On October 30th, 2025, the Institute of European Studies hosted Professor Ingela Steij Stålbrand to present her lecture titled: "Shaping Health and Well-Being Across the Life Span." Professor Stålbrand is a visiting scholar from Lund University, Sweden, where she is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology. Her lecture primarily explored the purpose and the content of her research in positive psychology. Stålbrand also provided personal reflections on her own relation to the positive psychology field, and concluded her talk by drawing comparisons between her personal experiences in American and Swedish communities.
Marc Sandberg, Professor of Norwegian Literature at Berkeley, introduced Stålbrand, succinctly describing her research as focusing on "how people experience joy and thrive in face of adversities." That is precisely what Stålbrand began her lecture with, using herself as an example. Stålbrand presented her life in three parts: her early life was filled with family hardships, losing both her parents before the age of 21; her next 20 years of life were dedicated to studying and understanding the losses she experienced, leading her to work in the positive psychology field; and the rest of her life will be dedicated to applying what she has learned and read to educate and uplift a wider audience.
To Professor Stålbrand, "knowledge alone is not enough." As a scholar of positive psychology, a key role of hers is to "put forward research more directly:" to make it accessible to communities in need. She has worked for the Swedish suicide health line and the Red Cross, and, during her time at Berkeley, has volunteered at food pantries and shelters. Stålbrand also works towards her goal of connecting professionals and impacted populations through her involvement in research projects. 
One such project was the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care, where Stålbrand worked as a psychological test leader, interviewing more than 800 people aged 60 to 93. Stålbrand recalls that these encounters "changed my life;" her interviewees spoke about topics that helped Stålbrand determine how she wanted to approach aging and achieving a happy life.
She has also worked on a project for the Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies, where researchers from diverse fields came together to develop a trans-disciplinary model on how communities can foster resilience and a happy life. The researchers concluded that there are three components to achieving a good existence: connectedness, agency, and time.
Professor Stålbrand finished her lecture with a brief reflection on her experience as a visiting professor at Berkeley – "it has been healing" to be surrounded by such an inclusive community; Swedish communities tend to be more reserved. The rest of the presentation time was dedicated to questions from the audience of approximately 20 people.