The Open Mind Foundation (OMF - a foundation dedicated to the study of mass emotion) actively participates in research projects on emotional recognition, artificial intelligence, and computer vision. Using the latest technology, the foundation’s researchers have conducted an interesting experiment which implements visual recognition systems to perceive human emotion in the studio of a popular political talk-show.

At the same time the Soviet leadership sent a limited contingent to Afghanistan over fears of penetration of Islamic radicalism into Central Asia‘s weak underpinnings, the U.S. invaded Kabul as revenge for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

It is difficult to believe that all this could be coincidence. But in the same week that was marked by an increase in violence Mass shootings in Brovary (Kyiv region), outrage at the police station in Kagarlyk (Kyiv region), seven people shot in the Novoselitsa, Zhytomir region sociologists of our foundation registered some very eloquent results in our weekly survey.

Our weekly study is likely to go down in history as the world's only regular study of the emotional state of an entire country during the coronavirus crisis. Since the beginning of the "coronavirus" surveys, 3,000 Ukrainians have already participated, which by far exceeds the sample of any survey ever conducted in Ukraine.

According to the results of this survey, sociologists recorded the lowest level of hope among the respondents this month.

For the third week in a row, we are interviewing Ukrainians regarding their emotional state. More young people in Ukraine have now greater confidence (over the weeks course this indicator increased by 15 points) due to the events that occurred in their personal lives, work, study, and in the country.

OMF President Savik Shuster made a statement in his TV show “Freedom of Speech with Savik Shuster” on the urgent need to introduce Universal Basic Income (UBI) in Ukraine.

OMF Foundation Second Survey "The emotional state of Ukrainians in times of coronavirus". The "Index of Hope” in the country saw a decrease by almost 3%. This week only 46% of Ukrainians still live with hope for the future, compared to last week it was 49,2%. With these “Index of Hope” numbers going down, the feeling of fear and uncertainty about tomorrow among the residents, has increased from 29,1% last week to 33,4% this week. Every fifth, 20,6% live in humiliation, this number stayed almost the same in comparison to last week 21,7%.

Ukrainian youth is giving up and losing hope, the happiest in their personal lives are the peers of President Zelensky, village residents and senior citizens are more likely than others to be encouraged by state policy, and Ukrainian men are much more optimistic than women. These are the conclusions of the study regarding the emotional state of the Ukrainians made by Open Mind Foundation.

National Geographic released an entire special issue on the topic of emotions. The magazine’s authors pose the following questions: What are emotions? How do they arise and what is their purpose? What is emotional intelligence? Are emotions universal or do they depend on culture and context?

On 13 - 14 November 2019, the Open Mind Foundation (OMF) team participated in the World Tolerance Summit, held in Dubai. The summit gathered global leaders in numerous areas to discuss the importance of tolerance, peace and equality across the planet. 

73% of Ukrainian residents are confident in the future, and level of trust in President Zelensky has reached 85%. Two main reasons for the Ukrainians’ optimism are positive changes in the country and their children’s achievements. Most people are unhappy with their bosses. Almost 8% of the Ukrainians are afraid of their managers and feel constantly humiliated by them. These are the results of the weekly sociological survey of “Savik Shuster’s Freedom of Speech” conducted on 13 September 2019.

Why does rating political parties in terms of how much hope they inspire provide such a different picture from the results of official opinion polls?

Open Mind Foundation presented its research projects on a conference of International Society for Research on Emotions (ISRE) in the University of Amsterdam 10-13 of July 2019. ISRE brings together scholars from different disciplines that share an interest in emotions, moods and other affective phenomena.

Savik Shuster’s interview with the Lithuanian newspaper “Lietuvos rytas”

Sociological CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) research. Sociologists interviewed 1,000 participants of the internet-panels, which represent Lithuanian public opinion on demographic and geographical levels.

Eminent journalist, president of the research center for study of mass and collective emotions OMF Savik Shuster developed a new method to foresee  the results of a presidential election.

With the help of sociological Internet panels, 1,000 Lithuanian residents who were 18 years old or older were surveyed. The sample of respondents reflects the population of Lithuania in terms of its socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, place of residence).

Ingrida Šimonytė or Gitanas Nausėda? Who is going to become the sixth president of Lithuania? On May 26th, Lithuanians will decide their future. The same day they are going to choose their representatives in the European Parliament.

Transcription of Savik Shuster's interview with Hromadske.