Guest: John Helliwell (professor and happiness expert)
Did you know there is a World Happiness Report? That is what John Helliwell devotes his professional life to, creating metrics and analyses to measure happiness around the world in order to influence decisions that promote personal wellbeing – a far cry from where he thought he would end up.
What does it take to coordinate research and engagement on agrivoltaics? For Omri Haiven, that is his job at the Clean Energy Research Group at Simon Fraser University, which specializes in the co-location of renewable energy and agriculture. This passion comes from an interest in food co-ops, which influences access, affordability, and equitable access to food and impacts food security.
Would you thrive on a typical 9-to-5 schedule? For Edward Slingerland, his answer would be no – the fact that he is on the faculty of two separate universities is proof of that. Not to mention, he is a sinologist and religious studies professor who originally studied molecular biology. After discovering himself, he learned that it is okay to change course if your passion is elsewhere. As he says: “What does your preferred day look like?” – answering that will lead to what you are meant to do.
Children’s health is a complex and sensitive field. As a pediatrician, Dr. Stuart Turvey diagnoses a huge variety of illnesses and conditions in children – while dealing with scared kids and parents, with the goal of turning them into happy and healthy ones. All the while, he also researches these health conditions and their causes, while keeping in mind the social and emotional impacts of the kids’ health journeys.
Research is more than just digging for information; it is also about teaching. This is what Iman Goodarzi does, in his dual role as a public scholar and PhD candidate. In academia, he finds that his work day is more flexible in terms of timing, but the trade-off is that this is never-ending work – passion for the work and time management skills are vital for him.
