Tuesday
June 10th
Speakers Programme: Activating Kindness
“Activating Kindness” begins with neurological and psychological underpinnings, then ladders up to demonstrate the practice of Activating Kindness in context.
09.45-10.15am
The Neuroscience of Activating Kindness
What do neuroscientists consider when they think about Activating Kindness?
An informal, whistle-stop conversation spanning neural transmitters to transgressive activity, from chemical changes in empathy circuitry, to the behaviouralism of in and out groups, Creative Brain Week brought the best of current understanding and neural engineering to ask why do people:
- Expend energy to help others?
- Walk themselves into danger through Kindness?
- Can you activate kindness?
The panel included:
- Ian Robertson, Chair
- Agustín Ibáñez
- Temitope Farombi
- Alejandro López Valdés
Contributors
Temitope’s current focus is on leveraging telemedicine for dementia care and other neurological disorders, and implementing community engagement strategies to raise awareness and support for people living with dementia in Nigeria.
https://x.com/drtfarombi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/temitope-farombi-md/
Agustín Ibáñez is a global leader in brain health, serving as Director of Global Research Networks at the Global Brain Health Institute (Trinity College Dublin) and Scientific Director of the Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez). His research bridges computational neuroscience, aging clocks, exposome science, whole-body health, and artificial intelligence to advance understanding of brain health across diverse populations. Author of over 500 publications and recipient of major international grants (NIH, NIA, Wellcome Trust, Alzheimer’s Association), he leads multicenter initiatives such as ReDLat and CliCBrain, promoting equitable, transdisciplinary approaches to precision brain health worldwide.
Websites:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6758-5101
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/agustin-ibanez
Social:
https://twitter.com/AgustinMIbanez
https://www.instagram.com/dr.agustinibanez/
Ian Robertson is a Founding Director of the Global Brain Health Institute and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. He is co-leader of the BrainHealth Project (Center for BrainHealth UTDallas) and is a Member of Academia Europaea and of the Royal Irish Academy. He is widely known for his research on neuropsychology and his science writing has included books aimed at the general reader: Mind Sculpture (2000), The Mind’s Eye (2003), Stay Sharp (2005), The Winner Effect (2012) and The Stress Test (2016), all of which have been widely translated. His most recent book How Confidence Works was published by Penguin in 2022.
Websites:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/ian-robertson
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-robertson-4480502/
Currently, an Assistant Professor in Neural Engineering and Brain Health affiliated to the School of Engineering and The Global Brain Health Institute. He strives to contribute to the creation of applicable and scalable methods and solutions to support brain health throughout the lifespan. His research focuses on applied neural engineering supporting, aging, sensory dysfunction and cognition.
Born in Mexico, he has a background in biomedical engineering, and specialized in neural engineering. He has industry experience in the fields of ophthalmology surgery medical device service and management, medical device design, and auditory assistive devices research and development.
He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico. Completed his Master’s of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Groningen and Trinity College Dublin through the CEMACUBE programme funded by the European Union. He holds a PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, specialized in neural engineering, from Trinity College Dublin.
Before joining Trinity College Dublin as faculty, he carried out research in the area of cognitive hearing sciences and brain hearing technologies at Eriksholm Research Centre in Denmark.
Websites:
https://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=alopezva
Social Media:
10.30-11.30am
Kindness in unkind zones? How environments impact brain health
https://youtu.be/4cgmOupoK6k?si=cD3r3REOSwsl0fML
Human beings are sense making beings. Affected by words and the weather, being listened to or ignored, by a sense of belonging or stigmatising behaviour. Over time what we sense may evolve into illness.
Speakers reflected on a range of Brain Health impacting issues.
Presenters included:
- Dominic Campbell, Chair
- Brian Lawlor – what is the stigma on living with a diagnosis of Dementia?
- Joaquín Migeot – exposome research – a range of environmental and contextual data suggests we look again at what makes Brain Health
- Ganzamungu Zihindula – research and experience of displacement in Congo and Ireland suggests we reconsider Brain Health
Contributors
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
Bluesky: @creativebrainweek.bsky.social
Professor Brian Lawlor (MD, FRCPI, FRCPsych, FTCD (Hon), DABPN) is Conolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, and a Founding Director of the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College. He is a geriatric psychiatrist with an interest in dementia, late-life depression, loneliness and brain health. Brian has worked for over 30 years on developing services and delivering care to people with dementia. His research interests range from early detection and prevention to evaluating new treatments for dementia.
Websites:
https://www.understandtogether.ie
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/brian-lawlor
Social Media:
X: https://x.com/joaquin_migeot
Instagram www.instagram/joaco.migeot
Ganzamungu Zihindula is a Global Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity, and a PEPFAR Fellow Alumnae. He is currently working as a public health consultant for the design, implementation, and evaluation of health promotion interventions to help health care workers identify, prevent, and promote health.
His previous research focused on access to care, human resource for health, prevention strategies for NCDs (Cancer, Diabetes, Hypertension & Mental health), forced migration health and social determinants of health. He is passionate about health inclusion, health equity and social justice for the socially excluded people, specifically the refugees.
Dr Zihindula’s work is influenced by his lived experiences of forced displacement leading to the founding of the Urban Refugees and Asylum Seekers Assistance (URASA) project, the Southern Africa Refugee Organisations Forum (SAROF) of which he is a regional chair, the Action de Transformation Social a Impact Durable (ATRASID) as well as the Healthy Rural Society Advocacy project (HRSA).
He has participated in projects providing technical support and implementation of appropriate health programs in the public health sector for the past 15 years. Dr Zihindula has experiences working with PATH, USAID, UNFPA, WELCOME TRUST, I-TECH, MRC-UK, and PEPFAR regulations and administrative procedures for the implementation of donor-funded projects. He has published more than 45 peer reviewed articles including book chapters, and has presented at more than 51national and international conferences.
Websites:
https://tekano.org.za/tekano-fellow/ganzamungu-zihindula/
Social Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ganzamungu-zihindula-6719bba0/
11.45am - 1.00pm
The value of activating kindness
https://youtu.be/WPyz8brXCKI?si=5LejETjgdjViE9NN
Where is the academic evidence for kindness?
What type of strategies does it suggest?
The panel included:
- Brian Lawlor, Chair
- Niamh Flynn and Cliona Murray of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, University of Galway, presents findings from empathy research with young people.
- Gillian Sandstrom of the Centre For Kindness Research Sussex University on illuminating the nature of kindness and its impacts on people and communities
Contributors
Niamh Flynn is an Educational Psychologist and lecturer in Educational Psychology at the School of Education. Her research and practitioner interests centre on inclusive education, empath and socio-emotional learning, student and teacher mental health and well-being, and student self-efficacy and self-regulated learning. She contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate initial teacher education and continuous professional development courses in the areas of psychology of education, inclusive teaching, and research methods. She is the Director of Year 2 of the Professional Master of Education (PME). Prior to joining the team at University of Galway School of Education, Niamh lectured in the School of Education at UCD, and worked as a psychologist with both the HSE (Early Intervention) and the National Educational Psychological Service.
Websites:
https://www.universityofgalway.ie/cfrc/
Professor Brian Lawlor (MD, FRCPI, FRCPsych, FTCD (Hon), DABPN) is Conolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, and a Founding Director of the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College. He is a geriatric psychiatrist with an interest in dementia, late-life depression, loneliness and brain health. Brian has worked for over 30 years on developing services and delivering care to people with dementia. His research interests range from early detection and prevention to evaluating new treatments for dementia.
Websites:
https://www.understandtogether.ie
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/brian-lawlor
Social Media:
Clíona Murray is an assistant professor at the School of Education, University of Galway. She teaches sociology of education and research methods and is coordinator of practitioner research on the Máistir Gairmiúil san Oideachas. Her research interests include education policy studies, social inclusion, empathy education, minority languages in education, and narrative research. A graduate of University of Galway, UCL Institute of Education and Maynooth University, her doctoral research examined the interplay of education policy and teacher identity. Clíona worked as a post-primary teacher of French and German prior to taking up her current position.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cl%C3%ADona-murray-aa41b22b5/
Gillian worked in industry for 10 years as a computer programmer before discovering positive psychology. This led to her pursuing a Masters in Psychology at Ryerson University, where she developed a smile-and-wave relationship with a lady who worked at a hot dog stand. During her PhD studies at the University of British Columbia, inspired by the relationship with the hot dog lady, she started studying interactions with weak ties. Her work since then has focused on the benefits of minimal social interactions with weak ties and strangers, and the barriers that prevent people from connecting.
After completing her PhD, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge before taking on a lectureship at the University of Essex. She started her role as Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Kindness at the University of Sussex in 2022.
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/centres/kindness/
Twitter/X: @GillianSocial
Bluesy: @gillianSocial
2.00 - 3.15pm
Kindness in Action
https://youtu.be/De0eeah4E1c?si=RI6NwFzU78x8KOqi
World leading minds shared extraordinary creative initiatives to transform healthcare.
The panel included
- Dominic Campbell, Chair
- Professor Vikram Patel on Reimagining Mental Healthcare: Lessons from the Global South
- Tim Charles reflects on 40 years leading health care in USA
- Mike Wamaya on Project Elimu working creatively for health in Kenya’s informal settlements
Contributors
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
Bluesky: @creativebrainweek.bsky.social
Tim Charles led healthcare organizations for 40 plus years guided the development and opening of cancer centres, heart centres, and innovation in aging and dementia. He led institutions through a devastating flood and an unimaginable pandemic. His work focused on breakthrough thinking, leadership development, team building, personal transformation; optimization of the well-being of the individuals he worked with and the patients they cared for. Now he’s learning how to reconceive my own life approaching the unique opportunity of “retirement” as a life design-laboratory, reframing ‘retirement’ as most dynamic and creative phase of our life. As John Schaar, American political theorist and professor, wrote: “The future is not a place we are going to, but a place we are creating.”
Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, has focused on the burden of mental health problems across the life course, their association with social disadvantage, and the use of community resources for their prevention and treatment. He is co-founder of Mental Health Innovations Network, and Sangath, an Indian NGO which won the WHO Public Health Champion of India prize and the MacArthur Foundation’s International Prize
Michael Wamaya teaches ballet in Kenya’s Kibera and Mathare slums for Project Elimu.
Project Elimu is a community-driven non-profit organization offering after-school arts education and a safe space to children living in Kibera, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Activities are centred on young people aged 3 to 22, with a focus on playful learning. This enables them to make sense of their surroundings by identifying, comprehending, and designing solutions to the various challenges they face.
Mike writes, “we explore the individual human potential and creativity in a much broader sense: who they are, what they think and believe, what they want for their futures, which has brought them a lot of confidence and self-esteem. Attending the classes has also turned around dropout rates and teenage pregnancy rates for his students. At the same time, needy children within the programme have gained scholarships, enabling them to finish their studies, and the programme has created a platform where children can engage in creative activities while developing their artistic careers.
3.30 - 4.30pm
Problem solving in process, making and measuring knowledge
Panellists from across healthcare, mental health advocacy and the arts explored kindness as an activator of creativity in health care.
The panel included:
- Claire Howlin, Chair
- Barry McMahon
- Ann Quinn
- Noelle McAlinden
- Sara Boyce
- Lisa Morrison
- Séan Fitzsimons
- Kirsty Scott
- Deirdre McCausland
- Jane Campbell Grace
- Maura Campbell
- Ger McParland
- Grace McMahon
Contributors
Sara Boyce works as an organiser with the #123GP mental health rights campaign. She has worked with PPR since 2016, both as an organiser and also as a policy worker across a range of campaigns supported by PPR. Prior to joining PPR Sara worked on both sides of the Irish border with a range of community and human rights organisations, including with Traveller groups and children and young people’s organisations.
She also worked for over a decade from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s as a Speech and Language Therapist, before undertaking a Masters in Equality Studies in UCD in 2006. Sara is passionate about promoting the power of poetry and other forms of creativity in challenging oppression and inequality at all levels.
https://www.nlb.ie/campaigns/mental-health
Maura Campbell is an activist who has grown in her belief that activism is the new creative force of change.
Grew up in Dublin, now living in West Belfast and mother of one son. Published poet whose soul’s mission is to help stop intergenerational trauma.
Séan is from West Belfast.
Claire is an Assistant Professor in Psychology in University College Dublin, and Director of the Music Cognition Lab. www.musiccognition.com Her research focuses largely on understanding how music and arts engagement can facilitate personal agency, identity development, and self-efficacy, which are key determinants of mental health and psychological wellbeing. Before becoming Assistant Professor Claire held a Junior Research Fellowship with Wolfson College in the University of Cambridge and a Creative Health Fellowship from University College London. She is currently in the special interest group for arts and health in the Royal Society of Public health.
Websites:
https://people.ucd.ie/claire.howlin
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Howlin
Social Media:
https://bsky.app/profile/dancingresearch.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-howlin-phd/
Promoting Creativity & Self expression, Positive Mental Health and Well being, Suicide Prevention.
Founder Member of Hope ,Healing & Growth in aid of The Aisling Centre, Enniskillen.
Member of Team Ohana ZERO suicide.
High Sheriff Fermanagh 2023
Founder of Moving Canvas Initiative
Chair NI Mental Health Arts Festival
https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelle-mc-alinden-746387b9/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.instagram.com/noellemcalinden/
Barry McMahon is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin. Up until 2019 he was working in medical physics and clinical engineering and held the position as Head of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Tallaght University Hospital. More recently, and with a strong background in invention and innovation in medical devices, he started his own consulting company Electric Mindset Ltd. He is currently available to advise and support organisations to develop a strategic approach to innovation. Barry holds an M.Sc. in physical sciences in medicine from Trinity College Dublin and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from Aalborg University in Denmark. He is a qualified facilitator in Lego Serious Play, has training in agile thinking, design thinking and design sprints. Barry has advised many organisations in Healthcare and Academia on upskilling for innovation in the U.S.A., Malaysia, Brazil, China, Denmark and Spain. In 2016 he was awarded a Distinguished Visiting Scholarship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for his work in Healthcare Innovation.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Mcmahon
https://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=mcmahob
Grace is a Final Year Psychology student at Queen’s University Belfast and currently serves as a Research and Events Intern with Participation and the Practice of Rights’ New Script for Mental Health campaign.
Ger McFarland is an activist to help invoke changes which will bring about a better society for all.
Lisa is a trainer, consultant, activist and psychiatric survivor. She uses her lived and learned experience to teach about the impact of stress and trauma on those needing and those working in services. Lisa also works with Participation and Practice of Rights (PPR), a human rights organisation campaigning for rights-based, trauma-informed approaches to be central in supporting people in distress. She is completing a master’s degree focusing on the wellbeing of Approved Social Workers, is part of an Electroconvulsive Therapy campaign group and a member of the Kyrie Farm Lived Experience Service Development Committee.
https://www.lisamorrison.co.uk/
https://www.nlb.ie/campaigns/mental-health
https://www.childrenshealthireland.ie/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annlquinn
Social:
https://bsky.app/profile/annlquinn.bsky.social
https://x.com/annlquinn
Lives in Ballyclare, mother of three and widowed. Kirsty became an activist after the death of her son, not wanting anyone else to go through what she did.
4.45 - 5.45pm
Activate Kindness: Introduction to Threads
Examining how we can activate kindness in different spheres.
Nine Creative Brain Weeks in six countries in three years generated community, conversation, content and complexity. Tuesday’s final session reflected on these developing Threads, that were explored in depth for the remainder of this week.
- Dominic Campbell – Creative Brain Week and chair of panel
- Oana Deac – The Healthcare Space – The Bleeping Interns Choir
- Brian Kennedy – The Cultural Space – US Museums and Health
- Darryl Williams – Partsol and the power of cognitive AI technology including collaboration with Royal Irish Academy of Music: Cognitive AI, Music, and the Application to Address Cognitive Decline
Contributors
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
Bluesky: @creativebrainweek.bsky.social
Dr Oana Deac is an Oncology trainee and prestigious ICAT fellow, currently pursuing a PhD at Trinity College Dublin. Her doctoral work focuses on young onset stomach cancer, leveraging cutting edge research looking at ex-vivo explant models and clinical artificial intelligence tools to identify actionable biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
A proud TCD alumna, Dr Deac holds a B.A. (Hons) in Molecular Medicine, graduating first in class, and an MSc by Research from Trinity. She returned to Trinity for her medical degree (B.A., B.Ch., B.A.O., 2013–2018), earning first-class honours in both Medicine and Surgery, and was awarded the MRCPI certificate in 2021.
Beyond her clinical and research work, Dr Deac is passionate about the role of creative expression in healthcare. She led the relaunch of the Bleeping Intern Choir in 2023—drawing on her own experience as a former Bleeping Intern—to reduce burnout, foster connection, and help build resilience among junior doctors. Under her stewardship, the choir has performed at several national and hospital events as well as cancer research fundraisers, and has been credited with improving morale and well-being not only among junior doctors but also staff and patients.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/oanadeac
X: @OanaDeac
Instagram: @deaco11
Brian Kennedy is a leadership consultant and adviser to philanthropists and arts organizations. He has enjoyed extensive experience in directorship positions at art museums in Ireland, Australia and the United States of America. He is an accomplished community leader, communicator, educator, author, curator, fundraiser, mentor and thought leader in visual literacy and creative aging.
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/brian-kennedy
https://camd.org.au/brian-kennedy-andras-szanto-on-ageism/
https://eamichelsonphilanthropy.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-p-kennedy-05ab2136/
Dr. Darryl R. Williams is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist of Partsol, a Tampa-based software company specializing in Cognitive AI solutions. With over 30 years of experience, he has led initiatives addressing complex challenges for government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. A retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Williams holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and an MBA in International Finance from Auburn University. His expertise encompasses supply chain risk assessments, infrastructure vulnerability analysis, and cybersecurity initiatives. Dr. Williams has also contributed to academia as the Director of the Supply Chain Security and Risk Lab at the University of Alabama.