Happiness Conference 2009 in Malmö, Sweden

The Happiness Conferences in Gothenburg 2007 and in Stockholm 2008 made a happy impression on all participants. The Conferences also got a lot of press coverage all over Sweden and across Europe. We had some of the world's leading happiness researchers participating (Ruut Veenhoven among others) as well as some big-name philosophers (like Peter Singer), economists and politicians.

This year the Happiness Conference will take place at Malmö University, May 16 to May 17. The theme of the conference will be individual happiness: What strategies are available to make ourselves happier?

The Conference is free and open to everybody. If you'd like to participate in the group discussions, please send your contact information to info@charity.se. Write “Happiness Conference 2009” in the subject field.

Where: Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö University Hospital (UMAS), entrance number 49. Map UMAS Map Malmö and UMAS
When: May 16 - May 17
Cost: Free for everybody
Entries: Confirmation of your participation in the group discussions should be emailed to us at info@charity.se no later then May 10. Please include your name and title in your confirmation email.
Lunch: More info soon.
Questions: info@charity.se
Media: Can reach us at +46 (0)704-417188

Schedule

Saturday May 16
Where: The lectuer hall (on the ground floor)

09.00 - 10.00 Registration
10.00 - 10.20 Outlines the conference and presents Charity International's activities and plans. Ludvig Lindström
10.20 - 11.30 How can we make ourselves happier? An overview of self help strategies. Bengt Brülde
11.30 – 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.15 How to practice happiness. Filip Fors and Jesper Östman
14.15 - 14.40 Break
14.40 – 15.30 Mental Training for a happier life. Armen Doslic.

Only for registred participants
Where: More info soon

15.50 - 16.10 Brief presentation of each participant and information about the group discussions
16.10 - 17.00 Group discussions about experience of self-help strategies and things that has made us happier.
17.00 – 17.45 A summary from each group are presented and discussed.


Sunday May 17
Where: The lectuer hall (on the ground floor).

12.00 - 13.10 Health and Happiness. Per-Anders Tengland
13.10 - 13.30 Break
13.30 - 14.40 Happiness and suffering - A Buddhist perspective. Sante Poromaa
14.40 - 14.45 Conclusions. Ludvig Lindström

The speakers

Bengt Brülde Author of the first book about happiness and happiness research in Swedish, and member of the editorial committee of the “Journal of Happiness Studies”. More info	Armen Doslic Armen Doslic is a student of medicine at the University of Lund and the contact person for Charity International in Lund. He has carried out several studies about happiness and wellbeing and wants to find out how people can enhance their happiness and wellbeing through mental training. Armen has, together with the legendary sports psychologist Lars Erik Uneståhl, PhD, and in cooperation with the SLH (Skandinaviska Ledarhögskolan) developed an 8 weeks training program "Mental training for a happier life". During this summer he will be the happiness coach at feelgood-webchannel ZenTV.	Filip Fors Filip Fors is a doctoral student at the Department of Sociology at Umeå University, Sweden. His main interest is studying the relationship between subjective well-being and social structure from a comparative perspective. Filip's research also deals with how the attitudes and perceptions of society affect levels of subjective well-being. He is the contact person for Charity International in Umeå, Sweden.
Jesper Östman Jesper Östman is a doctoral student in philosophy at Umeå University. His research concerns the philosophy of perception and consciousness. Jesper is also a member of Charity International.	Sante Poromaa Sante Poromaa is a Zen Buddhist teacher, who has studied Zen ever since 1980. In 1998 he was appointed Sensei (teacher) and in 2002 he was given "Inka" (Dharma transmission) which is the final verification that Sante-sensei is a master with the right to appoint successors. Sante is the author of two books: Bortom alla Begrepp (1996) och Varandets Väv (2008). Both are expected to be published in English later this year.	Per-Anders Tengland Per-Anders Tengland is a philosopher and associate professor in public health at Malmö university. He has written about health, health promotion, empathy, work ability, psychotherapy and empowerment. More info	Ludvig Lindström President of Charity International and initiator of the Happiness Conferences. Founded the organization at the beginning of 2007.