Talks, Podcasts and Interviews
Videos
Vorlesungsreihe Mainzer Universitätsgespräche, Sommer 2026
Wie können Empathie, Mitgefühl und Perspektivenübernahme zum Gelingen sozialer Beziehungen beitragen?
Wie kann man gelingende soziale Beziehungen fördern und dazu beitragen, Konflikte zu lösen? Ob in Paarbeziehungen, am Arbeitsplatz oder im Miteinander von verschiedenen Gruppen – soziale Beziehungen prägen unser Leben, unser Wohlbefinden und unsere Gesundheit. Soziale Beziehungen haben darüber hinaus weitreichende Auswirkungen auf unser Umfeld. In unserer Forschung untersuchen wir, wie man mit sozio-emotionalen Interventionen, die Fähigkeiten, wie Empathie, Mitgefühl oder Perspektivenübernahme stärken, dazu beitragen kann, das soziale Miteinander und das Wohlbefinden von Menschen zu verbessern. Hierbei untersuchen wir soziale Interaktionen in Partnerschaften, Konflikte am Arbeitsplatz und Gruppenbeziehungen.
STG_JGU_Fairness #8: Vortrag Prof. Klimecki | 06.07.2026
MLE Friends webinar: “Novel Approaches to Conflict Resolution" with Dr Olga Klimecki
Conflict is affecting people across the world in many ways, ranging from international conflicts to interpersonal tensions. In spite of the detrimental and often lethal consequences of escalating conflicts, rigorous research testing how interventions can promote conflict resolution is rare. To fill this gap, Dr Olga Klimecki and her team conduct randomised controlled studies on the impact of interventions on conflict resolution. The interventions that were studied so far include mediation, empathy and perspective taking, humanitarian value interventions, and compassion-based mindfulness meditation. The conflicts that were studied range from interpersonal conflicts and conflicts related to immigration, to conflicts in romantic couples and intergroup conflicts. Research was conducted in various countries like Armenia, Belarus, Israel, the Gambia, Russia, and Switzerland.
Tính khả biến của lòng trắc ẩn
Vortrag für das Eurasia Learning Institute (mit Tho Ha Vinh), mit Übersetzungen ins Vietnamesische.
Cultivating Kindness Through Meditation: A Bio-Psycho-Social Perspective
It was a huge pleasure to be part of the international Einstein Forum on Constructive Emotions and Cultivating Kindness in Potsdam in December 2025
Ist es möglich, durch Mitgefühlstraining die eigene Resilienz zu fördern?
Jenaer Achtsamkeitsvorlesungen 2024: Förderung der eigenen Resilienz mit Mitgefühlstraining möglich?
Humanitarian Education for sozio-emotional competencies
I had the great honour to present at the Austrian Red Cross workshop on Humanitarian Education in December 2025 in Vienna
Love and Compassion Podcast with Gissele: Can we be trained to be more compassionate?
It was a huge pleasure to be a guest at Gissele Damiani Taraba´s podcast on love and compassion.
Terra X zur Zeit und zum Einfluss von Denken an die Zukunft (ab Minute 38):
Videopodcast: Die Zeit zum Thema Empathie und Mitgefühl:
PurposeCast: The Gifts of Compassion with Dr. Olga Klimecki. December 2, 2023
The Gifts of Compassion with Dr. Olga Klimecki
Empathy and Compassion in Society
Talking about Empathy and Compassion in Society in London in 2012
Commons Night Class - Mediating in a Multilateral World
Our intervention at the UN (with Kenneth Cloke and Jeremy Lack) from April 2020 is available online
Talking about healthy ageing
https://mocacognition.com/video/#Webinar16
Das gelingende Leben in einer digitalen Gesellschaft
Der Mitschnitt des 4. Colloquiums der Deutschen Buddhistischen Union (DBU) mit Dagmar Schwerk, Thomas Metzinger, Gerd Scobel und mir zum Thema „Was ist Geist? Vom reinen Bewusstsein zum aktiven Handeln“.
Medit-Ageing meeting
The recording of our public Medit-Ageing meeting is now available!! Including guest speaker James Kirby at 3.15 hours on compassion meditation in science and psychotherapy. Online Public Meeting Recording.
Dr Olga Klimecki Promoting cooperation through compassion
Discussing the implementation of Compassion in Education with Ha Ving Tho, Happy Schools ELI, in 2023.
The Role of Emotions in Conflict Resolution
Talking at the Association for Conflict Resolution, Chicago.
Perspectives de médiation : La médiation est bonne pour votre cerveau !
For French speakers and mediators :-)
Applied Compassion: Using Neuroscience to Enhance Conflict Prevention.
On the role of neuroscience in conflict resolution at the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
The Silver Santé Study
A short overview of the Medit-Ageing/ Silver Santé study.
Young people's feedback and questions
Touched by inspiring, shining, and wise young Londoners in 2012.
Don't you have to be ruthless to succeed in life
Round Table discussion in London 2012
The Potential of Conflict
Discussing why conflict matters in Brussels
The neuroscience of empathy & compassion
Explaining the malleability of the empathic brain to school children in London in 2012
Emotionales Verstehen
Having the difficult task of lifting everyone’s mood after Axel Petermann described horrible crimes that shook me to the bone.
La contagion de la souffrance
For French speakers: Emotional Contagion, a conference with Prof. Corrado Corradi Dell’Acqua and myself in 2017 in Geneva.
Television
I have been interviewed on the topic of revenge for Radio Télévision Suisse (starting around minute 19)
On German television/ im deutschen Fernsehen:
Das gelingende Leben in einer digitalen Gesellschaft.
INTERVIEWS
Anja Zingg: Psychologin verrät, wieso es sich lohnt, Mitgefühl zu trainieren. Olga Klimecki forscht unter anderem zu Emotionen, Mitgefühl und sozialen Beziehungen. Im Gespräch erzählt sie, warum mitfühlende Menschen länger leben, und dass Helfen nicht nur andere, sondern auch einen selbst glücklich machen kann.
I interviewed Ken Cloke, one of the world’s most influential mediators, for my new book on conflict resolution. In this interview, Ken shares his personal journey and timeless wisdom of how to transform conflicts on different scales, ranging from interpersonal to intergroup conflict:
I am excited to start my journey on Insight Timer. Maria Sundell (Brain Observations) and I decided to share the podcast on compassion and empathy publicly on Insight Timer:
- https://insighttimer.com/olgaklimecki
- http://www.compassion-training.org/en/media/player.php?id=20
- https://www.news.uliege.be/cms/c_9581351/fr/l-empathie-et-les-comportements-sociaux
Audio podcast with Gissele Damiani-Taraba on love and compassion:
All episodes :https://maitricentre.com/blog-podcast/
- Ep.79 – Can We Be Trained To Be More Compassionate? Conversation with Dr. Olga Klimecki
https://maitricentre.com/podcast/ep-79-can-we-be-trained-to-be-more-compassionate-conversation-with-dr-olga-klimecki/
Deutsches Interview zum empathischen Umgang mit Demenz
Deutsches Interview zum empathischen Umgang mit Demenz
Deutsches Interview zum empathischen Umgang mit Demenz
PODCASTS
Podcast sur la régulation émotionnelle, interview chez RTS:
I had the great pleasure to discuss the relation between empathy, compassion, meditation and our brain plasticity with Maria Sundell:
A Germanpodcast on Mitgefühl (compassion) with Lienhard Valentin, Arbor:
Achtsamkeit und Altern:
Achtsamkeit und Altern
Vortrag über Achtsamkeit im Alter
Audio of talks
- Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Theologie der Spiritualität, Würzburg, Germany in 2021 (talk in German):
TEXTS
- Konflikte nachhaltig lösen
- Affective Science Newsletter 4 (3), 2015 on Role of Emotions in Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution:
http://www.affective-sciences.org/newsletter - http://www.centerforempathy.org/malleable-emotions/
- https://www.axapartners.de/node/56
- https://www.tk.de/techniker/magazin/life-balance/stress-bewaeltigen/interview-olga-klimecki-neurowissenschaft-mitgefuehl-2138224
ONLINE ARTICLES
Francois Bogacz’s research on the impact of mediation on couple conflict covered in the media:
- https://digest.bps.org.uk/2020/12/08/mediation-may-help-couples-resolve-conflicts-better-than-one-on-one-discussion/
- on the role of future thinking in conflict resolution:
https://nautil.us/how-mental-time-travel-can-make-us-better-people-254241/ - on ageing (in German):
https://www.moment-by-moment.de/olga-klimecki-meditation-gegen-demenz/