Elisabeth Vanderheiden is a pedagogue, theologian, intercultural mediator. She is the CEO of the Global Institute for Transcultural Research and the President of Catholic Adult Education in Germany as well as the managing director of Catholic Adult Education Rhineland-Palatinate.. Her publishing activities focus not only on pedagogy, in particular on the further education of teachers and trainers in adult education, but also on the challenges and opportunities for digitalisation. She has edited books on intercultural and transcultural issues. Her most recent publications deal with shame as a resource, and with mistakes, errors and failures and their hidden potential in the context of culture and positive psychology. Her current research projects deal with love in transcultural contexts, life crises, and humour in the context of Positive Psychology 2.0. Other foci of her work are design thinking in transcultural contexts as well as Ikigai. Her work has received numerous awards,including the William B. Gudykunst Outstanding Book Award from the International Academy for Intercultural Research in July 2023 for the International Handbook of Love: Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, co-edited with Claude-Hélène Mayer.
Claude-Hélène Mayer is a Professor in Industrial and Organisational Psychology at the Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management at the University of Johannesburg. She is a Semester at Sea Alumni (SASFA22) and a Board member of the International Academy of Intercultural Research. Further, she is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Psychology (Positive Psychology) and for the International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management. She holds doctoral degrees in psychology, Management and Cultural Anthropology. Her Venia Legendi is in psychology with a focus on work, organisational and cultural psychology from Europa Universität, Viadrina, Germany. Her research areas include transcultural mental health, salutogenesis, transcultural conflict management and mediation, women in leadership, shame and love across cultures, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and psychobiography. Her teaching areas are cross-cultural psychology, mental health, organizational theory, systems and design thinking, coaching, positive psychology, organizational behaviour and transcultural conflict management and mediation.