ABSTRACT
As communities, societies, and the planet face increasingly complex and pressing challenges, universities are well positioned as places where solutions can be developed, taught, and evaluated. To do that, we need the people within those institutions to reach and sustain their full potential. However, many within academic walls are feeling the increased pressures, complexity and stress within universities that are also feeling the pressure as certainty fragments. Could compassion become a core attribute in helping people meet their full potential sustainably? This chapter explores some of these challenges and positions compassion as a core university skill, aptitude, and practice. It provides the reader with an example of compassion in practice. This is told through a reflective narrative drawing on the experiences of a group of junior doctors spending time in a nature setting exploring emotional resilience and the practice of medicine: ‘The doctors in the woods project’. The chapter concludes with some principles and guidance to help educators who would like to build compassion into the curriculum.
