ISQOLS News

How has the concept of quality of life evolved over the years, and even more recently in the face of disruptive change and challenges? Can quality of life help put people back at the center of sustainable development? How can subjective experiences, priorities, and aspirations be used to inform urban interventions? 

 

Join us for this online panel discussion, co-organized by UN-Habitat and the University of Buenos Aires, to dig into these questions and many others. We will first hear the experience of how one major metropolitan area - Buenos Aires - is working to provide a better quality of life for the individuals and communities there. A distinguished panel of academics from around the world will then have a chance to react and discuss, unpacking some of the recommendations which they have put forward in a recently released position paper for the global community.

 

This unique dialogue between academics and local leaders will be a chance to see the interaction between theory and practice, to understand what kinds of tools and knowledge are needed to provide a more fulfilling, resilient lived experience for individuals in cities around the world. 

 Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

 

I am pleased to inform you that registration for the 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being, taking place in Rome, Italy on 4-6 November 2024 is now open.

Celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the OECD World Forums that initiated the international movement on Beyond GDP and organised in the context of the G7 Finance Track of the Presidency of Italy, this edition will look at how the well-being perspective can enhance our understanding of major societal challenges, such as climate change and artificial intelligence, and respond to them. The Forum will also take stock of the progress accomplished on measuring well-being beyond GDP and on integrating well-being metrics and frameworks into policy.

Through a mixture of high-level panels, parallel sessions, technical workshops and interactive discussions, this Forum, taking place in-person, will provide maximum opportunities for participants to acquire actionable knowledge, make new connections across the public, private and civil sectors and together drive forward the international agenda on well-being.

In addition, as part of the Forum, we will be holding an Exhibition. With 500 participants attending in person from around the world, the Exhibition is an excellent opportunity to showcase your work and create synergies with a diverse international audience including NGOs, policymakers, innovators, researchers, international organisations, civil society and the private sector. Should you be interested in having a stand in the Exhibition, please write to us at: WellBeing@oecd.org and we can send you further details.

 

I invite you to visit the Forum website at: https://www.oecd-wellbeing-forum2024.mef.gov.it to learn more on the themes we’ll be addressing and register now to join us in Rome for what promises to be a very engaging event!

 

I would also be grateful if you could help us promote the Forum to your networks. To assist you with this, we have prepared the attached communications toolkit which includes content that can be used in a newsletter and/or on a website as well as posts for social media. You will also find attached a visual that you can use in 2 different formats as well as a one-pager about the Forum, in case it’s useful.

 

Finally, if you have not done so already, I invite you to sign up for our monthly newsletter where we provide updates on our latest work and upcoming events: https://oe.cd/wellbeingnews, and where we will be disseminating regular updates on the Forum. You can also reach out to us at: WellBeing@oecd.org with any questions that you may have.

 

Best regards,

 

Romina Boarini

Director, Centre for Well-Being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity

2, rue André Pascal - 75775 Paris Cedex 16

www.oecd.org/wise

Flyer-978-3-031-39506-2.pdf

Cornelia C. Walther - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Handbook of Quality of Life and Social Change

Individual and Collective Path

Looks at change vis-à-vis the material and non-material components of quality of life

across contexts

Represents a vast diversity in authorship as well as region

Includes combined access to online course material

This handbook provides an extensive overview of the links between quality of life and social change as pursued in not only humanitarian and development work, but also in the private sector and academia. It combines theoretical and practice-focused chapters and addresses socio-economic, environmental, and political/governance aspects as well as communication and human behavioural factors that favour or hamper social change dynamics. The handbook showcases vast diversity both in the authorship---which includes practitioners from a wide range of sectors and academics from various disciplines---as well in geographical contexts and regions. The chapters cover a wide range methods and tools, which facilitate an inclusive understanding of the relationship between quality of life and social change. They show connections between micro (individual) changes and the dynamics that derive from them at the meso (community), macro (country) and meta levels (planet) of quality of life, and the social change processes sustained through time. The chapters demonstrate that quality of life and social change mutually condition and nurture each other. The handbook overall provides a holistic perspective to social change processes that includes both material and non-material aspects relating to quality of life. This comprehensive and one-of-a-kind volume is of interest to a wide readership, from students and researchers of social development, quality of life and wellbeing research, to development workers, policy makers and others

Flyer-978-3-031-39506-2.pdf

Emerald Publishing is committed to sharing content and

SDG-aligned research that makes a real and positive impact

on people and planet. A founding signatory to the United

Nations SDG Publisher Compact, Emerald has established a

range of thematic goals to guide its strategy one of which is

A Fairer Society.

Each year Goal Advisor Professor Wendy M. Purcell, together with Emerald Publishing, select a

topic to explore what it means to become a fairer society and moves to invite experts around the

world to share their insights. The topic is also used to curate related research papers and books.

Past topics have included human flourishing, stewardship, livable cities, volunteerism, fairness

across generations, and trust.

For 2024, the theme for A Fairer Society is Quality of Life. This is in line with UN-Habitat’s

work in this area.

You are invited to contribute a blog, vlog, short think piece, or commentary

on Quality of Life for A Fairer Society.

A world that leaves no one and no place behind is a world where everyone’s quality of life

provides for their needs and enables them to realize their potential and aspirations. What does

this mean to you and your work? What do we need to do and/or stop doing? What will it take for

us to get from here to there? Can quality of life be a global ambition, realized locally for all?

The deadline for receipt is April 9, 2024. Please send of your draft to

wendy.purcell@rutgers.edu marked ‘FAIR QALY’. Accepted submissions will post on

Emerald’s A Fairer Society site in June 2024.

In addition, UN-Habitat is inviting you to express your interest to participate in the seventh

season of the Global Urban Lectures which will also focus on the Quality of Life. The Global

Urban Lectures is one of UN-Habitat’s most popular knowledge products in which experts

deliver a 15-minute lecture on themes related to sustainable urbanization. We are looking for

speakers working on innovative applied research that relates to improving quality of life in cities,

from across disciplines such as (but not limited to) – urban planning, behavioral economics,

public health, food systems, psychology, and environment. Please submit your interest via this

form by March 25, 2024: https://forms.gle/vsbjv7xHZgVS3Cwe6. Kindly reach out to

andrew.schmidt@un.org or liyana.muhamadyusof@un.org if you have any question on the UN-

Habitat Global Urban Lectures series.

Read more: 

A Fairer Society Quality of Life Call.pdf

 Congratulations to ISQOLS member, Kuba Krys and colleagues on the recent paper, published in the American Psychologist, which briefly discusses ISQOLS' important role in facilitating collaboration with researchers from regions that are often overlooked. Please find the paper attached, you can find more information on page 10

WEIRD–Confucian Comparisons: Ongoing Cultural Biases in Psychology’s Evidence Base and Some Recommendations for Improving Global Representation Kuba Krys1 , Igor de Almeida2 , Arkadiusz Wasiel1 , and Vivian L. Vignoles3 1 Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences 2 Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University 3 School of Psychology, University of Sussex

https://isqols.org/resources/Documents/krys.pdf

2023 ISQOLS Year in Review

The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies has been dedicated to promoting happiness, wellbeing, and quality-of-life research since 1995. As we enter our 29th year of operation, let us reflect on the incredible work that has been accomplished by our organization. ISQOLS strives to be a home for researchers, scholars, practitioners, and those with a genuine desire to enhance and improve the lives of those around us. May each of us enter this new year with renewed optimism, curiosity, and focus. We hope you continue to feel at home with ISQOLS in 2024 and beyond. Happy New Year and cheers to 2024!

Read the 2023 ISQOLS Year in Review Summary here: 

2023 Year in Review ISQOLS.pdf

Call for nominations for the ISQOLS 2024 Best Dissertation Awards. 1st prize: $1500 USD, membership, journal access, and 2024 conference registration. Submission deadline: January 31. Learn more at:

Best Dissertation Award

  #qualityoflife#happiness#wellbeing#dissertation

The Argentine Olympic Committee celebrated its 100th anniversary and organized the "Argentine Sports, Physical Education and Health Congress: a strategic alliance for active societies committed to improving the quality of life", which took place on July 5 and 6 at the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

Dr. Graciela Tonon, ISQOLS Vice President of Publications, gave the opening keynote lecture on Quality of Life in the 21st Century. Likewise, she was appointed as an expert collaborating member in the Society and Active Life Commission, which is one of the commissions in which the Argentine Olympic Committee is organized.

Handbook of Positive Youth Development. Advancing Research, Policy and Practice Applications in a Global Context, Springer

2022 Outstanding Social Policy Book Award by the Society for Research in Adolescence

2022 Ursula Gielen Global Psychology Book Award, American Psychological Association, APA by the International Psychology Division (52) to the authors of the book that makes the most significant contribution to psychology as a global discipline.

 

This handbook examines positive youth development (PYD) in youth and emerging adults from an international perspective. It focuses on large and underrepresented cultural groups across six continents within a strengths-based conception of adolescence that considers all youth as having assets. The volume explores the ways in which developmental assets, when effectively harnessed, empower youth to transition into a productive and resourceful adulthood. The book focuses on PYD across vast geographical regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Latin America as well as on strengths and resources for optimal well-being. The handbook addresses the positive development of young people across various cultural contexts to advance research, policy, and practice and inform interventions that foster continued thriving and reduce the chances of compromised youth development. It presents theoretical perspectives and supporting empirical findings to promote a more comprehensive understanding of PYD from an integrated, multidisciplinary, and multinational perspective.

 

 

 

Radosveta Dimitrova, PhD²

Associate Research Scholar

Docent, Associate Professor of Psychology

Department of Psychology

Stockholm University

Stockholm, Sweden

Dimitrova.radosveta@gmail.com

radosveta.dimitrova@psychology.su.se

 

Congratulations to Radosveta Dimitrova on winning the 2022 PROSE Book Award Winner for Psychology and Social Work, Association of American Publishers for: Roma Minority Youth across Cultural Contexts: Taking a Positive Approach to Research, Policy and Practice, Oxford University Press; 

This book explores Positive Youth Development (PYD) in Roma ethnic minority youth. Standing apart from current volumes, this book focuses on the Roma ethnic minority — one of the most marginalized and oppressed minority groups in Europe — and on strengths and resources for optimal well-being in the community. The international and multidisciplinary contributors to this book address the complexities of Roma life in a variety of cultural settings, exploring how key developmental processes and person-context interactions can contribute to optimal and successful adaptation. The conclusions clarify how the PYD of ethnic minority children and youth may be fostered based on the empirical findings reported in the volume. The book draws on core theoretical models of PYD and theories of normative development from the perspective of developmental science to highlight the applicability of these frameworks to Roma groups. With a special focus on cultural, contextual, and socio-economic characteristics of Roma, this project also aims to provide a better understanding of what does and what does not contribute to the success of youth in oppressed minority groups.