More than 50 researchers gathered at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) to discuss happiness from different disciplines on the occasion of its VII Annual Meeting. This issue is framed within the common themes that bring the center’s various projects together, i.e., social bonds and development.

During the opening of the event, the Vice President of Research, Iciar Astiasarán, encouraged the establishment of thematic axes between the Institute and the University’s different schools.

"It is important to work together on major issues through which the University can become a global research reference," she said. In this line, she stressed that "the University of Navarra’s project can only succeed with everyone’s commitment and effort."

Concerning the topic at the center of this year’s Annual Meeting, the Scientific Coordinator of the ICS, Ana Marta González, indicated that, "many disciplines feel challenged by this question, including economics, psychology, medicine, communication, etc. They believe that they have something objective that contributes to the indeterminate goal that we call happiness, independently of the fact that each discipline then cooks the different ingredients to its liking. Hence, in recent years, happiness has become an object of interdisciplinary research."

Three round tables: Presentations and debate

Dialogue was established with three round tables. Jesús López Fidalgo, Director of the Statistics Unit, moderated the first table. Alfonso Osorio and Carlos Beltramo, from the Education of Human Affectivity and Sexuality project, gave a presentation on “Family, friends and positive adolescent development.” Antonio Noguera, of the ATLANTES Program, also presented on the theme “They have taken one more step than us.”

Anna Dulska, from the Creativity and Cultural Heritage project moderated the next table. It included David Thunder, who spoke on “Coexistence and happiness: The implications of social pluralism for the legitimation and structuring of political power.” Alberto N. García focused on “What is happiness? A moment before you wish for more happiness.”

At the last table, Sofia Brotons, from the Public Discourse project, spoke on “Communicating happiness;” Sergio Daga, from the Navarra Center for International Development, spoke about “Happiness and development.”Finally, José Ignacio Murillo, from the Mind-Brain Group, presented on “Happiness, habits and neuroscience” Javier Bernácer, also from the Mind-Brain Group, moderated the table.