Aktualności

17 June 2026

Call for contributions to a special issue of the Behavioral Sciences journal

The Guest Editor of “First-Person Narratives of Mental Illness and Wellbeing”, Professor Olivia Sagan (Queen Margaret University), invites researchers working in the areas of loneliness, solitude, and spiritual experience to consider submitting a paper.

The Special Issue seeks to unite diverse behavioral disciplines in exploring first-person narratives of mental health and wellbeing in the 21st century. First-person stories provide unique insight, challenge assumptions, and disrupt stereotypes. Since the narrative turn in the social sciences, such accounts have enriched knowledge, empowered marginalized voices, and deepened understanding. Yet, debates in critical discourse remind us that language can reproduce inequality, trapping narrators in disempowering stories of trauma and victimhood. Today, narrative studies must also confront misinformation, fake news, social media amplification and silencing, and the growing influence of AI in shaping and distorting voices. We invite theoretical and empirical contributions that broaden and challenge how first-person narrative informs research, practice, and lived experience. Submissions may include first-person accounts or analyses of narrative use in various contexts. Academics, practitioners, artists, activists, and people with lived experience are all welcome to contribute.

The deadline for manuscript submissions is 15 September 2026. For any details, please contact: osagan@qmu.ac.uk.

5 May 2026

The ISRS Annual General Meeting, Savannah, Georgia 25th April 2026 – Report

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

On the occasion of the next Alone Together conference, the Annual General Meeting of the Society was held, open to those interested in joining.

At the outset, the President, Professor Julian Stern, recalled the history of the founding of ISRS and its activities to date. He emphasized that the aim of the ISRS is to support research and researchers concerned with solitude, and what makes the organisation distinctive is that it has members working across a very wide range of academic disciplines and professional contexts, as well as having members or activities from many countries across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia.

He then invited all ISRS members to contribute ideas regarding conferences, online seminars, monograph projects, journal initiatives, and more.

The results of the elections were also announced—to elect a President and a Vice-President (also responsible for the activities of the Secretary as well as those of the Vice-President) for a two-year term, roughly aligned with the conference cycle. As Julian Stern and Małgorzata Wałejko were the only nominees for President and Vice-President, they were duly elected to these positions. Elections will be held every two years, broadly coinciding with the biennial conference cycle.

The location of the next Alone Together conference, to take place in two years, was also discussed.

ISRS General Meetings will be held annually—virtually in non-conference years, and both virtually and in person in conference years.

28 April 2026

The 5th Alone Together Conference: Report

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

The 5th Alone Together Conference: Report

The fifth edition of the Alone Together conference series, held in Savannah, USA, has come to an end. We experienced many outstanding presentations, most notably the moving keynote lectures by Professor Robert Coplan from Carleton University in Ottawa (Canada) and Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a renowned Buddhist teacher (USA), as well as contributions from participants representing 10 countries (Australia, the USA, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Romania, Poland, Canada, Israel, and Turkey).

We would like to thank the conference host, Professor Richard Cleveland from Georgia Southern University, as well as the President of International Society for Research on Solitude, Professor Julian Stern (Lincoln Bishop University), and Dr. Małgorzata Wałejko and Dr. Barbara Żakowska (University of Szczecin) for organizing the event.

17 April 2026

Alone Together 5: The Schedule

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

Conference Venue
The conference will take place at The Armstrong Center, located at 13040 Abercorn Street, Savannah, Georgia 31419, USA.

Day 1 – Thursday April 23, 2026

1500hrs Registration Opens. Coffee & Collaboration.

1530hrs Welcome to the Conference. Opening ceremony.

1600hrs Keynote Session

Seeking More Solitude: Conceptualization and Implications of ‘Aloneliness’ – Robert Coplan

1730hrs Closing words for the day.

1815hrs Conference Gala Dinner.

Day 2 – Friday April 24, 2026

0800hrs Registration Opens. Coffee & Collaboration.

0900hrs Welcome & Remembrance.

Remembrance and honoring solitude scholars

0900hrs Beginning a day of Dialogue.

Presentation of University of Szczecin Rector’s Prize.

0930hrs First Round of Parallel Sessions – 25min speaker presentations (2x); 15min discussion

Ballroom A

Hidden Connections Rethinking Aloneness, Connection, and Healing for Men.
Kimberly Farley-Smith & Jahlil Arness Daniels, Georgia Southern University
Beliminality: Rethinking Liminal Theory Through Relational Time, Learning Disability, and Lived Loneliness.
Lorena Hall, Lincoln Bishop University
Discussion

Ballroom B

Solitude, Oneness and the Essential Otherness.
Henrietta Serban, Romanian Academy
Emotional Intelligence Level and the Experience of Loneliness and Solitude among University Students.
Monika Garwolińska & Aleksandra Kopko, University of Białystok
Discussion

Ballroom C

Attachment and Loneliness: The Roles of Spousal Acceptance and Gratitude.
Michal Einav, Peres Academic Center, Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Loneliness– From Digital Exclusion to Legal Exclusion.
Kinga Flaga-Gieruszyńska, University of Szczecin
Discussion

1045hrs Transition time / Break

1100hrs Second Round of Parallel Sessions – 25min speaker presentations (3x); 15min discussion
Ballroom A

Wrestling with God and Humans: Solitude as Monastic Contestation in Vincent van Gogh.
Ross Hamilton, Tilburg University
Hall of Mirrors: Performance, surveillance, and loneliness at Versailles under Louis XIV.
Olga Szynkaruk, Poland
A Mind-Active State for Loneliness.
Engin Ucar, Turkey
Discussion

Ballroom B

From Isolation to Flourishing: Rethinking Solitude, Silence, and Loneliness. Felix Olanrewaju Awosika, University of Lagos
Landscapes of loneliness: Insights from psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann’s life and work.
Gail A. Hornstein, Mount Holyoke College
Influence of attachment style on perception of loneliness in a long-distance relationships.
Iga Oliwia Błauź, University of Szczecin
Discussion

Ballroom C

Can there be a history of solitude?
Julian Stern, Lincoln Bishop University
Marriage as a place of loneliness in later life: Experiences from Eramus+ project “Learning from European Lives”.
Marcin Muszyński, University of Łódź & Artur Fabiś, WSB Academy
The dialogue of one: Understanding solitude in play.
Celeste Fiori & Dakota Burnsed, Georgia Southern University
Discussion

1215hrs Lunch together

1330hrs Transition time / Break

1345hrs Keynote Session

Exploration of Solitude, Silence, and Loneliness in Bön Buddhist Tradition of Tibet
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

1445hrs Transition time / Break

1500hrs Third Round of Parallel Sessions – 25min speaker presentations (3x); 15min discussion
Ballroom A

The Value of Quietude: Etty Hillesum’s Keys to Transformational Spirituality and Resilience
Christopher Sink, Western Washington University
Working at the Heart of the Mind. Freeing the imagination in an age of collaborative media: an autoethnographic account of the value of solitary creativity
Gillian Simpson, United Kingdom
Silence in classroom settings: Comparative studies from Australia and Poland
Dat Bao, Monash University and Barbara Źakowska & Małgorzata Wałejko, Wioletta Szóstak, University of Szczecin
Discussion

Ballroom B

Rural Women’s Associations as instruments for mobilising social potential and mitigating loneliness: the case of small rural communities in Poland
Marcin Janowski & Aleksander Cywiński, University of Szczecin
Isn’t it too late? Fostering friendship mosaic to prevent loneliness in later life
Kamila Witerska, University of Warsaw
Discussion

1630hrs Coffee & Refreshments / Break

1645hrs Fourth Round of Parallel Sessions – 25min speaker presentations (2x); 15min discussion
Ballroom A

Silence as a Double-Edged Sword – the Use of Silence in Feminist Literature
Oliwia Giergielewicz, University of Szczecin
Loneliness and Well-being: Challenges Among Diverse Older Migrant Groups in the USA
Magdalena Leszko, James Baladi & Aarifa Rabbani, Moravian University
Discussion

Ballroom B

E-government and the new dimension of social exclusion: between digital agency and citizen loneliness
Ewa Kuzionko-Ochrymiuk, University of Białystok
Analysis of Trust in AI and the Paradox of Loneliness in the Global Village of the Artificial Intelligence Era
Monika Róźycka & Kalina Kukiełko, University of Szczecin
Discussion

Ballroom C

The Quiet Space: How Solitude Strengthens Professional Counselor Identity and Self-Reflection
Kimberly Farley-Smith & Celeste Fiori, Georgia Southern University
Alienation as a form of solitude. A philosophical perspective
Piotr Domeracki, Nicolaus Copernicus University
Discussion

1800hrs Closing words for the day

1900hrs Dinner
Attendees dine on their own.

Day 3 – Saturday April 25, 2026

0800hrs Registration Opens. Coffee & Collaboration.

0900hrs Panel Session

What’s the Point? The Value of Solitude Research Beyond the Academic Community
Julian Stern Moderator
1015hrs Transition time / Break

1030hrs First Round of Parallel Sessions – 25min speaker presentations (3x); 15min discussion

Ballroom A

On the Pilgrimage Trail: A Philosophical Meditation on Being Alone Together
Patricia A. Sayre, Saint Mary’s College Notre Dame
Digital art as a form of creative coping with the feeling of loneliness
Joanna Sikorska, Adam Mickiewicz University
Discussion

Ballroom B

Trailblazing Wellness: A Female Pioneer Forged by Solitude, Sustained by Resilience
Mandy Nice, United States & Joe Dulla, Georgia Southern University
Loneliness and solitude in law enforcement agencies
Anna Szafranek, University of Białystok
When Solitude Teaches Survival: From Wilderness to Lifelong Resilience
Joe Dulla, Georgia Southern University
Discussion
1200hrs Coffee & Refreshments / Break

1215hrs Closing Words of the Conference

1245hrs ISRS Information & Business Meeting

Members & Conference Attendees welcome to attend
Description, history & mission of the ISRS

21 October 2025

ISRS Seminar

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

We are pleased to invite you to the next ISRS Seminar entitled “Beyond Self-Help Solitude to Withdrawal as Island Consciousness: Choosing Loneliness as Collectivist Resistance”. Our guest will be Professor Samir Dayal from Bentley University in the US.

Professor Samir Dayal currently works at the Department of English and Media Studies, Bentley University. Samir does research in World Literatures, Literary Theory and English Literature. He is a board member for the Society for the Psychological Study of the Arts (PSYART) and is very widely published on a range of themes.

The seminar will take place on Friday 7th November 2025 at 3 pm of UK time / 10.00 US EST time /4pm Polish time / 4pm Malta / 5pm Israeli time / 5pm Turkish time / 10 pm Hong Kong / 0.00 am Melbourne.

It will be held in MS Teams application. If you want to join, click here.

ABSTRACT:

This seminar talk, drawn from my ongoing book project Choosing Loneliness: Literary Representations of Withdrawal, Disaffection, and Elective Alienation, examines the critical distinction between individualistic withdrawal as self-care and collective refusal as political resistance. In our post-COVID moment, withdrawal narratives have proliferated—from Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck to mindfulness retreats—often devolving into privileged self-help that abandons communal responsibility. Against this backdrop, I explore how certain forms of chosen isolation function as sophisticated political critique rather than elite retreat. I contrast the burgeoning culture of self-optimisation represented in Manson’s work as well as in the somewhat more subtle version presented in Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing, which offers valuable insights into resisting capitalism’s attention economy but risks remaining within privileged spheres of cultural capital. I contrast this therapeutic trend with the approach that emerges in Richard Powers’ Playground (2024). One narrative axis in the novel presents collective refusal as aligned with the imperatives of environmental and social justice. Powers’ novel centers on Makatea, an island community in the Tuamotu Archipelago that collectively refuses AI-mediated seasteading by a neocolonial multinational corporation. This communal decision—which however is not an easy choice–embodies what I term “island consciousness”: strategic withdrawal that resists digital neocolonialism while preserving Indigenous sovereignty and environmental stewardship.

Unlike Manson’s selective indifference or Odell’s individual practices of attention, island consciousness operates through collective deliberation and shared responsibility, maintaining engagement with global systems while refusing extractive intimacies. Building on earlier chapters analyzing a wide range of more individually chosen loneliness—a choice often ambivalent, reluctant, anxious, or even forced, from Sophocles’ Antigone to Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” to Nobel laureate Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, among many others–this talk explores what happens when self-alienation operates at the community level. Through close reading and cultural analysis, I argue that not all withdrawal is equal: while self-help isolation represents privileged disengagement, collective refusal can mobilize radical resistance to systems of extraction and domination, serving rather than abandoning the commons.

23 June 2025

5th International Pandisciplinary Conference on Solitude in Community: Alone Together

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

As organizers of the conference, the International Society for Research on Solitude (ISRS) welcomes contributions to the 5th International Pandisciplinary Conference on Solitude in Community: Alone Together which will take place between 23.04 and 25.04.2026 at Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus in Savannah, Georgia in the United States.

Hosted by Dr Richard E Cleveland at Georgia Southern University, the conference is also supported by Lincoln Bishop University (UK) and the Institute of Pedagogy at the University of Szczecin (Poland), honoured with the auspices of both rectors.

The ISRS welcomes papers and posters on any issues related to solitude, silence and loneliness, from any discipline and from any professional/practice context, and from researchers from all over the world. The ISRS welcomes presentations focusing on empirical research, theoretical exploration, and/or practitioner-based applications.

The submission of abstracts will be welcome till the 1st November, 2025. (Later submissions will be considered if there is still room on the programme.)

To submit, please fill in the form here: click on the link

To register for the conference and to pay: click on the link

Conference registration requires a fee, approximately 200 USD/ 176 EUR / 148 GBP / 750 PLN for general registration covering participation, refreshments and conference materials. (No accommodation or travel included.) Individuals who are members of the ISRS may register for the reduced fee of $150 USD and students are invited to register at the student-rate of $90 USD.

Exhibitors interested in attending and presenting their materials must register through the same registration portal, paying the fee of $250 USD (Note. Conference planning team will connect with registered exhibitors prior to the conference).

A pre-conference training event is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday April 22, 2026. Individuals are invited to register for the event, but the pre-conference training will be specifically focused on US-based clinical mental health counseling practitioners. The event registration fee of $75 USD covers attendance and Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for maintaining national clinical licensure (i.e., NBCC). More information regarding the pre-conference schedule and trainers will be forthcoming.

The conference will be held in-person at the Georgia Southern University Armstrong campus. At this time, no online/hybrid availability is planned. If this changes, the ISRS will update and notify participants as soon as possible.

The ISRS conference organizers welcome your proposals and looks forward to meeting you!

All the best,

The AT5 Organizing Committee Members

14 April 2025

Professor Keri Facer – ISRS Seminar on YouTube

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

Professor Keri Facer – Professor of Educational and Social Futures, University of Bristol and Guest Professor of Education for Sustainable Development, SLU, Uppsala

16 January 2025

ISRS Seminars – Dr Mauro Fornasiero – Silence as a meditative practice: three exemplary cases in dialogue

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

The seminar will take place on Thursday, 23rd January at 4.00pm UK time /11.00am US EST time /5pm Polish time / 5pm Sweden time / 5 pm Malta /5pm Israeli time / 6pm Turkish time / 11pm Hong Kong / 1pm Melbourne. It will be held in MS Teams application. Click on the link

Silence as a meditative practice: three exemplary cases in dialogue

Drawing from the experience of the support-group ‘Preparing to retire well and beyond’, this paper conceptualises silence as a meditative practice. It showcases and compares three case studies.

‘Preparing to retire well and beyond’ is a reflective practice group, which supports the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of retiring and retired Anglican clergy in the Diocese of Truro (England). The first case study is based on the findings of its evaluation. It presents silence as a spiritual practice, which facilitates meditation.

In the second case study, this notion of meditative silence is contextualised in the work of the late Roman Catholic priest and philosopher Romano Guardini, and most specifically his ‘Meditations before Mass’ (2013). This collection was first published in Germany in 1939 as ‘Besinnung vor der Heiligen Messe’.

Engaging with the notions of silence as a meditative practice identified in the first and second case studies, the final example showcases silence in health care settings. More specifically, it focuses on chaplaincy and how ‘meditative’ silence becomes a safe space in hospitals.

These three case studies speak of the relevance of silence as a meditative practice in faith-based and secular contexts.

Biography

Dr Mauro Fornasiero is a social scientist with expertise in the evaluation of complex interventions in health, social care, education, and in religious contexts.

In 2017, he developed an interest in spiritual wellbeing when he worked at the ‘WHO Collaborating Centre for Culture and Health’ (University of Exeter) in an interdisciplinary project on subjective wellbeing.

His translation -from English to Italian- of the monograph ‘Cassian the Monk’ (Stewart, 1998) for ‘Edizioni Scritti Monastici’ (Abbey of Praglia, 2019) cemented his interest in monastic spirituality and its relevance for wellbeing.

Since 2022, he has assisted the The Revd John Eatock, Dean for Retired Clergy in the Diocese of Truro, with the evaluation of the reflective practice group ‘Preparing to retire well and beyond’. Exploring the meaning of priesthood in retirement, this group supports the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of Anglican clergy approaching retirement and in retirement.

In partnership with Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and York St John University, he is currently developing a project on wellbeing, which is informed by the science of cathedral studies (Francis, 2015).

11 September 2024

ISRS Seminars – Exploring Silence and Invisibility in Education – Eva Alerby 17.10.2024

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

The seminar will take place on Thursday, October 17th at 15.00 UK time /10.00 US EST time /4pm Polish time / 4pm Sweden 4pm time / Malta /5pm Israeli time / 5pm Turkish time / 10pm Hong Kong / 12pm Melbourne. It will be held in MS Teams application. If you want to join, click here.

What happens when a student, present in a classroom full of people, remains silent and unseen? If a student is both silent and invisible, can other students and the teacher truly perceive and notice that individual? This presentation explores the multifaceted nature of silence and invisibility within educational settings and broader societal contexts. It examines various ways to understand and respond to student silence and invisibility. It discusses the significance of these phenomena and their implications for education. It argues for the importance of listening to the silent and seeing the invisible as essential steps toward making the unseen visible. To understand and have insight into the meaning of silence and invisibility is of great importance, not only in educational settings, but for life itself.

Eva Alerby is a Professor of Education and holds a chair at the Department of Health, Education, and Technology at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. She also serves as a Visiting Professor at the Department of Education at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. Her research interests include relationships, identity, and diversity in education, as well as the philosophical and existential dimensions of education, such as embodiment and embodied knowledge, place and space, time and temporality, silence, and tacit knowledge. Her most recent book is Silence Within and Beyond Pedagogical Settings (2020). Additionally, she co-authored a recent article titled “Silent and Invisible Students: The Importance of Listening to the Silence and Seeing the Invisible” with J. Brown, published in the Journal of Silence Studies in Education (2021).

7 May 2024

‘Alone Together’ 4 in Lincoln, UK

Rafał Iwański Aktualności

ISRS is an association whose mission is, among other things, to enable solitude researchers to establish contact and exchange ideas. The fourth edition of the Alone Together conference, entitled ‘Mapping the Field: Challanges and Futures’ took place at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln, UK, on April 25-27, 2024, and was such an opportunity. We have met to listen, share, ask questions and outline research needs for the future.

Researchers from Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, Sweden, UK and US representing various disciplines were equally fascinated by solitude and silence related issues.

Excellent keynote presentations by keynote speakers, professors Michael Cholbi from Edinburgh University and Julian Stern z BGU, as well as a panel session with the participation of world experts constituted the plenary parts of the conference. Four parallel sessions were devoted to understanding the nature of solitude, loneliness, but also cases and contexts of solitude. The event was accompanied by a publishing workshop conducted by Alison Baker from Bloomsbury publishing house and an exhibition of paintings by the Scottish artist Karl Stern.

The conference will result in a multi-author monograph in the Bloomsbury Solitude Series and a special issue of the Journal of Silence Studies in Education.

We would like to thank all participants for creating an atmosphere of mutual sensitivity and attentiveness. We can’t wait for the next edition of the conference, which will take place in 2 years.