The 2025 PsyHuman International School fosters a model of well-being promotion that encompasses psychological, physical, and socio-cultural determinants of health, while challenging the dominant narratives of the ‘ideal’ mind- and body-type. It is based on the idea that the approaches of the humanities can complement clinical psychology and bio-medical sciences to promote individual and community well-being, as well as to question mainstream conceptualisations.

The two-week programme will be structured around in-presence seminars, workshops, and outdoor activities, from Monday to Friday.

• Seminars will be delivered by both faculty members and external guests, to ensure a multidisciplinary approach, and a variety of topics and methodologies. Participants will be encouraged to share their own knowledge and competencies in the classroom.
• Narrative Medicine Workshop: Activities based on the signature practices of Narrative Medicine (i.e., close reading, attentive listening, self-reflection, writing to a prompt, storytelling and sharing), aimed at strengthening narrative competence (“the capacity to skillfully receive the accounts persons give of themselves – to recognize, absorb, interpret and be moved to action by the stories of others”, Rita Charon, 2017: 1).
• Outdoor activities: the programme includes one all-day excursion (to be defined); a half-day guided tour of Rovereto; and a workshop at the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum of Rovereto (MART).

Date: June 16 – June 27, 2025

Application Deadline: April 30, 2025

Location: University of Trento - Rovereto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy

Cost: €400

The fee includes:

• lunch in the university canteen from Monday to Friday
• a socio-cultural programme (guided tour of Rovereto, one-day excursion)
• a welcome coffee break
• a farewell buffet
• a one-day excursion in Rovereto
• a visit to a museum or other attraction.

Who Can Apply?

• The PsyHuman International School is open to up min. 10 and max. 25 senior Bachelor’s degree (from second year) and all Master’s degree students.
• Participation is open to UniTrento students but priority will be given to international students.
• The programme is particularly suited for students in psychological and social sciences, gender studies, and the humanities, but it is not limited to these fields. We warmly welcome students from any discipline who are eager to enhance their multidisciplinary competence and engage with novel perspectives on well-being.
• A good command of English is essential, with a minimum proficiency of B2 level (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

Lectures and workshops will address the following issues:

• gender non-conformity in sports
• gender violence
• LGBTQIA+ communities’ health and well-being
• literature, theatre and medicine
• mindfulness and contemplative practices for well-being
• narrative approaches to mental illness
• narrative medicine
• neuroaesthetics and the artist’s brain
• new addictions in the era of civilisation
• queer activism and migration
• sexuality, ableism, and fundamental rights
• the neuroscience of love

Participants will enhance the following life skills: narrative competence, affiliation, self-awareness, and interpersonal relationship skills.

For more information about the summer school, check the website HERE.