Olga Klimecki
Cultivating Kindness Through Meditation: A Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
Would today’s world be different if people experienced
more kindness and care both towards themselves and
towards each other? This fundamental question has been
driving our research for almost two decades. We have been
exploring how cultivating kindness through meditation can
change feelings, related brain functions, health, and wellbeing,
as well as social behaviour such as altruism or conflict
behaviour. We studied adolescents, middle-aged, and older
adults in various settings and countries. We also studied
conflicts in couples, at the workplace, and protracted
conflicts (particularly between Israelis and Palestinians). In
addition to presenting our research, I will invite an
embodied exploration of what cultivating kindness and
compassion can currently mean to every one of us.
Olga Klimecki is a neuroscientist and psychologist. At the
University of Geneva from 2013 to 2020, Klimecki is
currently interim chair of Social Psychology at the
Bundeswehruniversität Hamburg, Germany. She holds a PhD
from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and a Dr. rer.
nat. habil. from the Technical University of Dresden,
Germany, where she was guest professor (2020–2021 and
interim chair of Biological Psychology (2024–2025). She has
(co-)authored more than 80 publications, received various
grants and awards, and is co-principal investigator of the
longest study on meditation to date: the
Medit-Ageing/Silver Santé study. In addition to her
scientific work, Olga practises and teaches mindfulness
meditation. She is currently particularly interested in
embodied mindfulness practices in movement and dancing.