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Hitz Galen Fountain Gerald Higginbotham Isaac Mbiti Michele Claibourn Sally Hudson Tim Layton Xiao Wang Adam Roux Amanda Crombie Andy Ortiz Ashley Jardina Brendan J. Boler Brooke Ray Charles J. Rush Charles J. Rush Diane Biesecker George Foresman Jieun Pai Justin H. Kirkland Kimberly Jenkins Robinson Melissa Thomas-Hunt Pam Cipriano Paul Becker Tim Layton (-) Benjamin Converse (-) Brooke Lehmann Facet People - News School Engineering Social Innovation @ UVA Facet UVA Partner - News Research and Commentary Accolades Facet News Type - News Feb 20, 2025 Finding a Seat at the Interdisciplinary Research Table UVA Batten hosted the “Annual Behavioral Science Across Grounds Conference” earlier this month, bringing some of the brightest minds of UVA’s research community to Garrett Hall to exchange ideas, interests, and insights. Associate professor Ben Converse gave the keynote. Learn more Feb 01, 2024 New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more Jan 26, 2023 When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors. Read in UVA Today Jan 31, 2022 Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award Social Entrepreneurship Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed. Learn more Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist Apr 07, 2021 Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction Social Psychology Leadership In a new paper featured on the cover of Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors explain why people systematically overlook subtractive improvements. Learn more Jan 21, 2021 The Lobbyist Is In: A UVA Youth Health Advocate Takes on a Polarized Congress Advocacy Health Policy People told Batten's Brooke Lehmann she would never find bipartisan support for school-based health centers. She didn’t listen. READ IN UVA TODAY Nov 27, 2020 Children’s Mental Health: How a Pandemic Has Created a New Epidemic Health Policy Advocacy According to Batten's Brooke Lehmann, the need for mental health care for children and adolescents has never been higher. On UVA’s Lifetime Learning podcast, Lehmann explores the state of children’s mental health, both pre- and post-pandemic. Listen on SoundCloud Aug 18, 2020 Prioritizing Youth Mental Health Advocacy Education In the United States, youth mental illness is on the rise. Young people are increasingly likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition and even to die by suicide. COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation, turning it into “a pandemic of its own,” Batten lecturer Brooke Lehmann told an online audience during the latest edition of Batten Expert Chats. Learn more Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Feb 20, 2025 Finding a Seat at the Interdisciplinary Research Table UVA Batten hosted the “Annual Behavioral Science Across Grounds Conference” earlier this month, bringing some of the brightest minds of UVA’s research community to Garrett Hall to exchange ideas, interests, and insights. Associate professor Ben Converse gave the keynote. Learn more
Feb 01, 2024 New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more
Jan 26, 2023 When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors. Read in UVA Today
Jan 31, 2022 Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award Social Entrepreneurship Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed. Learn more
Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post
Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist
Apr 07, 2021 Why Our Brains Miss Opportunities to Improve through Subtraction Social Psychology Leadership In a new paper featured on the cover of Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors explain why people systematically overlook subtractive improvements. Learn more
Jan 21, 2021 The Lobbyist Is In: A UVA Youth Health Advocate Takes on a Polarized Congress Advocacy Health Policy People told Batten's Brooke Lehmann she would never find bipartisan support for school-based health centers. She didn’t listen. READ IN UVA TODAY
Nov 27, 2020 Children’s Mental Health: How a Pandemic Has Created a New Epidemic Health Policy Advocacy According to Batten's Brooke Lehmann, the need for mental health care for children and adolescents has never been higher. On UVA’s Lifetime Learning podcast, Lehmann explores the state of children’s mental health, both pre- and post-pandemic. Listen on SoundCloud
Aug 18, 2020 Prioritizing Youth Mental Health Advocacy Education In the United States, youth mental illness is on the rise. Young people are increasingly likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition and even to die by suicide. COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation, turning it into “a pandemic of its own,” Batten lecturer Brooke Lehmann told an online audience during the latest edition of Batten Expert Chats. Learn more