Empathy Training for Regulation of Inflammation in the Human Body

About the project:

EmpaTRaIny is an innovative project that investigates empathy as a dynamic, trainable capacity and its systemic effects, laying the foundation for transformative advancements in neuroscience, psychology, and public health. The project develops and validates a multi-modal framework that integrates advanced physiological measures with psychometric tools to achieve a comprehensive and objective assessment of empathy. This data along with biomarkers and the implementation of neuroscience-informed training will be combined to explore whether empathic responses can be regulated to alleviate psychosomatic symptoms. EmpaTRaIny pioneers the exploration of empathy’s biological costs in individuals prone to over-empathizing, and positions empathy as a dynamic and trainable skill. These hypotheses challenge traditional views and create a foundation for revolutionary interventions in mental health and psychosomatic care.

01/08/2025 – 31/01/2027

Individuals with and without depressive symptoms; Mental health professionals and educators; Policy makers and healthcare stakeholders

The project results are the following:

New scientific evidence on the biological and psychosomatic role of empathy
Validated multi-modal empathy assessment tools
A pilot empathy regulation training program (online and in-person)
High-impact scientific publications and policy briefs
Strengthened basis for an ERC Consolidator Grant proposal

Partnership:

UoL Project Team:

Dr. Kyriaki Mikellidou is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Quantitative Research Methods at the University of Limassol, specializing in visual perception and cognition in both healthy and clinical populations using virtual reality, psychophysics, and neuroimaging techniques. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of York and is a recipient of the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. Her research has been published in high-impact journals and presented internationally, and she currently serves as Editor for Perception and i-Perception.

Anastasia Maria Kesoglou is a Research Assistant and Special Teaching Staff at the Department of Psychology of the University of Limassol, with an interdisciplinary background in pedagogy, special education, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. She has previously served as an external Research Specialist in the European program EMPACT at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), coordinated by Ass. Prof. Efi Kyprianidou and Ass. Prof. Efi Giannis Christidis (Head of the Department of Fine Arts). She has also worked as a Research Associate under the supervision of Ass. Prof. Kyriaki Mikellidou and Ass. Prof. Efi Kyprianidou at the Laboratory of Philosophical Research of Arts and Emotions at CUT.

funded by:

The project is co-funded by the EU within the framework of the Cohesion Policy Programme “THALIA 2021-2027”. [Pr. no.: VISION ERC -PATH 2/0524/0021]. The content reflects the views of the author(s) only. The European Commission and the Managing Authority of THALIA 2021–2027 cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.