Debate Panelists

Paul Litchfield CBE OStJ FRCP FFOM is a British physician, and has been Chair of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing since 2015 – an independent organisation that promotes evidence-based policy to improve wellbeing throughout society. The Centre develops and shares robust and accessible wellbeing evidence to improve decision making that is used by governments, businesses, charities, social enterprises and community groups. What Works Centre for Wellbeing believes that improving wellbeing is the ultimate goal of policy and community action and is a key area of Dr Litchfield’s work. Prior to this, Dr Litchfield has been a practitioner in occupational medicine for over 40 years and was Chief Medical Officer for BT Group plc from 2001 to 2018 where he pioneered UK and European initiatives in the specific field of improving workplace health and safety and reducing stigma around mental health issues. Dr Litchfield’s impact on workplace health and wellbeing is widespread as he is also co-chair of the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace and is a member of the NHS Healthy Workforce Advisory Board, the Health and Safety Executive Workplace Health Expert Committee and the Economic and Social Research Council’s Great Assessment Panel. Furthermore, he is co-author of an independent review of the UK Government, Realising Ambitions: Better Employment Support for People with a Mental Health Condition. Dr Litchfield’s profound influence on workplace wellbeing has been recognised with an OBE in 2007 for his impact on occupational health and, more recently, he was awarded CBE for his services for the betterment of workplace wellbeing. Dr Litchfield has shaped the modern workplace environment in the UK and pioneered the recognition of mental health and education at work as an integral component for individual’s wellbeing.

https://whatworkswellbeing.org

Carmen Sandi is a Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), where she leads the Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics at the Brain Mind Institute for which she was the Director from 2012-2018. She is also co-Director of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research Synapsy and founder and co-President of the Swiss Stress Network. Prof Sandi has been the President of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) since 2018. 

Her research interests are to understand how stress affects brain function, behaviour and cognition. Currently, her lab investigates the impact and mechanisms whereby stress affects brain cognition, with a focus on learning and memory processes, social behaviours and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and pathological aggression. Prof Sandi is a highly published researcher with over 200 research articles in major international journals in addition to contributions to various books, and her publications have been cited in over 13,000 research items. She has served as a member in several boards and societies, having being President of the European Brain and Behaviour Society (EBBS) and is currently member of the executive council of the European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (EMCCS) and EBBS. Prof Sandi has organised several conferences on ‘stress, brain and behaviour’ and ‘violence’ and also holds several editorial commitments; she was the founding Editor-in-chief of Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience and is currently Review Editor for eNeuro. As a leading scientific researcher in her field, she has received numerous awards and honours for her work, including: the Behavioural Brain Research Prize in 2015, and the Ron de Kloet Prize for Stress Research in 2018, honour of Valkhof Chair at Radboud University, Visiting Professor at Rockefeller University and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist Fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In addition to her work at FENS, Prof Sandi has previously organised various conferences on the topics of brain physiology and has made a significant impact on advancing the neuroscientific conversation on the interplay between stress, cognition and the brain.

http://lgc.epfl.ch/

Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist known for his role as former British prime minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics campaigns in Britain and overseas, he splits his time between writing, speaking, charity work and consultancy. In recent years, Alastair has become increasingly involved with mental health charities and causes, speaking about his own experiences with depression, psychosis and addiction. He is author of fourteen books, including the no. 1 best-selling Winners and How They Succeed, and has produced an award-winning documentary on his personal experiences with mental breakdown. His work has won considerable praise with mental health charities and campaign groups for helping break down the taboo surrounding mental health, leading to his achievement as the ‘Mind Champion of the Year’ in 2009. By co-founding the all-party campaign Equality4MentalHealth, which was credited by parliament, he has secured an extra £600million for mental health services. Alastair has been awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in recognition of his leadership role in breaking down the stigma surrounding mental illness and in fighting for better services. Alastair is now involved in various aspects of journalism, including chief interviewer for GQ Magazine where he writes monthly pieces and has covered famous figures including Prince William and Jose Mourinho. His other journalist work includes being a columnist for International Business Times, editor-at-large for The New European newspaper and hosting a joint podcast featuring interviews with notable individuals from politics, sports and other topics of interest.

alastaircampbell.org

Andrew Jack is global education editor for the Financial Times (FT), writing on educational issues around the world and is editorial lead for the free FT schools programme, offering free access to online FT resources to more than 50,000 students across 100 countries.  Having worked at FT since 1990, he was previously head of curated content, deputy editor of the big read section and analysis section, pharmaceuticals correspondent, Moscow bureau chief, Paris correspondent, financial correspondent, general reporter and corporate reporter. He has authored the books Inside Putin’s Russia and The French Exception as well as numerous specialist reports. His journalistic work has been well recognised and has led to him appearing on BBC and other media outlets. Andrew is a highly successful editor and journalist having won numerous awards for his work with FT. He led the FT’s coverage that won the communications award of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2011; received the 2013 media award of the European Organisation for Rare Diseases; First Prize in the Stop TB Award for excellence in reporting for 2010; and a Kaiser Family Foundation mini fellowship in global health reporting in 2008. He was twice Accountancy Correspondent of the year, and part of the FT team that won the British Press Awards for its coverage of the Maxwell affair. Andrew is also a trustee of SciDev.net, a non-profit media group covering science and technology for global development. Andrew’s work extends to various topics including disease, medicine, pharmaceuticals, public health and global health. He regularly publishes leading articles on these relevant and topical subjects, as well as encouraging growth of the developing world by spearheading the free schools access programme. 

uk.linkedin.com/in/andrew-jack-0a0ab96

Sara W. Lazar, PhD is an Associate Researcher in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. Her lab focuses on elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation, from both a clinical healing perspective and in healthy individuals. Dr Lazar has led numerous scientific studies.

Some of her most notable research uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the neuroplasticity associated changes that occurs following participation in 8 week mindfulness training programs. These data demonstrate meditation training dependent changes on brain structure and function that correlate with decreases in anxiety and stress. She is contributing author to the book Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, which gives its readers a comprehensive introduction to mindfulness and its applications by encompassing the growing body of neuroscientific studies and how these evidence-based mindfulness techniques can be implemented into our lives. Dr Lazar has presented her work at numerous international conferences and neuroscientific meetings and events. A notably popular appearance is her TEDx talk on How Meditation Can Reshape Our Brains, which has amassed millions of views on social media platforms. Her research has been widely covered by numerous news, medical and media organisations including The New York Times, Time Magazine, CNN, WebMD, the Huffington Post, and her work has been featured in a display in the Boston Museum of Science.

scholar.harvard.edu/sara_lazar

Murali Doraiswamy MBBS FRCP is professor of psychiatry and medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine where he is a highly respected physician neuroscientist at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. He specialises in the areas of brain health and personalized medicine and leads a clinical trials unit in developing novel personal diagnostics and therapeutics for cognitive enhancement and mental well-being. Prof Doraiswamy has been an advisor to leading government agencies, businesses and advocacy groups. He has served as the chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Brain Research and lectured at leading global forums to advance the forefront of neuroscience research.  Moreover as author of a popular book The Alzheimer’s Action Plan and co-author on more than 350 publications, he has received several awards in recognition of his scientific work and his involvement in pivotal landmark trials that have helped develop many modern neurotherapeutics. Additionally, he is a leading advocate for increasing funding for brain and behavioral research to help address great looming challenges in society posed by modern developments in the 21st century. His research has been featured in media outlets such as BBC, The New York Times, Scientific American and TIME. He has appeared in acclaimed documentaries such as (Dis)Honesty: The Truth about Lies and Mysteries of the Brain.

medicine.duke.edu/faculty/p-murali-doraiswamy-mbbs

Dr Miguel Farias is an academic and writer who leads the Brain, Belief and Behaviour group at Coventry University. His primary research explores the biological roots and psychological impact of beliefs and spiritual practices, including meditation. He speaks of the often-overlooked potential harm that can be caused by relatively commonplace meditation techniques used by non-specialist individuals in today’s society if they are not utilised in a proper manner. Dr Farias was previously a lecturer at Oxford University where he did his doctorate in experimental psychology. His current work explores the effects of meditation using a combination of experimental methods from social and biological psychology, personality theory and cognitive neurosciences. Dr Farias has pioneered research on the analgesic effects of religious beliefs and stress-buffering effects of scientific beliefs. He has conducted the first randomized clinical trial on the effects of yoga and meditation in prisons, which led him to co-author The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? The book that started a public debate about the potential adverse effects of mindfulness. He is currently finishing to edit the Oxford Handbook of Meditation, with over 50 contributors, and preparing a course on 'Meditation Across the World', with teachers from Buddhist and Hindu traditions.  

https://miguelfarias.co.uk

Will Williams is the founder of Beeja Meditation, author of best-selling book The Effortless Mind, and a contributing editor to Psychologies magazine. In his old life as a music industry manager, Will indulged every hedonistic vice, before crippling insomnia and chronic stress forced him to hold his hands up and declare emotional bankruptcy. When meditation helped where nothing else had, Will immediately quit his job and set off on a journey around the globe for a number of years to educate himself about its benefits. He combines extensive knowledge of the world’s most revered ancient teachings with cutting-edge science, to provide modern meditators with a simple and powerful technique. Will’s Vedic-inspired approach is designed around a unique mantra which works with each individual’s nervous system; this not only relaxes and de-stresses the body at the deepest level, but also energises and inspires. Will is passionate about its transformative effects and on a life-long mission to share it as widely as possible. As part of Will’s coaching work he advises companies on corporate well-being, with clients including Apple, Google, Sony, Spotify, Goldman Sachs, NBC Universal and Channel 4. In 2017 Will launched World Meditation Day as an annual global event. For the past three years, Will has been a wellbeing advisor to the OECD’s Future of Education and Skills 2030 project, working with 36 education ministers from around the world in a bid to change education for the better. He is also working on an extensive programme for UK schoolchildren as a part of his partnership with the Prince’s Trust. 

beejameditation.com