Empathy across generations, Jessica Stern, Ph.D., Pomona College, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science

The roots of empathy begin in childhood; individual differences in empathy and prosocial behavior can be observed as early as the first years of life. Identifying the sources of these differences is critical for understanding and nurturing empathy across the life course. This presentation introduces a social-developmental model of empathy, proposing that first-hand experiences of receiving empathic care from parents (beyond socialization alone) lay the foundation for providing empathic care for others. I will present research from young children, adolescents, and adults demonstrating how patterns of empathy persist across time and generations, with a focus on attachment and neurobiological mechanisms. The presentation will explore potential applications and interventions, including leveraging adolescent friendships to support empathy during an especially sensitive window of development.

Learn about the latest empathy and compassion research findings from Sanford Institute-affiliated researchers.

UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Empathy and Compassion proudly presents the Empathy & Compassion Research Speaker Series for Fall 2026. This free virtual series highlights the impactful and groundbreaking research that Sanford Institute-affiliated faculty and researchers have played an integral role in. This series is designed for anyone with an interest in empathy and compassion in neurobiology and healthcare.

The hosting organization, T. Denny Sanford Institute of Empathy and Compassion, represents an unprecedented blending of two parallel themes: employing the unyielding rigor and tools of science to establish the neurological basis for empathy in the brain to identify the mechanisms that transform compassion from biology to behavior, and experimenting with and developing new ways to teach and instill empathy and compassion in clinicians currently practicing and in the teaching of future generations of health professionals.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

What if the key to lasting change isn’t doing more, but starting smaller?

Join UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center for a live conversation with sociologist and author Christine Carter and psychologist and author Eli Susman, PhD, on why our biggest plans so often fail and why the tiniest ones tend to succeed.

Christine and Eli will explore the science of habit formation: why repetition beats duration, why success (however small) builds the belief that change is possible, and how "micropractices"—behaviors so brief they take 30 seconds or less—can carve real, lasting neural pathways toward a calmer, happier life.

This conversation will cover:

• Live micropractices to try together, in the moment

• The behavioral science around how small practices compound into lasting change

• Research-backed tools for building greater health, calm, and joy into your daily life

• A live Q&A

Christine Carter, PhD, is one of the most credible voices in the science of human flourishing. A Harvard Medical School-trained Wellness and Lifestyle Coach, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. Carter has spent over two decades translating research into practical tools that actually change lives.

Eli Susman, PhD is a UC Berkeley-trained psychologist, researcher, and author of Micropractice: A Science-Backed Approach for Calm, Clarity, and Joy in 30 Seconds or Less, forthcoming in 20 languages. His research has been featured by more than 100 media outlets worldwide, including CNN, BBC, and The New York Times, and was recognized by Greater Good Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Insights from the Science of a Meaningful Life” in 2024.

Join us in exploring how tiny, science-backed shifts can build lasting change in our health, happiness, and relationships, and try one in community with others!

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Are you kinder to everyone else than you are to yourself?

Most of us assume the way to change is to be tough on ourselves - pushing harder and beating ourselves up when we fall short. But this usually backfires: harsh self-talk undermines us, while kindness is what keeps us going when life gets difficult.

At this special event, behavioural change specialist Shahroo Izadi will share the ideas behind her bestselling book The Kindness Method - exploring how to talk to ourselves more kindly and why we're usually more capable than we remember.

Shahroo will guide us through some of her favourite actions, including mapping out the things you like about yourself, borrowing the compassion you would offer someone you love and turning it on yourself and putting together your own personal toolkit for the moments that matter.

Whether you're trying to quieten a harsh inner critic, or simply build a kinder relationship with yourself, this event will leave you with practical tools you can start using straight away - and the reassurance that a slip is just a slip, not a failure.

Shahroo Izadi is a behavioural change specialist who began her career in the NHS before moving into private practice, working across the UK addiction treatment sector in clinical, community and prison settings. She has used her own methods personally too, losing eight stone and keeping it off using the same compassionate approach she teaches. She is the bestselling author of The Kindness Method and The Last Diet, both of which combine evidence-based techniques with warmth and lived experience.

Shahroo was named Thought Leader of the Year at the Baton Awards, House of Lords, and her work has featured in the BBC, Forbes, The Times and The Telegraph, and on podcasts including The Diary of a CEO. Alongside writing, Shahroo runs popular workshops and coaching programmes, and has delivered keynotes and bespoke programmes for organisations including Facebook, Amazon and Google.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Featured Scholar: Chayce Baldwin, University of Michigan

Emotion is intimately linked to health—an observation that permeates global discourse and policy initiatives alike. Yet, the research behind it overwhelmingly relies on narrow populations that underrepresent over 85% of the world. In the first part of this talk, I draw on data from more than 2 million people in over 150 countries to show that the emotion-health link, though fundamentally physiological, differs strikingly across cultures. I first present evidence that culture modulates the loneliness-health link, then extend this pattern to the emotion-health link more broadly. Next, I show that culture interacts with physiology at multiple levels, shaping the emotion-health link distinctly across short- and long-term timescales. In the second part of this talk, I explore how physiology and culture, as two major shapers of emotion, might be leveraged to regulate emotion more effectively, in more lasting ways, and in tune with the rhythms of daily life.

The Center for Positive Organizations Adderley Positive Research Incubators invite emerging scholars to share new work or work in progress related to the broad domain of Positive Organizational Scholarship, supported by a community dedicated to helping them foster early ideas, generate insights, and see new possibilities for their core ideas. Incubators are an exciting forum for the growth, celebration, and expansion of research ideas aimed at fostering our understanding of the science of thriving organizations.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Communication shapes every interaction in healthcare. Build the skills to make each one count.

UC San Diego's Center for Compassionate Communication invites you to the Fall 2026 Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series.

Designed for healthcare professionals, healthcare educators, medical students, and beyond, this free, interactive series equips participants with practical communication skills to strengthen relationships, navigate difficult conversations, and foster more compassionate, effective interactions with patients, colleagues, learners, and teams.

Every person we meet carries a story—but no matter how much we know, we can never fully know another person's experience. Narrative Humility is a practice of approaching others with curiosity rather than certainty. In this interactive webinar, participants will explore how stories shape perception, decision-making, and relationships while learning practical tools for reducing assumptions, navigating uncertainty, and building stronger human connection.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Compassion Cafe is a fortnightly, informal online meet-up for the whole, global GCC family to come together. In a warm and welcoming atmosphere, you’ll find connection with others, support in your compassion practice and ideas for developing it, wherever you are in your practice. 

Each gathering includes a mix of the following, depending on the session:

• Personal reflection prompts to help you connect with your own compassion practice

• Practical suggestions for developing compassion in your daily life

• Open space for those who want to share their thoughts and experiences

• Optional small group breakouts for deeper conversation

• Inspiration for bringing compassion into your personal life, your community, and the wider world

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Sherry Turkle’s lecture on Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk To Machinesexamines the growing integration of human-like AI chatbots into social and emotional life. Drawing on research on human–computer relationships, Turkle explores how the use of AI systems as companions, confidants, and sources of emotional support may shape expectations of empathy, attachment, intimacy, and care. She introduces the concept of “artificial intimacy” to describe relationships in which technologies simulate relational capacities without possessing the reciprocal experience underlying human relationships. Turkle raises questions about how sustained engagement with these systems may influence interpersonal development, including the capacity to tolerate uncertainty, navigate conflict, and sustain reciprocal human connection.

Sherry Turkle is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT. She has done pathbreaking work in exploring the “subjective side” of our relationship with technology, especially computers. Her works include The Second Self, Life on the Screen, Alone Together, Reclaiming Conversation, and Simulation and Its Discontents. Her most recent book, is Artificial Intimacy, If social media came after our attention, chatbots come after our capacity for attachment. Turkle is a recipient of Rockefeller and Guggenheim awards, a

Harvard Centennial Award, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

1) Describe the developmental arc of artificial intimacy

2) Recognize the holding power of relational artificats

3) Discuss social media as a gateway drug for chatbots

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

We are delighted to offer this donation event exploring themes of resilience, compassion and self-compassion in our lives during these times.  The evening will be a mix of guided practice and discussion offered by our trio of guest speakers who represent three different aspects of the Mindfulness Network charity: our Trustees, our close partners at Bangor University and our wider Network.

Our guests are Rick Hanson PhD, the world-renowned psychologist who founded the Global Compassion Coalition, is a Senior Fellow of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and a New York Times best-selling author; Estrella Fernandez, one of the Mindfulness Network's Trustees and founder of MBCT Spain; and Sophie Samson, co-director of the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University and Trustee Chair at BAMBA.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

What happens when we think of empathy not only as an individual quality, but as something we can cultivate collectively? In this conversation, we’ll explore the science of empathy with Edwin Rutsch, founder of the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy.

We’ll look at what empathy is, what makes it difficult to practice, and what gets in the way of creating more empathic relationships and communities.

But this isn’t just about understanding empathy. Together, we’ll explore how we can put empathy into practice in our everyday lives, and how small, intentional actions can contribute to a more empathic culture around us.

We’ll consider questions such as:

• What does science tell us about how empathy works?

• What are some of the common challenges and misconceptions around empathy?

• What prevents us from empathising with others, especially when we disagree?

• How can we strengthen our own capacity for empathy?

• What simple practices can help us bring more empathy into our relationships, communities and everyday interactions?

• And how can individual acts of empathy contribute to a broader culture of care and understanding?

This is an invitation to move beyond empathy as an idea and explore it as a practice, one that each of us can cultivate and share with others.

Edwin Rutsch is the founding director of The Empathy Center and The Center for Building a Culture of Empathy, and creator of the Empathy Circle practice. For over 15 years, he has worked to build a culture of empathy through education, facilitator training, research and public initiatives. His work explores empathy across fields including psychology, neuroscience, education, conflict transformation, politics and community life, with a focus on practical ways to strengthen empathic connection. Edwin has interviewed hundreds of leading empathy experts, curated an extensive online resource on empathy, and hosted global Empathy Summits. He also founded the Empathy Tent, bringing structured active listening and conflict resolution into public spaces and civic dialogue to help bridge divides.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

In common forms of compassion, we extend empathy to those who are “like me,” we express caring in soft ways, and we’re motivated to relieve the immediacy of suffering and perhaps change its psychological or interpersonal causes. This is already beautiful and profound. And – to meet the challenges of our times, we will explore an expansive compassion, with:

• empathy for those who we dislike or oppose

• caring expressed in ways that are bold, penetrating, even “fierce”

• motivated efforts applied to the upstream, systemic causes of suffering, not just their downstream effects

Rick Hanson, PhD is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His eight books have been published in 33 languages and include Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Resilient, Neurodharma, Just One Thing, Making Great Relationships, A Happy, Healthy Mom, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He's the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well podcast – which has been downloaded 30 million times. He offers free newsletters, and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.

Learning Objectives: 

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the three primary components of compassion;

2. Explain how prosocial capabilities and brain size fostered each other in positive cycles during evolution; and 

3. Describe how the "caring-and-sharing" strategy for regulating social life in the human species differs from the "holding-and-controlling" strategy in other primate species.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Discover how ethical leadership builds trust, improves decision-making, and creates stronger, high-performing organisations.

Build trust. Strengthen governance. Lead with integrity.

Join Chidi Ameke, Ethical Leadership Coach, organisational transformation expert and business author, for a FREE virtual session exploring why ethical leadership is becoming a genuine business advantage.

In today’s business environment, trust has become one of the most valuable assets an organisation can possess.

Customers are paying closer attention to how businesses behave. Employees increasingly want to work for organisations whose values they respect. Investors are scrutinising governance and conduct more carefully. And reputational risk can travel globally in real time.

This practical session will show you how ethical leadership can help you strengthen trust, improve decision-making, build a healthier organisational culture, and support sustainable business performance.

Ethical leadership, therefore, matters not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because trust, culture, governance and responsible leadership can influence long-term business performance and resilience.

This session explores the principles and practical leadership behaviours that help organisations act with integrity and accountability — particularly when decisions are difficult and competing pressures emerge.

During the session, we’ll explore:

• Five core principles of ethical leadership for business: accountability, transparency, stakeholder respect, ethical risk management and governance

• Trust Capital — what it is, how it is earned and why it matters to business performance, stakeholder confidence and long-term resilience

• The ethical tensions organisations face — including growth versus integrity, quarterly pressure versus long-term value, innovation versus responsible governance, performance versus staff well-being, and opportunity versus reputational risk

• What ethical business behaviour looks like in practice — including values-led decision-making, accountability, transparency, responsible AI and governance, and ethical courage

• Practical steps organisations can take to build ethical cultures through leadership modelling, governance frameworks, psychological safety, ethical reflection and transparency around mistakes

• Real-world case studies examining the consequences of ethical leadership, governance failure, accountability and transparency

Using practical insights and real-world examples, Chidi will examine how leadership behaviour, governance systems and organisational culture can shape trust, resilience, stakeholder confidence and long-term performance.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Through real stories and helpful research, we'll look at how being curious protects the heart of why we started care work in the first place. Care work asks us to show up, day after day, for people at their most vulnerable – often with too little time and too few resources. This webinar moves past the usual “take a bubble bath” advice. Instead, we will explore simple, practical ways to notice and reduce stress while we’re at work, not just once we get home. Through real stories and helpful research, we’ll look at how being curious – about ourselves, our coworkers, and our residents – protects the heart of why we started care work in the first place, helping us stay grounded and present, shift after shift.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the real causes of burnout and fatigue on the floor, and see how they are different from everyday work stress.

• Use simple, in-the-moment tools to stay calm, protect your energy, and handle challenging moments in your workday.

• Use curiosity to understand what’s behind a resident (or relative’s) behaviour or a coworker’s tension, instead of taking it personally.

Françoise is the Executive Director of TEND, a consulting firm that offers training to a broad spectrum of workforces encountering stress and intense workloads. A Registered Psychotherapist based in Kingston, ON, she is a subject matter expert on workplace stress, trauma, and burnout. Before specializing in organizational stress, Françoise served as a front-line crisis counsellor with several community agencies and also worked with members of the Canadian Military returning from combat. She is a trained Palliative Care volunteer.

The child of two French-Canadian teachers, Françoise spent her early years in Canada’s far North. Growing up in the Arctic profoundly shaped her worldview and developed the social justice lens through which she explores the impact of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and empathic strain across all communities. Françoise is a founding member of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Consortium and the author of The Compassion Fatigue Workbook, as well as numerous articles and professional publications.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone

In recent years, we have seen an increase in conversations related to two extremes in the workplace. On one side is the pressure to express the “whole self,” while on the other is the pressure to conform. The desire to fit in can particularly lead to suppressing one’s personal values and pretending to embrace organizational values, a behavior Hewlin has termed as creating “facades of conformity.” Both extremes of authenticity and conformity carry distinct risks and potential harm to our well-being. In this session, Hewlin bridges decades of her empirical research and real-world application to help people navigate these tensions. Drawing from her book, Staying True to You, she introduces a revolutionary concept: The Middle Self. Attendees will learn how the Middle Self serves as a powerful framework to comfortably manage the daily trade-offs between authenticity and conformity, leaving them with actionable strategies to cultivate personal integrity and peace of mind.

Dr. Patricia Faison Hewlin is an award-winning behavioral scientist with 20+ years of experience researching authenticity and conformity around the world. Currently a Professor of Social-Organizational Psychology at the Teachers College of Columbia University, Dr. Hewlin holds her PhD in organizational behavior and MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Her work has been featured in mainstream media, including the Huffington Post, The Times (UK), Harvard Business Review Online, and The Globe and Mail. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Hewlin is also a professional consultant who works with major companies, as well as arts organizations.

Hosted by Monica Worline, Faculty Director, Center for Positive Organizations

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

We tend to think of empathy and compassion as traits we either have or don't. But research tells a different story. Empathy unfolds. It deepens layer by layer as we encounter, sit with, and genuinely engage a human story. Which means that every time we interrupt, assume, or finish someone's story, we don't just miss information—we short-circuit the empathy process itself.

This session draws on original research into empathy decline in healthcare and the conditions that reverse it. Using complexity theory as a lens, participants will explore why empathy erosion is a wicked problem that resists single solutions, and why storytelling, story listening, and intentional reflection and structured debrief protocols are among the most powerful micro-interventions available. Grounded in both science and practice, the session uses story as both subject and method.

Participants will leave with:

● A new mental model: empathy as a dynamic process grounded in story

● A practical, repeatable storytelling, listening, and reflection protocol for clinical settings

● One insight they can apply in their next patient encounter

Designed for healthcare professionals, healthcare educators, medical students, and beyond, this free, interactive series equips participants with practical communication skills to strengthen relationships, navigate difficult conversations, and foster more compassionate, effective interactions with patients, colleagues, learners, and teams.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.

Join us for this panel exploring how compassion, care and human-centred support can help build more inclusive workplaces, where everyone feels seen and supported through significant life moments.

More employees than ever are balancing work alongside caring responsibilities or returning after bereavement, yet many organisations still don’t feel equipped to support them effectively.
- Bereavement affects around 1 in 10 employees each year.

- Every day, around 600 people leave full-time work to care for a loved one.

In this session, we will explore:

- What practical steps organisations can take to embed a more inclusive culture around significant life moments.

- How culture, identity and family structure can shape people’s experiences of grief and caring.

- Where misunderstandings can happen, particularly for neurodivergent colleagues and managers.

Bringing together lived experience and practical guidance, this session will offer ideas to help you embed compassion into your approach to inclusion.

Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.