1st FRIENDS seminar “EDUCATION FOR INCLUSION THROUGH QT/TM” and 2nd face to face dissemination meeting in Lisbon

Our 2nd FACE TO FACE DISSEMINATION MEETING  was held in Lisbon on the 9th of May 2019 at the Auditório Armando Guebuza of the Lusófona Library.  This followed the first seminar of the FRIENDS project on “EDUCATION FOR INCLUSION THROUGH QUIET TIME/TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION”.

Participants had a unique opportunity to be actively involved in the discussion to exchange experiences of the implementation of the FRIENDS project, as a tool to improve social relations in schools and fostering social inclusion. There was a Q&A session with interested schools, and a discussion of future prospects for the scaling up of Quiet Time/TM.

The welcome speech was given by Dr. Vítor Figueiredo, representative of the Ministry of Education of Portugal – Direção Geral de Educação (DGE).

This intervention was followed by the opening session and the introduction to the conference held by Fabrizio Boldrini – Fondazione Hallgarten Franchetti – Centro Studi Villa Montesca (Italy), as coordinator of the FRIENDS project.

Dr. Ashley Deans, professor of physics, presented a significant analysis of the scientific researches concerning the effects of the QT/TM programme. All of the attendees were highly interested in learning about the empirical studies and scientific analyses conducted in the field of Transcendental Meditation, and actively participated in the discussion.

Furthermore, the partner universities of the project presented and shared with the participants the preliminary scientific report regarding the schools that have adopted the QT/TM programme in the 4 partner countries (Belgium, Italy, Portugal and United Kingdom).

Finally, guidelines for upscaling the QT / TM program in other schools, contexts and interesting countries, were provided by prof. Alberto Bramanti of the Bocconi University of Milan (Italy) and by Professor Frans Van Assche – University of Leuven (Belgium).
Building on the policy recommendations resulting from the previous implementation of the QT/TM programme (see EUROPE project), future perspectives of the FRIENDS project have been outlined in order to achieve sustainable results for the whole project duration and beyond.

House of Colours presentation

Children report on their experience with QT/TM