Discovering Joy in Troubled Times: Eleventh Annual Conference
“Discovering Joy in Troubled Times” was the theme of our eleventh annual conference, which took place in Brighton on 9 May 2025.
For those of you who missed the conference, and those of you who were there, we will share the keynote talks on this page in the coming weeks.
Joy, is defined as a “deep feeling of happiness or contentment.” It might feel counterintuitive to forefront joy when times are as tough as they are. However, mindfulness can teach us to find contentment in the small details of everyday life, that we might otherwise overlook.
Distinguished speakers
At our eleventh annual conference, three distinguished keynote speakers spoke about how cultivating joy supports us: Professor Mark Williams, Professor Barney Dunn and Dr Radha Mogdil explored the theme from different angles.
Mark Williams
Mark Williams talked about new perspectives in psychological science.
Professor Mark Williams, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford, is a leading expert in mindfulness. He co-developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to prevent depression relapse. As the founding director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, his work has shaped modern mindfulness practices. He co-authored the bestselling “Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World”. “Deeper Mindfulness,” his most recent book, shows how the most recent developments in neuroscience and age-old wisdom can be used to change our lives.
Radha Modgil
Life is not easy sometimes, and we will all inevitably be faced with challenge, loss and difficulty. Dr Radha Modgil provided small, simple daily strategies to help strengthen resilience and wellbeing.
Dr Radha Modgil has been an influential, trusted and creative voice for wellbeing since 2008. As an NHS GP, television, radio, podcast broadcaster and author she is on a mission to bring about positive change and empower anyone to take small but powerful steps to improve their quality of life. Radha is the medical expert for BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks and a regular contributor to BBC Radio advocating for mental and emotional wellbeing.
Barney Dunn
Barney Dunn introduced ways mindfulness-based treatments are being adapted to build positive emotions and wellbeing, including how they are translating findings from basic science and other treatment approaches (including Augmented Depression Therapy; a wellbeing and recovery-oriented individual therapy for depression).
Professor Barney Dunn is a research and clinical psychologist at the University of Exeter. He explores the ways mindfulness-based treatments are being used to build positive emotions and wellbeing, how mindfulness can help people to make the most of life’s opportunities. His work shows that activating positive feelings may be more important in therapies for depression than attempting to turn off negative feelings.