Agenda
| Time | Title | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30 – 9:55 | Improvements for the Ontology of Curiosity | Regina Hurley |
| 9:55 – 10:20 | Formalizing Heuristics: Cognitive Strategies for Decisions under Constraint | Timothy Coleman and John Bittner |
| 10:20 – 10:45 | Towards an Ontology-Based System to Foster Older Adults’ Mental Health via Indoor Comfort Management | Daniele Spoladore, Anđela Đinđić, Walter Terkaj |
| 10:45 – 11:05 | The OPheP Initiative: An Open-Source Taxonomy for Capturing “First-Person” Mental Health Data | Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen |
| 11:05 – 11:30 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:30 – 12:15 | Keynote: Improving Everyday Solitude of Older Adults: Opportunities and Strategies | Netta Weinstein |
| 12:15 – 12:40 | Closure through an Ontological Lens | Noor Al-Khaouli, Keilai Angeldekao, Rachel Mavrovich |
| 12:40 – 1:00 | Towards Healthy Aging through Semantic Enrichment | John Beverley, Julie Bowker, Hollen Reischer, Rachel Mavrovich, Regina Hurley, Sean Kindya, Samuel Smith, Jie Zheng, Yongqun He, Beera Damayanthi Jesudas, William Duncan |
Keynote Speaker
Netta Weinstein
Title: Improving everyday solitude of older adults: Opportunities and strategies.
Abstract: Solitude is a common, and often positive, feature of daily life in older adulthood. Older adults benefit from time alone—even more so than their young adult counterparts—but the consequences of solitude for well-being are not uniformly positive or negative. Drawing on a growing body of research, this talk explores how solitude can be a rich opportunity for psychological well-being rather than a source of loneliness or boredom. In this talk, I discuss evidence that solitude is important for satisfying older adults’ need for autonomy, a key contributor to well-being across the lifespan. I also discuss the importance of self-kindness in shaping positive experiences of being alone in older adulthood. Finally, I discuss a new concept, solitude crafting, which involves the intentional shaping of solitary time with awareness, planning, and purpose. Solitude crafting offers a flexible strategy to align solitary moments with personal values, interests, and emotional needs. Together, these findings suggest that with the right mindset and strategies, everyday solitude can become a meaningful and well-being-promoting part of later life.
Bio: Netta Weinstein is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Reading and Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute, UK. She received her PhD from the University of Rochester. Her research examines human motivation and well-being, focusing on the qualities of social and solitudinal contexts that best promote well-being. She has published over 100 papers and two books including Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone (Cambridge University Press).