"Ordinary Magic: Advances in Developmental Resilience Science", presented by Ann S. Masten, Regents Professor of Child Development, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Interest in resilience surged in recent years along with growing threats from the pandemic, armed conflicts, natural disasters, migration, and climate change. Evidence is growing that fostering resilience in children, families, or communities and preparing for future shocks requires a multisystem perspective. Professor Masten will highlight progress in understanding how children and youth overcome adversity to develop well, with selected examples from her research as well as the global literature. Striking consistencies across diverse studies suggest that human resilience typically depends on “ordinary magic”—adaptive capacity arising from common but powerful adaptive systems and processes within individuals and their interactions with many other systems around them. Parallel findings on resilience at different system levels, from individual or family to cultural or community levels, point to the potential of collective multisystem resilience. Dr. Masten will discuss implications for strategies to reduce risk and promote resilience in children and their societies as well as new research horizons. Sponsored by the Michael J. Wolk Heart Foundation and the Division of Natural Sciences & Mathematics and Psychological and Brain Sciences.