Research
Research on the human capacities and institutional conditions that shape collective life.
MNERVA’s founder, Yushi Zhang, conducts research in Ellen Langer’s mindfulness lab at Harvard, including collaborative work with Dr. Peter Aungle.
This work connects mindfulness and organizational behavior, including the role of emotions in workplace conflict. Zhang’s contributions include study design, data analysis, and manuscript development.
We plan to extend our research into family systems and family succession: how families organize themselves, negotiate authority, and pass responsibility across generations.
This work will examine how personal capacities, relationships, and governance structures interact over time.
How do durable human systems make decisions, distribute power, resolve conflict, and survive their founders?