Sommerakademie in Magliaso | Enhancing mental health interventions with AI technologies: combining psychological, technological, ethical, and experiential views

This interdisciplinary summer academy aims to explore potentials and challenges of generative artificial intelligence in mental health interventions. Generative AI enable the generation of linguistic interactions and new, artificial high-quality images, videos and other contents that are indistinguishable from reality, which is often referred to as hyperrealism. On one hand, this has prompted many complex ethical and societal issues like targeting people without their consent, on the other hand these techniques offer great potential for therapeutic interventions. Imagine for example a realistic and forgivingly conversation with a person who died before resolving a disagreement or with your child self. As generative AI continues to advance and its integration with other technologies becomes easier, its potential to support mental health applications might grow.

Participants will engage with expert lectures from computer science, human computer interaction, psychology, medicine and ethics around this fascinating and fast-developing topic. Furthermore, they will be able to experience, explore and shape prototypes of current GenAI-based interventions in hands-on and co-design sessions. Key questions addressed during the course include: How can GenAI technologies be effectively integrated into existing mental health practices? Where are their limits? How can we define ethical standards? And at large speculate about how these technologies might redefine our humanity.

Arbeitssprache: English

Leitung:
Dr. Bigna Lenggenhager, experimental psychopathology and psychotherapy, University of Zurich, certified psychotherapist
Dr. Marte Roel Lesur, cognitive science, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Gastreferierende:
Prof. Dr. Gunther Meinlschmidt: Professor in the Department of Clinical Research at the University of Basel, working in the intersection of mental health and AI.

Dr. Jana Sedlakova: Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford studying the ethical and societal implications of AI in healthcare.

Pavo Orepić: Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich (UZH) combining neuroscience and computer science to study voice perception and self–other distinction.

Paulina Zybińska: Creative technologist, researcher, and artist exploring the ethical and psychological dimensions of genAI and synthetic media. Working at the UZH and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

Koordination: Serina Heinen (Schweizerische Studienstiftung)

Administration: Michelle Hug (Schweizerische Studienstiftung)

Zielpublikum: Interessierte Studierende aller Fächer

Anmeldeschluss: Mittwoch, 1. April 2026

Bild: ChatGPT