On June 11th at 16:00 in Grandori room (Building 4 – Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32), a seminar titled “Breaking the stigma on academic mental health” will be held by Dr. Stefano Zucca (Marie-Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow, Università di Torino).

Abstract

Mental health and wellbeing in academia has recently been the focus of global investigations, with several studies, surveys and initiatives highlighting high level of stress and poor working conditions among researchers. In particular, different studies found early-stage researchers to be at the highest risk of developing mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. In this talk I will give an overview of the current academic environment using published studies. Through examples, data and interactive discussion, I will highlight the main common stressors among early-stage researchers, providing ideas of possible strategies to improve mental health and wellbeing at work.

Speaker’s bio

Stefano is a neuroscientist interested in understanding how our brain integrates and uses sensory information from the outside world to guide our instinctive responses. He obtained a PhD in Neuroscience and Brain Technologies in Italy, at the Italian Institute of Technology. He did a postdoc in the department of Experimental Psychology at University College London (UCL) and he is now a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at University of Turin. In the past years he has been involved in activities aimed in raising awareness and promoting discussion about Mental Health in academia. In 2019 he became a Mental Health First Aider. In 2020 he developed and implemented at UCL a scheme based on coaching skills to support researchers and improve their well-being. He has delivered several talks and workshops at national and international conferences speaking about stress in academic environments. Stefano strongly believes in the importance of expanding and improving the dialog on academic mental health across all career stages in research. Only by acting all together it will be possible to build a better and more supportive research culture.