Sussex Kindness Research
Sussex Kindness Research is an interdisciplinary research network created with the aims of exploring, investigating, and illuminating kindness and its impacts on people and communities. The Research Centre is supported by Kindness UK.
Prof. Robin Banerjee, Head of the School of Psychology and Director of the Sussex Kindness Institute
The University of Sussex Kindness Resarch Centre is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to examining how kindness impacts well-being and different aspects of society. The Centre is the first in the UK to create an academic position entirely dedicated to the Psychology of Kindness.
The work of Sussex Kindness Research broadly fits within two main themes: research intended to understand the nature and impact of kindness, and research on specific kindness interventions designed to promote well-being. These themes have important connections with each other, and they both inform and are informed by theoretical advances across multiple disciplines.
The Research Centre also coordinates the Kindness UK Doctoral Conference Award, which was launched in 2016, and is funded by Kindness UK and managed by the Doctoral School at the University of Sussex. Its primary goal is to disseminate research on kindness and its effect on people and communities. The scheme supports doctoral researchers at Sussex with a stipend of up to £1,000 per student towards the cost of conference registration, travel and accommodation. The award is open to all academic disciplines. As part of the project, we celebrate kindness-based research with an annual Sussex Kindness Symposium. This event celebrates the diverse range of research within Sussex that studies and promotes kindness for people, communities and the planet. We gather research from across campus and beyond, and award winners are given the opportunity to present their findings to a diverse audience. You can read a blog post about the 2018 Sussex Kindness Symposium.
It cannot go unmentioned that the University is the first distinguished academic institution in the world to embed kindness so deeply into its culture. In my view, kindness and energy are common attributes at Sussex. Academic research into psychology, values, altruism, compassion, charity, empathy, sympathy and so on has great merit, but the big difference with kindness is that it implies action by its very nature.” David Jamilly
Founder of kindness uk
Our work is supported by KindnessUK, a not-for-profit organisation with the goal of making kindness a greater part of everyone’s daily lives and increasing the awareness of the positive benefits of kindness to health and overall wellbeing of society. KindnessUK also funds the Kindness UK Doctoral Conference Award.
If you are interested in supporting Sussex philanthropically, please get in touch with our Head of Development, Robert Yates at robert.yates@sussex.ac.uk.
