Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory (IASL) from Northeastern University in Boston, led by Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett, joins the Omino project, implemented in our Faculty. This distinguished researcher in the field of neurobiology and psychology visited our university on Wednesday, 29 October. As part of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar, she delivered a lecture on the secrets of our brain.

Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett is a distinguished researcher in the fields of neurobiology and psychology, associated with Northeastern University in Boston, where she serves as a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology. She also collaborates with Massachusetts General Hospital.

She belongs to the top 1% of the most frequently cited scientists in the world in the fields of psychology and neurobiology. She has published over 280 scientific articles, cited over 100,000 times.

She is the author of bestselling popular science books "How Emotions are Made" and "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain", both translated into Polish. She is also a laureate of numerous prestigious scientific awards, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. Her TED talk has been viewed over 7 million times. She is described as the "William James of our time" and "the deepest thinker on the nature of emotions since Darwin."

Informational overload…

The IASL Laboratory joins the project Omino implemented by the Department of Artificial Intelligence at our Faculty, and this process is currently being approved by the European Commission. The joint research plan has already received approval from the Research Ethics Committee at WUST and simultaneously in the USA.

The Department of Artificial Intelligence has received, as part of the European Union's Horizon Europe program – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Staff Exchanges and along with funding from the Ministry of Education and Science, over 3.4 million PLN for the years 2023-26 to implement the OMINO project (Overcoming Multilevel Information Overload).

– The aim of the project is to investigate and find effective methods for dealing with the increasingly common phenomenon of information overload – says Prof. Przemysław Kazienko from the Department of Artificial Intelligence, leader of the project. – In the face of the ever-growing amount of data available online, information overload is becoming a serious challenge, negatively affecting the ability to efficiently process and use information – he adds.

The OMINO Project aims to identify effective strategies for minimizing this phenomenon through interdisciplinary research and collaboration of international experts.

As part of the Omino project, doctoral students and staff from our Faculty undertake scientific internships at over 20 foreign universities, mainly from the USA, Singapore, Australia, Japan, and Western Europe. A total of 74 people will benefit from monthly trips. Many of them have already taken place.

Secrets of the brain

The Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar is a series of open meetings featuring world-renowned speakers. It is aimed at a wide audience – students, doctoral students, academic staff, and anyone interested in deepening their knowledge in the field of sciences.

This time, the speaker was Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett who took the stage with her lecture "Three Lessons About the Brain".

– The brain not only thinks, but above all predicts – and in this way regulates the body and creates our emotions – asserted the world-renowned neurobiologist and psychologist who spoke about this remarkable mechanism.

Admission to the lecture was free, but registration was required. The interest was very high. The event was co-organized by the Wrocław branch of Academia Europaea.

Our university was visited not only by Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett, but also another distinguished psychologist from the IASL lab, Prof. Karen Quigley. Both researchers participated in scientific meetings in our Faculty.