Adam Grant is the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success. He is the youngest tenured professor at Wharton, recognized as Wharton’s single-highest-rated teacher. Previously, he was a record-setting advertising director at Let’s Go Publications. His pioneering studies have increased performance and reduced burnout among engineers and sales professionals, enhanced call center productivity, and motivated safety behaviors among doctors, nurses and lifeguards. He has presented for leaders at organisations such as Google, the NFL, Merck, Pixar, Goldman Sachs, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Antoine Lutz is a neuroscientist at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (INSERM) in France. He was previouly the associate scientist of Prof Richard Davidson at the Laboratory For Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his PhD in cognitive neuroscience from University of Paul and Marie Curie in Paris VI under the supervision of Dr. Francisco Varela in 2002. His principal research focus is the neurodynamical correlates of consciousness and on the relationship between neuroplasticity and meditation training. His team was the first to show the benefits of meditation from a neuroscientific point of view.

Kristin Neff is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion over a decade ago as a healthier way to relate to one-self. She is author of the internationally acclaimed book Self-Compassion (2011) and is also featured in the bestselling book and award-winning documentary The Horse Boy, which chronicles her family’s journey to Mongolia where they trekked on horseback to find healing for her autistic son. She is currently an Associate Professor of Human Development and Culture at the University of Texas, and has developed an eight-week program to help people learn to be more self-compassionate in daily life.

Pam Cayton is the director of a primary school based in California, the Tara Redwood School, that she founded in 1989. The school brings together the mindfulness, compassion and wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism with the practical approach to learning and acquiring scientific knowledge of western education. In 2008, Pam founded Creating Compassionate Cultures that develops secular training programmes, tools and resources in this unique methodology, for anyone working with children, youth and families.

Rosamund Oliver, BA, Dip Psych, ECP, worked for many years as a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. Her public healthcare work includes NHS psychiatry with the elderly bereaved, nurse education at St Joseph’s Hospice, London and co-creating a prison meditation project. She is the international training manager of the Spiritual Care Programme. Her workshop at the 2012 Empathy and Compassion in Society conference received a particularly enthusiastic response, and we are delighted to invite Rosemund again this year.

Yoav Shamir is an award-winning documentary director based in Tel-Aviv, producer and cinematographer in film and television. His work reflects his passion to probe and uncover difficult and polarizing subject matter through an observational lens, delivering penetrating and ethically challenging interviews with an accessible charm, which entertains and appeals to a broad audience. Yoav Shamir’s films have screened at international film festivals, and have been broadcast on TV channels internationally. His documentary feature films include Marta & Luis (2001), Checkpoint (2003), 5 Days (2005), Flipping Out (2007), Defamation (2009), and 10% What makes a hero? (2013).