Multisystemic Approaches to Researching Young People’s Capacity to Flourish During Extreme Social and Economic Disruption
Science Spotlight 3:
Colwick Wilson, Dimensions of Forgiveness and Flourishing in US- and Caribbean-Born Black Men
Science Spotlight 4:
Sara Lazar, Brain structure and functional connectivity correlate with psychosocial development in contemplative practitioners and controls
Science Spotlight 5:
Ryan Byerly, Others-Centeredness: A Uniquely Positive Tendency to Put Others First
Science Spotlight 6:
Rose Opiyo, Human Flourishing Conceptualization, Pathways, and Impediments: Children’s Perspectives from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
Science Spotlight 7:
Danya Arif Siddiqi, Integrating Humanities in Healthcare: A Mixed Methods Study for Development and Testing of a Humanities Curriculum for Lady Health Workers in Karachi, Pakistan
Science Spotlight 8:
Maggie Zhao, From Surviving to Flourishing: An Integrative Perspective and New Measurement Evidence
Workshops
Nine invitation-only workshops were hosted concurrently by partner organizations in locations around the world. These workshops explored key topics of importance to human flourishing, including the development of practical innovations to drive outcomes.
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Religion, Spirituality, and Human Flourishing
Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Organized by Adam Cohen and Kathryn Johnson in partnership with Arizona State University.
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Human Flourishing and the Futures of Intelligence
Stanford, CA, USA
Organized by Brie Linkenhoker in partnership with Worldview Studio.
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Diverse Trajectories to Good Developmental Outcomes
Cambridge, GB, UK
Organized by Duncan Astle in partnership with the University of Cambridge.
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Promoting Human Flourishing with Interpersonal Listening
Haifa, Israel
Organized by Guy Itzchakov and Netta Weinstein in partnership with the University of Haifa.
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Character Development and Flourishing in Latin America
Bogota, Colombia
Organized by Sonia Carillo in partnership with Universidad de los Andes.
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Human Flourishing for Sustainable Development
Kigali, Rwanda
Organized by Jan Artem Henriksson and Åsa Jarskog in partnership with Inner Development Goals.
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Cross-Cultural Measurement of Flourishing Across Disciplines
Nassau, Bahamas
Organized by Byron Johnson and Matthew Lee in partnership with Baylor University.
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Markets and Human Flourishing in Africa
Nairobi, Kenya
Organized with Stephen Brien and Gerald Chirinda in partnership with the Legatum Institute and Future Africa Forum.
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Care as the Driver of Intelligence
Lumbini/Kathmandu, Nepal
Organized by Thomas Doctor in partnership with Rangjung Yeshe Institute.
