Registration open for Nov. 7 Westwood Lecture on assessing the happiness of societies

Registration is open for faculty to attend the Westwood Lecture Series on Nov. 7

Louis Tay, the William C. Byham Chair in Industrial-Organizational Psychology in the College of Health and Human Sciences, will present “Assessing Societal Well-Being: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges” from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Westwood, the Purdue president’s residence.

The Westwood Lecture Series is an opportunity for Purdue faculty and those staff members engaged in the research topic to interact with colleagues on scholarly work. The program is aimed at enhancing the intellectual vibrancy of the Purdue West Lafayette campus.

Space is limited to the first 50 faculty who register online.

“Assessing Societal Well-Being: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges”

Louis Tay

William C. Byham Chair in Industrial-Organizational Psychology

College of Health and Human Sciences

Abstract. As global interest grows beyond solely economic indicators, nations and intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are increasingly focusing on measuring societal well-being. This presentation explores advancements, challenges and key considerations in assessing societal well-being, with a particular emphasis on psychometric and methodological perspectives. While survey data remains foundational, recent innovations in data science — such as analyzing social media, Google search trends and video data — offer new possibilities for real-time well-being assessments. However, these approaches also present significant methodological challenges. The talk will conclude with a critical reflection on the limitations of happiness as a sole indicator of well-being, suggesting future research directions and potential collaborations to enrich the assessment of societal well-being.

Bio. Louis Tay is the William C. Byham Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology in the College of Health and Human Sciences. Tay’s research focuses on assessing and enhancing human well-being using innovative methodological and technological approaches. He has co-edited several books, including “Big Data in Psychological Research” (American Psychological Association), “Handbook of Well-Being” (DEF Publishers), “Handbook of Positive Psychology Assessment” (Hogrefe), “The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities (Oxford University Press), “Technology and Measurement around the Globe” (Cambridge University Press), and “Handbook of Well-Being in Higher Education” (Oxford; forthcoming). His research has appeared in various media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today and MSNBC. He has contributed to the United Nations’ research reports on well-being and is the tech founder of the Purdue-based startup ExpiWell.

Upcoming fall 2024 Westwood Lecture Series events

Dec. 5: Mohit Tawarmalani, executive associate dean of faculty and the Allison and Nancy Schleicher Chair in Management in the Mitch Daniels School of Business, will discuss optimization beyond convexity: applications in process design, networking and pricing. Tawarmalani’s research interests are at the interface of computer science, optimization and operations research with applications in business and engineering.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives