Beginning April 29, UCLA faculty experts will appear online to discuss topics related to everyday life during the coronavirus crisis, as part of a new webinar series called UCLA Connections. The virtual events are open to the public.
The conversations are intended to build community and foster resilience as we address and adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19. The 20- to 30-minute interviews will highlight research by UCLA experts that can help us understand ourselves as individuals and as members of relationships, communities and families, especially as people’s normal routines have been upended.
Topics include attitudes toward food, navigating relationships with spouses and partners, handling stress at home and work, managing technology for kids, and how to find happiness and show kindness. Admission is free, but advance registration for each session is required. Participants also may use the registration website to submit questions in advance; moderators will select some of those questions to ask during the conversation.
Details for the first six UCLA Connections events:
What does it mean to have a healthy relationship to food during times of stress?
Wednesday, April 29
1:30 pm Pacific time
Danielle Keenan-Miller, director of the UCLA Psychology Clinic and co-author of the upcoming book "The Binge Eating Prevention Workbook," will talk with NPR correspondent and TED Talks Daily host Elise Hu about the most common eating disorder in the United States, and how we can overcome it.
More information and registration >
How do we find happiness during difficult times?
Friday, May 1
12 pm Pacific time
Cassie Mogilner Holmes, associate professor of marketing and behavioral decision at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, talks with Alison Hewitt of UCLA Strategic Communications about how thinking about time can increase happiness, how the meaning of happiness changes over the course of one's lifetime, and how much happiness people derive from extraordinary and ordinary experiences.
More information and registration >
How do parents embrace technology for kids, but prevent it from ruling the household?
Tuesday, May 5
3 pm Pacific time
Yalda Uhls, author of "Media Moms and Digital Dads" and adjunct professor of psychology, talks to UCLA's Alison Hewitt about new challenges facing parents and kids during COVID-19 safer at home guidelines, and research-based solutions on how to embrace technology, without having it run your family's life.
More information and registration >
How has staying at home changed daily stress and coping processes in families?
Thursday, May 7
1 pm Pacific time
Rena Repetti, a UCLA clinical psychologist whose research delves into the areas of stress, coping and emotion in families, talks with Jessica Wolf of UCLA Strategic Communications about how her research can give us clues to reduce stress at home during this unprecedented time.
More information and registration >
How can marital/partner relationships withstand the pressures of COVID-19?
Tuesday, May 12
1:30 pm Pacific time
Benjamin Karney, professor of social psychology, is an expert on interpersonal relationships, especially marriage. He talks with UCLA's Jessica Wolf about how relationship processes and interactions are constrained or enhanced by the contexts in which they take place, including during this unprecedented time.
More information and registration >
How do we show kindness when we are unable to be close to others?
Thursday, May 14
1 pm Pacific time
Evolutionary anthropologist Dan Fessler is director of the recently launched UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute. In a conversation with UCLA College's Melissa Abraham, he will discuss how kindness may look different in our world today but abounds even in these difficult times.
More information and registration >
