Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, Ph.D., is the science director of the Greater Good Science Center, where she directs the GGSC’s research fellowship program, is a co-instructor of its Science of Happiness and Science of Happiness at Work online courses, and runs key study initiatives like Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude.

Emiliana is a leading expert on the neuroscience and psychology of compassion, kindness, gratitude, and other prosocial skills that bolster human happiness. She earned her doctorate in Cognition Brain and Behavior at UC Berkeley, where her dissertation used behavioral and neuroscience methods to examine how unpleasant emotions influence thinking and decision-making. During her postdoc, Emiliana shifted to studying the origins and effects of prosocial states like love of humanity, compassion, and awe. Before joining GGSC in 2010, Emiliana served as Associate Director/Senior Scientist at CCARE (the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University), focusing on how compassion benefits health, well-being, and psychosocial functioning.

Keynote Presentation Topic

“The Architecture of Compassion: A Blueprint for a Flourishing World”

Willem Kuyken is Professor of Mindfulness and Psychological Science at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. His work focuses on preventing depression, promoting mental health, and flourishing across the lifespan. He has published more than 150 journal articles and was named by Web of Science as in the top 1% of the most cited scientists in the world in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

His new book, Mindfulness for Life, is due to be published by Guilford Press in September 2024. It is a practical guide to help people improve well-being, enjoy life more fully, handle life's challenges better, and live aligned with personal values. It accompanies his earlier book with Christina Feldman, Mindfulness – Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology, published in 2019. His work has been featured in the New York Times, New Scientist, Nature, Scientific American, Times Educational Supplement, the BBC, CBS, New Statesman, Le Monde, der Zeit,  the Telegraph, and the Guardian. He lives in London.

Keynote Presentation Topic

“A Life Well Lived”: From preventing depression to promoting human flourishing: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy comes of age

Zindel V. Segal, Ph.D., C.Psych, is a clinical psychologist whose research examines the use of mindfulness meditation in promoting affect regulation skills in people suffering from a depressive and anxiety based disorder.

His research program has two broad thrusts involving 1) the use of brain imaging to identify neural markers of depressive relapse or resilience associated with long-term practice of mindfulness meditation and 2) evaluating the efficacy of mindfulness-based clinical interventions delivered via online or mobile platforms as a means of increasing access to care.

Keynote Presentation Topic

"Interface between mindfulness, sensory processing and mood disorders"

Tim Lomas is a Psychology Research Scientist in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and part of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. Dr Lomas’ main research focus is exploring cross-cultural perspectives on wellbeing, especially concepts and practices deemed ‘non-Western.’

Current projects include: assisting with the Global Flourishing Study, a longitudinal study of 240,000 people in 22 countries; helping lead the Global Wellbeing Initiative, a collaboration with Gallup to develop and analyse new items for their World Poll that reflect non-Western views of wellbeing; creating a lexicography and conceptual map of ‘untranslatable’ words relating to wellbeing; and a project funded by the Templeton Foundation to look into Muslim perspectives on wellbeing.

Keynote Presentation Topic

"Towards a Epidemiology of Systemic Kindness: Ripples of Micro-kindnesses as Communal Love in Action"

Jud is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center and professor at Brown University. A psychiatrist and internationally known expert in mindfulness training for addictions, Brewer has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for behavior change, including both in-person and app-based treatments for smoking, emotional eating, and anxiety. He has also studied the underlying neural mechanisms of mindfulness using standard and real-time fMRI, and source-estimated EEG. His TED talk, entitled “A simple way to break a bad habit” was the 4th most viewed TED talk of 2016 and has been watched over 20 million times.

He is the author of The Craving Mind: from cigarettes to smartphones to love, why we get hooked and how we can break bad habits, Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind and The Hunger Habit: why we eat when we’re not hungry and how to stop.

Keynote Presentation Topic

“From anxiety to addiction: how to leverage curiosity for habit change”

Professor Samuel Wong is a clinician with training and experience in both Family Medicine and Public Health.  Professor Wong serves as the Director of the School of Public Health and Primary Care at CUHK, and the Thomas Jing Centre for Mindfulness Research and Training. Since July 2019, he has held the position of Associate Dean (Education) at the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK.

Professor Wong has published over 370 peer-reviewed papers in international peer-reviewed papers with his research interests focused on the evaluation and development of mindfulness-based mental health interventions. He has served the Hong Kong SAR Government in various capacities, including as a member of the Steering Committee of the Primary Care Development and other advisory councils and committees related to health and environmental hygiene. In addition to his academic and research responsibilities, Professor Wong provides clinical services in Family Medicine for the Hospital Authority as an Honorary Consultant in Family Medicine.

Keynote Presentation Topic

"Compassion and Mindfulness: can we cultivate compassion through mindfulness training?"

Eve Ekman, Ph.D., MSW, is a Senior Fellow at the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC), UC Berkeley. An experienced speaker, researcher, and group facilitator, she brings a unique background ideally suited to training individuals and organizations in the science of happiness, resilience, compassion, mindfulness, and emotional awareness.

Eve creates dynamic trainings adapted specifically for the needs of her participants, drawing upon her deep scientific knowledge, direct clinical work, and experiences in a range of institutional and organizational settings, particularly within the health care field. She worked for years as a social worker in health care, criminal justice, and social welfare systems, which inspired her to earn her master’s and Ph.D. at UC Berkeley and complete her postdoctoral training at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. She then took on the roles of Director of Training for GGSC; Wellbeing Lead in the Health team at Apple, Inc.; and contemplative curriculum specialist at the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. 

Keynote Presentation Topic

"Building Resilience Through Empathy: Tackling Burnout in the Modern Workplace"

Shui-fong is an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She obtained her bachelor’s degree and post graduate diploma in education from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, master’s degree (counselling psychology) from the University of Texas, and doctoral degree (school psychology) from the University of Minnesota. She was a recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award from the HKU, the Outstanding International Scholar Award from the International School Psychology Association, and the Knowledge Exchange Award from the Social Sciences Faculty at HKU.

She is now the Director of the Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness Culture in School Initiative. It is her aspiration to promote the mental health of students, teachers, and parents in Hong Kong through the training and research in mindfulness.

Keynote Presentation Topic

"Nurturing school communities with mindfulness"

Paul, an accredited register clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at The University of Hong Kong. He has a background as a registered clinical psychologist specializing in suicide prevention research and mental health promotion and practice since 2003. Paul is currently the Hong Kong representative in The International Union of Psychological Science, Council members and Fellows of the Hong Kong Psychological Society and the Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association. He serves as the Programme Director of the Master of Social Science (Counselling).

Panel Speaker of the Discussion Topic

"Cultivating Kindfulness: The Interplay of Mindfulness and Kindness in Human Flourishing"

John Nguyet Erni is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Chair Professor of Cultural Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong. Until 2022, he was Fung Hon Chu Endowed Chair of Humanics, Chair Professor in Humanities, and Head of the Department of Humanities & Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University. In 2017 and 2019, he was elected President of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities and Corresponding Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities respectively. A recipient of the Gustafson, Rockefeller, Lincoln, and Annenberg research fellowships, and other awards and grants, Erni has published widely on international and Asia-based cultural studies; human rights legal criticism; Chinese consumption of transnational culture; youth popular consumption in Hong Kong and Asia; gender and sexuality in media culture; cultural politics of race/ethnicity/migration; and critical public health.  He is the author or editor of 10 academic titles, among them The Cultural Politics of COVID-19 (with Ted Striphas, 2022); Law and Cultural Studies: A Critical Rearticulation of Human Rights (2019); Visuality, Emotions, and Minority Culture: Feeling Ethnic (2017); Understanding South Asian Minorities in Hong Kong (with Lisa Leung, 2014); Cultural Studies of Rights: Critical Articulations (2011); and Internationalizing Cultural Studies: An Anthology (with Ackbar Abbas, 2005). He was listed among Stanford University’s World Top 2% Scientists.

Panel Speaker of the Discussion Topic

"Cultivating Kindfulness: The Interplay of Mindfulness and Kindness in Human Flourishing"

Prof. Kevin Chan is a Professor and the Head of the Department of Psychology at The Education University of Hong Kong. He is a psychologist with expertise in mental health and community psychology. He has conducted research on mindfulness and related concepts, such as self-compassion and psychological flexibility, among both general and clinical populations. Recently, he served as the lead editor for the book Mindfulness for Child and Adolescent Well-Being: International Perspectives. He also developed various online self-help intervention programs focused on mindfulness and positive psychology to promote public mental health.

Monastery Research Presentation Topic

"The Science and Art of Happiness: Evaluating a Happiness Education Program in Hong Kong"

Dr. Nick Zhang is committed to transdisciplinary research and education, and actively participates in international and local cross-sector collaborations. He is currently Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University, Honorary Research Fellow at the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Associate Editor of Media Asia. His research interests include computer-mediated communication, digital cultural participations, computational social science and social indicators research. His work has appeared in international academic journals and edited volumes, and he has received several top paper awards in international conferences.

Monastery Research Presentation Topic

"The Hybrid Path to Faith: Examining the Interplay of Convergent Practices in Understanding Buddhist Concepts and Promoting Mental Well-Being"