If you’d like me to talk at you, please email me. To give you an idea what I talk about, here’s a random selection of stuff.
05/08/2016 “How Socrates Can Make You Happier Than Kanye West” Wilderness Festival
Excerpt: “Michael Plant researches the nature and causes of happiness for his PhD in philosophy at Oxford University. He thinks most of us (including Kanye West, probably) pursue happiness the wrong way and are less happy than we could be. He explains what happiness is, why the evidence shows we’re much worse at it than we thought, why money, power, sex and fame won’t do much for your happiness but changing how you think and how you spend your time will, which practical, evidence-based (and free) things you could and should do immediately, and why Socrates was right all along (even though he didn’t have the evidence to prove it).”
15/06/2016 “How to life a happy life: can we be happy in our modern society?” public lecture hosted by Students for Happiness, Oxford
10/06/2016 “Mental Health and Happiness – the causes Effective Altruism overlooks” presentation given to the Centre for Effective Altruism, Martin School, University of Oxford
19/05/2016 “Measuring, monitoring and maintaining mental health: the potential of happiness tracking” presentation to the Psy-Ethics Journal Club, Oxford University Psychiatry Department
05/05/2016 “Effective altruism and mental health: what can we do?” talk to the Oxford Chapter of Giving What We Can
02/2016 “How to make the world happier” working paper presented to Applied Ethics Discussion Seminar, Oxford University Philosophy Department
11/2015 “A little less life satisfaction please: concerns about trying to measure and maximise happiness” working paper presented to Jowett Society, Oxford University Philosophy Department
10/2015 “Happiness: explaining what it is and how to pursue it” talk to Oxford Forum, Oxford student society.
08/2015 “The Conquest of Happiness: lessons from philosophy and evidence from social science on how to be happier” talk at Wilderness Festival.
Here’s some stuff, stuff that has happened.
I Had Depression And Now I Study For A PhD In Happiness At Oxford University – The Tab, 29/04/2016
How To Life A Happy Life – As part of Oxford University’s Research in Conversation series, 16/04/2016
How Can We Pursue Happiness If We Don’t Know What It Is? – Huffington Post, 26/10/2015
Matt Damon Must Die: Why “The Martian” Is A Terrible Example Of How To Save A Life – Huffington Post, 10/10/2015
David Cameron Has Promised Voters ‘The Good Life’, But What Does That Even Mean? And Is He Right? – Huffington Post, 21/04/15
Which Party Should You Vote For To Make You Happiest? – New Statesman, 15/04/15