Emotions: Gateways to learning and survival. Mid-career keynote

My work is focused on how emotions play a role for behaviour in two important life areas: education and dealing with the experience of disasters. In the first case, how a person responds can mean the difference between academic success or failure. In the second, it can mean the difference between being a trauma victim or surviving rela-tively unscathed. The research I have conducted in each case has been directed at answering two broad questions–what aspects of a situation trigger specific emotions, and what role do these emotions play in shaping subsequent behaviour? Pekrun’s control-value theory (2006) provided the theoretical basis for our research in educa-tional contexts. The work my colleagues and I published in this area focused on how achievement emotions differed between students and across subject areas, cultures, and environmental settings. With an approach informed by science of resilience (Mas-ten, 2021), we explored the role of emotions aroused by natural disasters like earth-quakes and pandemics, technological disasters such as the Vajont Dam disaster in Italy, and violent acts such as the Paris and Bruxelles terrorist attacks and the Russia-Ukraine war. Based on our research and extensive literature reviews, we have developed evidence-based tools for assisting adults and children to increase their resilience when faced with diverse challenges. These tools have been deployed in schools and the wider community using methods ranging from online training apps to public posters. More research is urgently needed to understand how to motivate and support people in strengthening community well-being.