May 22, 2023
Lara Aknin, Psychology Professor, Simon Fraser Uni
Giving's Positive Impact on the Giver

Dr. Lara Aknin is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University, chair of the Lancet’s COVID-19 Mental Health Task Force, and a co-editor of the World Happiness Report. She is Director of the Helping and Happiness Lab, which studies what makes people happy, the emotional consequences of kind or generous behavior, and the well-being outcomes of specific spending choices. She holds a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of British Columbia.

Her research has been published in various academic journals, including ScienceNature Human Behaviour, the Journal of Personality and Social PsychologySocial Psychological and Personality Science and Perspectives on Psychological Science, and has been covered in international media outlets such as the CBCCNNMaclean’s MagazineForbes, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.