Undergraduate Research Week at the Kindness Institute

Human Connection, Communities, and Conflict Research Roundtable

During last week’s Undergraduate Research Week, the Bedari Kindness Institute hosted a student research roundtable on Human Connection, Communities, and Conflict. Students presented research spanning a variety of topics, including AI patient simulations and their role in fostering empathy in medical education, as well as art-making practices as a form of community empowerment and stigma reduction in the context of HIV/AIDS. Additional projects explored the intergroup dialogue sequence course at UCLA, as well as efforts to engage with religious leaders in Los Angeles communities.

Across the varied areas of research – including, Public Affairs, Human Biology and Society, Sociology, Public Health, and English – participants reflected on how different disciplines and methodologies can deepen our understanding of human connection and conflict. A central theme of the roundtable was how research can and should be used to improve humanity, and how interdisciplinary approaches can strengthen both rigorous scholarship and effective practice.