Dr Somboon Jarukasemthawee from Chulalongkorn University, in Thailand, visited the Centre for Applied Psychology at the start of July 2018. This is part of an ongoing research collaboration with colleagues in the Centre - Associate Professor Peter Trower and Dr Andrew Fox – exploring cultural differences in the practice of mindfulness meditation.
Ultimately, this aims to develop a way to explore the different mechanisms through which mindfulness meditation seems to ease distress. Dr Jarukasemthawee and Dr Fox gave a presentation regarding the differences between the original Buddhist-influenced approach to mindfulness and that currently being taught as part of secular Western approaches to the alleviation of distress.
During the visit there was also time discuss future collaborations between the Psychology departments in Birmingham and Chulalongkorn Universities.