"Now is an essential time to bring together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to examine what's possible for the future of human flourishing," says Templeton World Charity Foundation President, Andrew Serazin, D.Phil, as he shares a brief overview of what to expect at The First Annual Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing. "Over the past decade, we've seen a tremendous amount of research activity in positive psychology in philosophy, technology, cognition, in neuroscience, that's driven by a real human need," he continues. "We need to find ways to move past survival as the end goal for our society. Our goal for society should be more than that. It should be about growth and flourishing and resilience and adaptation to change and learning and possibility and creativity."
The conference, organized by Templeton World Charity Foundation is a virtual event that will feature the latest scientific advances in understanding human flourishing across cultures, and showcase innovative new tools and strategies to promote greater flourishing around the world. What's distinctive about this conference "is its broad scope, and its global nature," explains Serazin. The gathering will focus on research, but will "also engage policymakers, innovators, and practitioners who are trying to use knowledge [about flourishing] for good." The two-day conference will include a dynamic mix of plenary presentations on the latest science, in-depth technical workshops hosted around the world, and a virtual exhibit of scientific abstracts submitted via open call and judged by a global scientific jury. The conference is free for all, and is relevant for any professional whose work contributes to the creation and sharing of knowledge and innovations to foster flourishing. Media are also invited. Details regarding registration and the call for abstracts are available at humanflourishing.org.
"I think this experiment, this grand journey that we're on, is going to create a much more nuanced and rich description of flourishing that accommodates the range of human experience." - Dr. Andrew Serazin
"Flourishing isn't a static thing," Serazin reminds us. The conference will address the many dimensions of flourishing and will look at what it may mean in different contexts and cultures. "What matters for flourishing and adolescence may be different from [what matters in] middle age," for instance. "Another knowledge gap is understanding how core aspects of human experience like suffering and adversity and problems and challenges can actually create the conditions for future growth." The conference will explore flourishing via two interconnected tracks: understanding and measuring flourishing across cultures; and innovations for flourishing amid modern challenges and adversity. "There may never be one grand unified theory of flourishing. I think that would be a mistake. I think it will always adapt and change to circumstances. I think this experiment, this grand journey that we're on, is going to create a kind of much more nuanced and rich description of flourishing that accommodates the range of human experience."
Serazin also notes we can "expect an aspect of celebration" at the conference. "We are celebrating that this community has come together and realized that as much intellectual and financial horsepower that we've applied to many, many other subjects should be applied to the topic of flourishing. It is the most important topic of our time so one of the things we want to get past is thinking about flourishing as this idealized set of concepts that have no real purchase in the real world. What you can expect is this really global dialogue, in a virtual plenary fashion, to showcase the best new ideas and flourishing... We see this as a broad community. It's not something that's solely owned, or something that is solely focused on the Templeton World Charity Foundation. We want this to be something that's a broad tent that anybody who's interested in the topic can contribute to in the future."
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For more information about The First Annual Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing, happening virtually, November 29-30, 2022, see humanflourishing.org
