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Rekhi Centre of Excellence
for the Science of Happiness
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
International Workshop on Happiness and Wellbeing: The Road Beyond
(4-6 April 2019, Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, IIT Kharagpur)
International Workshop Focus and Tracks
Happiness and wellbeing as distinctive areas of study came into their own around the beginning of the 20th century when, first the policy makers and then the corporate giants realized that financial growth, stability, profit and affluence did not necessarily lead to happiness and wellbeing. Over the last one and half decades, the notions of happiness and wellbeing have received an immense amount of focus. As a result, first in the context of positive psychology, then economics and policy, and later in almost all related fields that either explore social realities or can bring about social changes, happiness and wellbeing have become key areas of interest. Yet, certain questions lurk, that need detailed probing, and certain areas which have been explored elaborately, need re-articulation. Even as the area is growing exponentially, there is a necessity to both reflect, as well as to look beyond and search for new connections.
This international workshop attempts to bring together both eminent scholars in the field as well as new researchers, from a wide range of areas in order to interrogate the current state of happiness and wellbeing studies, especially in the context of (a) Communities, Cities and States, and (b) the Networked Generations. These two diverse areas actually indicate the co-existence of the latest technologies with the most basic of problems facing communities, cities and states. While the two themes are in themselves important in their respective ways for India and the world, the relation between the two is also equally intruding and relevant to explore.
With these twin tracks, the workshop aims to bring together scholars, practitioners, students as well as policy makers and leaders to interrogate, question, come up with ideas, pick up best practices, suggest interventions, bring in technology, assess and measure the various existing and possible ideas in these emerging fields.
Tracks
- Wellbeing Communities, Cities and - States - Happiness and the Networked Generation
Approaches:
• Concepts, philosophies and models
• Interrogating existing traditions and evolving new
• Measurement – tools, strategies, issues and resolutions
• Interventions and best practices
• Technology interaction, integration, implications and augmentations
• Implications for mental and physical health
• Ecology and community, integrations and disjunctions
The workshop features:
• Invited talks by eminent speakers in the field
• Paper presentation
• Poster presentation
• Exhibitions
• Round tables
• Networking sessions
Some of our Eminent Speakers...
Video Presenters
Shamash Alidina
Shamash Alidina is the international best-selling author of the “Mindfulness for Dummies” series and “The Mindful Way Through Stress”. Shamash has also co-founded the world's first Museum of Happiness in London.
Shamash Alidina
Shamash Alidina is the international best-selling author of the “Mindfulness for Dummies” series and “The Mindful Way Through Stress”. Shamash has also co-founded the world's first Museum of Happiness in London.
Tia Kansarais
Tia Kansarais is the co-founder of Kansara Hackney Ltd, and CEO of Replenish Earth Ltd. She is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur. The youngest to receive the Royal Institute British Architects honorary fellowship.
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Tia Kansarais is the co-founder of Kansara Hackney Ltd, and CEO of Replenish Earth Ltd. She is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur. The youngest to receive the Royal Institute British Architects honorary fellowship.
In Person Speakers
Akhilesh Argal
Shri Akhilesh Argal is the CEO of Raj Anand Sansthan, Madhya Pradesh. He has served in Indian Forest Service (M. P. Cadre) and has been associated with a number of good governance
initiatives and implementation of important enactments including the Right to Information Act, 2005, Scheduled Tribes & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. Resource person on Right to Information Act,
2005 and M.P. LokSewaonkePradanki Guarantee Adhiniyam, 2010.Currently, he is the Director of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis.
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones is the founder of the Guardian of Sanctuary Resorts, a resort management company focused on responsible and sustainable tourism. Andrew believes in directly contributing to the community in which he lives and is the Chairman Emeritus of Kids Everywhere Like You (KELY) Support Group.
K Raman
Kamakshi Raman is the Executive Director (HRD) at
Management Training Institute SAIL. She is responsible for formulation and implementation of HRD policy across the company.
Debashsis Sen
Debashsis Sen is the Additional Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal and Chairman of New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA). Shri Debashis Sen joined the IAS in 1985. He graduated from Presidency College, Kolkata and got his post-
M.Sc. Diploma from Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. He got his Diploma in Public Administration from ENA, France and trained in the United States at the Harvard Kennedy School and the IMF Institute.
Dorji Penjore
Dorji Penjore is a researcher at the Centre for Bhutan & Gross National Happiness Studies. Trained as an anthropologist (PhD, Australian National University), his research specialty is in the areas of Bhutan (economic) anthropology, Bhutan oral literature
(folklore), oral interviews, village ethnography, and social surveys. He has an experience in long-term anthropological fieldwork, home ethnography, Bhutanese decentralization, project development and management, and Gross National Happiness.
Joulan Abdul Khalek
Joulan Abdul Khalek is the founder of Happy Space. He is a policy specialist consulting with the World Bank on technology sector development. He has worked in corporate strategy at Daimler AG. Joulan holds a post-graduate degree in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and degrees in Economics and Engineering Management from the American University of Beirut.
Karma Wangdi
Karma Wangdi is a senior researcher at the GNH Division of the Center for Bhutan Studies. Karma pioneered the development of GNH for business measures and champions the concept of GNH
Business Certification in Bhutan.
Brij Mohan Rathore
Brij Mohan Rathore is the Chief Policy Adviser; International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).He has worked for the Indian Forest Service for over 35 years. He has been the Joint Secretary in Ministry of Environment and Forests
(2010-2014) and the Vice Chair for the United Nations
Convention for Combating Desertification (UNCCD). He is a recipient of the national Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award in recognition for his pioneering work in community based forest management. Since 2015 he is with the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
Kimchi Moyer
Kimchi Moyer is the founder of Center for Living in Resonance. Kimchi Moyer is a European Biological Medicine Consultant, educator, and speaker.
Kiran Kumar Salagame
Kiran Kumar retired as Professor of Psychology from the
University of Mysore, India. He has a Ph.D. in Clinical
Psychology and his doctoral work was on altered states ofconsciousness. As a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellow at Saybrook Graduate School, USA, he studied cross-cultural aspects of meditation and published a monograph titled “Psychology of Meditation: A contextual approach.
Lesley Lyle
Lesley Lyle is the author of Laugh your way to Happiness: the Science of Laughter for Total Wellbeing. She is a writer and a highly sought after speaker and trainer focused on positive psychology and resilience building. She has worked with organizations and individuals around the world to provide evidence based training in applied positive psychology.
Luis Gallardo
Luis Gallardo is the founder of World Happiness Fest & Agora that rests on the premise of happiness as a new paradigm for human development. He is a member of the council of the United Nations International Day of Happiness.
Manas Kumar Mandal
Manas Kumar Mandal is a distinguished Visiting Professor of Psychology at the IIT Kharagpur. He is the former director of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Delhi, India. Presently he is the Chief Controller (Life Sciences), Defence
Research and Development Organisation, India. His major area of research includes domains associated to Emotional Intelligence, hemispheric lateralization, and schizophrenia.
Prateep Nayak
Prateep Nayak is an Associate Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo. He has an academic background in political science, environmental studies and international development. He worked as a development professional in India on issues around
community-based governance of land, water and forests, focusing specifically at the interface of research, implementation and public policy.
Rob de Haas
Rob de Haas is the author of “Unusually Good Meetings” is an international authority in the field of creative meeting design and has trained more than 25,000 people worldwide. With Rob’s innovative meeting concept, everyone can make their
meeting more productive and creative. He writes, speaks and gives trainings on the essential meeting skills and how you can use meetings as a powerful innovation tool for happiness.
Shri S. Raveendran
Shri S. Raveendran is the Inspector General of Police, WBS, CRPF. He served in the Police Headquarters as DIG (Human Rights and Legal Affairs), DIG (Admn.) and was Range DIG, Dharbanga Range. He is decorated with the Presidents’ Medal for Meritorious Service, Presidents’ Medal for Internal Security and Directors’ Commendation Disc. He won Best Police Officers’ Award from Bihar Chief Minister consecutively for five times.
Saamdu Chetri
Saamdu Chetri is a Visiting Professor at Rekhi Centre of
Excellence for the Science of Happiness at IIT Kharagpur. SaamduChetri, PhD, is a pilgrim of love and compassion was born in a cowshed. After working for 25 years in private and development sectors, and five years in Prime Minister's Office, he instituted the GNH Centre and headed it for five years. In his 35 years of working journey, he has been teaching, consulting and speaking at various international and national
occasions on various topics, e.g. in the House of Commons in the British Parliament, Senators of Philippines, among others, and dozens of universities and colleges in the world including India.
Saugata Das
Saugata Das is an art historian and associate curator for the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art (KMOMA). He is an artist, and art academic, and has taught both art history and museology. He is the recipient of the West Bengal State Academy Award on Art Criticism.
Srikant Annavarapu
Srikant Annavarapu is a practitioner of heartfulness and
meditation. He is a retired Professor from IIT, KGP from the department of Mining Engineering. His specialties also include underground hard rock mining, geotechnical engineering, rock mechanics and mining consulting.
Richa Gupta
Richa Gupta is the founder of the Labhya Foundation which aims to transform what learning looks like. She is one among the 50 individuals to receive the Rastriya Gaurav Award in 2019 for outstanding service to the nation. She is a Teach for India fellow
and a Global Girls Education fellow.
Rosaria Cirillo
Rosaria Cirillo is a TEDx speaker and is the founder of Wow Now. She is a customer experience expert, trainer and speaker specialized in driving change using Net Promoter and Voice of Customer as compass to move from data to insight to action to
results. In 2013 she founded Wow Now with the mission to bring more happiness into the world by improving interactions with companies.
Tahsinah Ahmed
Tahsinah Ahmed is the Executive Director of UCEP
Bangladesh. She graduated from Dhaka University with a Master's in Public Administration. She has over 20 years' experience working in the development sector. Prior to BRAC, she was with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Embassy of Switzerland for 14 years, leading and managing its work in education, migration and skills development.
Vineetha Mathew
Vineetha Mathew is a partner of Sustainable MindZ at Dubai. She has extensive experience in training and advising companies on responsible business practices.
S. S. Rekhi
S. S. Rekhi is the Honorary Chairman, Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, IIT Kharagpur. He founded R Systems in 1993 and is currently the Managing Director on the Board of R Systems International Limited. Mr. Rekhi is a leader in the Information Technology industry.
Round Table
Kumar Abhinav
Kumar Abhinav is the Deputy Commissioner of Tax Policy Research Unit, India. Kumar Abhinav is an alumnus of IIT KGP.
Sameer Aggarwal
Sameer Aggarwal is the founder of RevFin. He is an alumnus of IIT, KGP. He has 10 years of experience in Project Finance, Credit Appraisal, Lending and Debt Syndication. His current profile is Manager at PTC India Financial Services Limited New Delhi.
Partha Pratim Chakrabarti
Partha Pratim Chakrabarti is the Director of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT, KGP. He has published more than 250 research papers and has successfully completed several major
research projects. His areas of interest include AI, CAD for VLSI, Embedded Systems, Algorithm Design, and Reliable & Fault Tolerant Systems. Prof. Chakrabarti was the recipient of several honors, including the President of India Gold Medal, the
Swarnajayanti Fellowship and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize from the Government of India for his contributions.
Pallabh Dasgupta
Pallabh Dasgupta is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kharagpur, and also the Dean of Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy at IIT, KGP. His research areas include electronic design automation, formal
methods and artificial intelligence. He has published 3 books and more than 170 research papers, spread over several domains, including verification of digital and analog integrated circuits, real time control systems, software, smart electrical grids and railway signaling and train control systems.
Arunabh Parihar
Arunabh Parihar is the CEO & Co-Founder of Zapdel . He is an alumnus of IIT, KGP. He had built Bayesian Belief Network model to predict the consumer purchase intent of diapers for Philippines.
Prateep Nayak
Prateep Nayak is an Associate Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo. He has an academic background in political science, environmental studies and international development. He worked as a development professional in India on issues around
community-based governance of land, water and forests, focusing specifically at the interface of research,
implementation and public policy.
Skype Speakers
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
Jan is an associate editor of the World Happiness Report and sits on the Global Happiness Council and chairs its workplace wellbeing committee. He is a behavioural economist and professor at the University of Oxford. The underlying theme throughout his research is the study of human wellbeing and this
has led to new insights in the relationship between happiness and income, economic growth, and inequality.
Jeffrey David Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs is the editor of World Happiness Report. He is an American economist, public policy analyst, and former director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is known as one of the world's leading experts on economic development and the fight against poverty. Prof. Sachs has been a special adviser, on development agenda from Millennium
Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals, to UN Secretary Generals, since the time of Koffi Anand. He initiated the Global Happiness Report in 2012 and is also the Director of Global Happiness Council.
John F. Helliwell
John F. Helliwell is the editor of World Happiness Report. From 2006 to 2017 he was also Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and directed CIFAR's program on 'Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being'. In 2017 he was appointed Distinguished Fellow of CIFAR. He is the author
of the Policy Synthesis chapter of the Global Happiness Policy Report 2019.
Alexander Schieffer
Alexander Schieffer is the founder of CELL: Center of Excellence for Leadership and Learning, a consultancy network based in Munich specializing in innovative design, leadership and transformation of organizations. He is Co-Editor (together with Ronnie Lessem) of a Gower-Ashgate book series on “Transformation and Innovation”.
Nilamadhab Kar
Nilamadhab Kar is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, in the West Midlands, UK. He has previously worked at Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi; Mental Health Institute, Cuttack; National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore and Kasturba
Medical College, Manipal, India. He is associated with the Quality of Life Research and Development Foundation and Geriatric Care and Research Organisation (GeriCaRe).
Michael Zirkler
Dr. Michael Zirkler is a Professor at Zurich University of Applied Sciences in the School of Applied Psychology (Zurich, Switzerland). He started his professional life as an entrepreneur in the media field, worked as a campaigner for personnel marketing, eventually studied psychology and sexual sciences at
the University of Hamburg (Germany). Presently he focuses on intelligent social systems design in theory and practice and education.
Raj Raghunathan
Raj Raghunathan is a Zale Centennial Professor of Business at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of “If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Happy?” which released in 2016 and was available in 13 languages. He is interested in exploring the impact that people's
judgments and decisions have on their happiness and
fulfillment.
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