Stories of Impact

This week we're bringing back one of our favorite ever episodes. Today, we hear a fascinating and inspiring conversation having to do with the flourishing of young South Africans. Today's episode features Richard's conversation with Nina Callaghan, former Associate Director and current South African Chair of Children's Radio Foundation. In a post-apartheid country still suffering the social, psych...

War and conflict is raging across the globe. From Europe and the Middle East to Africa and the Americas, divisions between and within nations are leaving civilians dead and displaced.  Northern Ireland has seen its fair share of violence and bloodshed since its founding in 1921. Although the Good Friday peace agreement was signed more than 25 years ago, the peace process is still a work in progres...

Before we ended 2023 we met two researchers, Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas and Dr. Timothy Lomas, who shared their research on human flourishing, and each touched on the importance of human connection and relationship as an antidote to loneliness. In our first episode of this new year, we continue that conversation, this time by exploring the unique role of chaplains, and how their purpose is to keep...

We're celebrating the life of our friend Dr. William Powell, who passed away just before Thanksgiving. Dr. Powell's American Chestnut Tree episode was one of our favorites of last year.  This episode is an inspiring story about how bringing together vision, community, and cutting-edge science can make the impossible possible. It's a story about American history, climate, globalization, and hope. I...

Last time you heard from us, Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas shared her research on the complexity of the loneliness epidemic in America today, and what we all can do to feel less lonely. Something she said — "Everyone's happiness matters to my happiness" — stuck with us, and became the springboard for this episode. Today, together with psychology researcher Dr. Timothy Lomas at Harvard University's Hum...

It's Thanksgiving week in the United States, and this Thursday, many of us will be with friends and family for the kick-off to six weeks of holiday cheer. But for so many people in America, the holidays can be a very lonely time. Loneliness and disconnection have consequences not only for individual health, but for the health of the nation. Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas is the Science Director at UC B...

Today, we meet Dr. Nap Hosang , a Jamaican-born obstetrician and gynecologist with a long, distinguished career focused on preventing unintended pregnancies in the United States and globally. After decades of service in healthcare, Dr. Hosang has begun a new chapter of his career as the co-founder and CEO of Cadence Health , whose mission is to give people who don't want to become pregnant access...

In our last episode, we learned about the Rome Call for AI Ethics, which asked representatives from world business, educational institutions, governments, and religions to support ethical principles around artificial intelligence, including transparency, fairness, inclusivity, impartiality, reliability, and security and privacy. We are back with the same guests again today: scientists and technolo...

Artificial intelligence is the ability of machines to perform tasks, such as learning and problem-solving, that are typically associated with human intelligence. And every single aspect of how we live our lives may ultimately be transformed by this technology. At the start of this year, it seemed as though AI shifted from a relatively niche technology known to industry insiders, into a subject tha...

In our last episode with Dr. David Addiss, Heather Buesseler, Dr. Liz Grant, and Dr. Corinne Reid, we explored the role of compassion in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and learned that the SDG's were motivated by a compassionate desire to end global human suffering across a variety of sectors. This week we're back with these four researchers, as they offer more personal insight...

We begin Season 7 with a friend of the podcast — Dr. David Addiss , who listeners will remember from an emotional episode last year about the role of compassion in healthcare. Dr. Addiss is back for another evocative discussion about compassion, and he's joined by his research colleagues Heather Buesseler , Dr. Liz Grant , and Dr. Corinne Reid . In this conversation, these four public health exper...

Today is our final episode of the sixth season of Stories of Impact, and Richard Sergay is back in conversation with Templeton World Charity Foundation President Dr. Andrew Serazin , looking back over the year of stories we're just wrapping up, and looking a little bit ahead at what's to come. Read the  transcript of this episode Subscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcasts Find...

Today's episode is all about medical professionals — the hardship, overwhelm, and burnout that pre-existed the pandemic and only got worse when it started. It's about research measuring the effectiveness of a program that offers healthcare workers the support they need to flourish, even in the midst of intensely stressful circumstances. And it's about the positive impact the programs' simple tools...

If you've been a long-time listener to the Stories of Impact podcast, you'll expect by now to be surprised by the kinds of studies Templeton World Charity Foundation invests in. TWCF-funded projects are not only ground-breaking — they're often "rule-breaking," asking challenging questions often left untouched by other funders. Today's story is about one of those cutting-edge scientific studies, on...

Today, we're back with Richard's fascinating interview with Lord Martin Rees , the UK's Astronomer Royal and the co-founder of the Centre for Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge. Joining them in conversation are two of the Centre's research associates, nuclear war expert Dr. Paul Ingram , and geohazards and geo-communications scholar Dr. Lara Mani . They discuss the Centre's research a...

Today, we're speaking with Dr. Christopher Hays , the president of ScholarLeaders International and director of the  Faith and Displacement Project at the Fundación Universitaria Seminario Biblio de Colombia . Dr. Hays explains how the Faith and Displacement Project is working with an established network of churches in Colombia to train people to help their fellow citizens who have been displaced...

Today is the second in a two-part series that explores the subject of forgiveness. We hear more about the ground-breaking, six-site, five-country, four-continent study of Dr. Everett Worthington's REACH forgiveness method's effectiveness. We're joined in conversation with Dr. Tyler VanderWeele, project  Research Director; Principal Investigator Dr. Man Yee Ho; and site directors  Andrea Ortega Bec...

Today we bring you the first of a special two-part series that dives deep into the subject of forgiveness. Our guests include Dr. Everett Worthington, Science Director in a worldwide research project studying the REACH forgiveness method's effectiveness in facilitating not only individual forgiveness, but community forgiveness, a study that he and several colleagues conducted across six sites, fiv...

The Stories of Impact podcast is coming to you for the next two weeks for a special exploration of forgiveness. Long-time listeners to the podcast may recognize Dr. Everett Worthington , who returns to discuss the largest-ever scientific study of forgiveness in the world. He joins Ukrainian citizens and fellow researchers  Dr. Liudmyla Shtanko and   Dr. Sergiy Tymchenko ,  for these important and...

In this episode of Stories of Impact, we're listening to a session from the Templeton World Charity Foundation's Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing, which took place last fall. The conference aimed to showcase the latest and most meaningful scientific advances in understanding how humans flourish across cultures and alongside innovative new tools and strategies. Today's session is a...

In this episode of Stories of Impact, we're listening to a session from the Templeton World Charity Foundation's Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing , which took place last fall. The conference aimed to showcase the latest and most meaningful scientific advances in understanding how humans flourish across cultures and alongside innovative new tools and strategies. Today's session is...

This the conclusion of a special three-part series on polarization. In today's episode, we hear some good news from three leaders of Templeton World Charity Foundation's Listening and Learning in a Polarized World Initiative. Dr. Andrew Serazin, president of TWCF ; Virginia Cooper, project lead ; and Dr. Eric Marshall, Principal Advisor , celebrate the $20 million investment in exploring polarizat...

This the second of a special three-part series on polarization. In today's episode, we consider what writers, researchers, and scholars say we can learn from the history of polarization in other countries and learn about some of their potential solutions for polarization. Today's episode features researchers Jay J. Van Bavel and Dominic J. Packer , co-authors of The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Sha...

The first of a special three-part series, this episode defines polarization and explores its causes and effects. Next, we consider what we can learn from the history of polarization in other countries, share the antidotes to polarization that research has uncovered, and finally, explain why it's important to make a long-term investment in polarization research. Today's episode features researchers...

Have you ever been in a group of people, everyone focused on the same thing — a sports competition or a sermon or a performance — and you've had a feeling that you're being transported or transformed by what you're experiencing? It's when you're been a part of a collective moment of being that is so powerful and so meaningful that you forget about any self-consciousness or shyness or hesitation, a...