The research group (i e Advanced Study Group) working with Empathy and Compassion, which you read about in the previous blogpost, took an active part in than three major events during 2022. The first was a one-day (completely “sold-out”) conference with international guest-speakers on the theme: The Neuroscience of Empathy and Compassion. It took place on May the 4th 2022 at Grand Hotel in Lund and was co-sponsored by Grace S. Sandblom’s Endowment and the Segerfalk Foundation.
The Segerfalk foundation organises the Neuroscience Day every year, traditionally held in May at the Medical Faculty in Lund. Martin Garwicz – a neuroscientist himself and part of the organising committee for the Neuroscience Day for years – saw an opportunity to add leverage and value and invited
- Tania Singer, Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck Society, Berlin;
- Christian Keysers, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam;
- Ewelina Knapska, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw;
- Ruth Feldman, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzlia;
- Andreas Olsson, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm and
- Olga Klimecki-Lenz, Eleonore-Trefftz Guest Professor, TU Dresden.
The conference The Neuroscience of Empathy and Compassion was an eye-opener for many of the about 100 participants, regardless of which faculty they came from. The Advanced Study Group regarded this conference not as the “Grand Finale” it was supposed to be (timewise), but rather some sort of starting event for continued research and collaboration.
The two following interdisciplinary workshops: “How the other person’s ethnicity affects your expression of empathy and compassion in healthcare and professional education”, and “Practices influencing empathy and compassion – contemplation, art, music, dance” are ample examples of continued – and developed research ideas and collaborations.
The Pufendorf Institute’s calendar on the workshop Practices influencing empathy and compassion
In May 2023, we follow up with yet another related event, where neuroscientist and professor Anil Seth discusses the mysteries of human consciousness. Again sponsored by Grace S. Sandblom’s Endowment and the Segerfalk Foundation. And yes, you guessed it, this event is sold-out too.
Read the excellent interview with Anil Seth mentioning ABBA, bad weather and Carl Linnaeus (“The Big Guy”) in one breath here . I particularly took this line to heart:
“Understanding how life works does not drain life of its beauty, it has added to it. Even though we do not fully understand what is going on with consciousness yet, the partial understanding that we do have encourages us to take consciousness less for granted.”