Dr. Lara Aknin awarded 2024 FASS Dean's Medal for excellence in research, teaching, and service

August 15, 2024

Congratulations to Dr. Lara Aknin on receiving the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Dean's Medal in recognition of academic excellence in research, teaching, and service.

Established in 1999, the FASS Dean's Medals are awarded annually to continuing faculty members who have demonstrated significant contributions to their field of research and service to their department while in position at FASS.

A distinguished Professor of social psychology and director of the Helping and Happiness Lab, Lara Aknin's research focuses on the study of what makes people happy, the emotional consequences of kind or generous behaviour, and the well-being outcomes of specific spending choices. More recently, she is looking at the impact of pandemic policy decisions on mental health in various populations. Aknin's research is frequently covered by top media outlets around the world and her contributions to scientific communication earned her the SFU Emerging Thoughts Leaders Newsmaker Award.

Recognized as a leading researcher in mental health and emotional well-being, Aknin has been appointed to several prestigious research positions, including editor of the United Nation's World Happiness Report and chair of The Lancet's COVID-19 Mental Health Task Force. She was also requested to deliver the keynote address at a national conference at the invitation of the Lieautenant Governor of British Columbia.

Aknin was awarded the President's New Researcher Award from the Canadian Psychological Association, the Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science, and the Sage Young Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for exceptional contributions to psychological science. She was recently elected as a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology and a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for her longstanding contributions to the field of social psychology. 

Reposted from FASS News: https://www.sfu.ca/fass/news/2024/08/deans-medals.html

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