Project description
Understanding how individuals build resilience under life challenges
Resilience is developed when individuals recognise that emotional states are temporary and empathise with their future feelings and with others’ perspectives. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the EMPATH project will examine how individuals build resilience to significant life challenges, including economic hardship, environmental disasters, and health crises. It will combine insights from behavioural economics and psychology, focusing on the theory of mind and strategic perspective-taking, to develop a framework that bridges the so-called empathy gap with strategic reasoning. The project will use controlled laboratory experiments and large-scale online studies to identify mechanisms and test behavioural interventions. The project aligns with EU priorities on resilience and well-being.
Objective
EmPath studies how individuals build resilience to major life shocks—economic hardship, environmental disasters, and health crises—by integrating insights from behavioral economics and psychology, in particular theory of mind, and strategic perspective-taking. The project advances a framework that combines the “empathy gap” literature with models of strategic reasoning. The central hypothesis is that resilience can be fostered when individuals recognise the transience of current emotional states and anticipate both their own future states and the perspectives of others, via empathy. Methodologically, the project employs controlled laboratory experiments to identify mechanisms and large-scale representative online studies to test behavioural interventions. At the individual level, EmPath designs exercises that cultivate foresight and self-empathy to mitigate maladaptive post-shock choices. At the policy level, it develops communication strategies that sustain long-term support for health and environmental policies despite short-term disruptions.
Hosted at Universitat Pompeu Fabra under the supervision of Prof. Rosemarie Nagel, the fellowship provides cutting-edge training in experimental design, modelling, and dissemination. By bridging theory and applied interventions, EmPath delivers insights for science, policy, and society—supporting EU priorities on resilience, climate adaptation, and public health, while enhancing democratic stability and individual well-being.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- engineering and technology environmental engineering ecosystem-based management climate change adaptation
- social sciences psychology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
08002 Barcelona
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.