Dr. Kamila Dvořáková is a Compassion and Caring Fellow in the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. She obtained an MA in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 2010 and a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University in 2017. Dr. Dvořáková is now working on prevention and implementation projects in Central and Eastern Europe, including research into mindfulness and self-compassion with teachers in the Czech Republic.
Prof. Dr. Bethany Butzer writes, teaches, and conducts research in the fields of positive psychology and
transpersonal psychology, which emphasize the development of human
strength and potential. She received her MA in Clinical Psychology and
her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Western Ontario,
Canada. From 2013 to 2015 she was a postdoctoral research fellow at
Harvard Medical School, where she studied the effects of yoga in school
settings. She was a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the
University of New York in Prague from 2016 to 2022. As a core faculty
member for the Alef Trust MSc programme in Consciousness, Spirituality,
and Transpersonal Psychology, she is the Module Leader for the
Approaches to Consciousness module, a Lecturer on the Research Design
module, and a Personal Tutor.
She is also the Assistant Director for the Alef Trust PhD programme
in Applied Transpersonal Psychology. She supervises MSc and PhD
students, and her research focuses on yoga and mindfulness for youth, as
well as transpersonal topics, such as synchronicity, parapsychology, and
ecopsychology. Learn more about Bethany at www.bethanybutzer.com.
Prof. Dr. Mark Greenberg is the founding director of the
Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center and is Emeritus Professor at
Penn State. He was the first recipient of the Bennett Chair of Prevention
Research in Human Development and Family Studies, which he held from his
arrival at the University until his retirement. He began his career in
prevention research 40 years ago because he wanted to intervene with families
and children in early development before they could form serious mental health
or drug and alcohol problems. Currently, his areas of research include the prevention
of behavioral health problems and the promotion of wellbeing in youth and their
caregivers. His most recent interest is researching theory and testing the
effects of programs that facilitate mindfulness and compassion. He is also
passionate about conceptual and statistical models for understanding the
effects of universal intervention. Throughout his many years in prevention
research, he has authored over 350 peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters
and has collaborated with organizations such as the Collaborative for Academic,
Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the Conduct Disorder Prevention Research
Group, PROSPER, and the Family Life Project, for which he served as
co-director.
