Scholars Respond to the Well-Being Crisis in Academia: Infusing Care into Academic Conferences

This study examines how academic conferences can support the emotional well-being of emerging scholars who study well-being amid the growing well-being crisis in higher education. Using the 2023 Plasticity of Well-Being Summer Workshop as a case example, we explored how academic spaces might be intentionally designed to nurture scholars’ whole selves rather than reinforce norms of hierarchy, productivity, and disconnection. Analyzing focus groups and interviews among 30 participants, organizers, and speakers, we employed a collaborative autoethnographic methodology to highlight how the workshop enabled vulnerability, authenticity, and a sense of belonging rarely experienced in traditional academic settings. Guided by two research questions: (1) how do organizers and speakers describe their experiences and intentions planning and implementing the conference? and (2) what elements most contributed to the conference’s success? Organizers described intentionally centering the voices of emerging scholars, broadening representation, and reducing power dynamics to create conditions for relational learning. Findings are presented through the themes of resisting the status quo, broadening representation, redirected power and hierarchy, authentic connections, and physical and psychological nourishment. Findings underscore that well-being is not merely an individual pursuit but emerges through relational and structural care. Implications of the study suggest reimagining conferences as spaces of collective care offers a promising pathway for promoting well-being in academia.