Mela Project was the result of joint collaboration between Psychologists in UK, Ireland, and India to study the effect of collective participation in the Magh Mela. The project was funded by ESRC, UK. A brief overview of this project can be found in a pack we produced for the media: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/media/dundeewebsite/cass-2/documents/newsarticlespdfs/Prayag%20Magh%20Mela%20Research%20Group.pdf. This work was also featured in the Feb (2014) issue of National Geographic Magazine (Karma of the Crowd).

Some findings

The longitudinal study on the consequences of participating in the Magh Mela found that participants reported enhanced physical and mental well-being after the event (LINK). A paper on the effect of social meaning (attributing an ambiguous noise to mela or city) on duration judgments was published in Psychological Science.

Faculty Involved in the Project

• Dr. Nicholas Hopkins (University of Dundee, UK)

• Prof. Steve Reicher (University of St. Andrews, UK)

• Dr. Clifford Stevenson (Queen's University Belfast, Ireland)

• Prof. Mark Levine (University of Exeter, UK)

• Dr. Gozde Ozakinci (University of St. Andrews, UK)

• Prof. Narayanan Srinivasan (University of Allahabad, India)

Postdoctoral Fellows

• Dr. Sammyh Khan (University of Dundee, UK)

• Dr. Shruti Tewari (University of Allahabad, India)

• Dr. Kavita Pandey (University of Allahabad, India)

• Dr. Shail Shankar (University of Allahabad, India)

• Dr. Tushar Singh (University of Allahabad, India)

Related publications

• Hopkins, N., Reicher, S., Khan, S.S., Tewari, S., Srinivasan, N., & Stevenson, C. (2016). Explaining effervescence: Investigating the relationship between shared social identity and positive experience in crowds. Cognition and Emotion, 30, 20-32.

• Khan, S.S., Hopkins, N., Reicher, S., Tewari, S., Srinivasan, N., & Stevenson, C. (2016). Collective participation impacts on social identity: A longitudinal study with control data. Political Psychology, 37, 309-325.

• Khan, S.S., Hopkins, N., Reicher, S., Tewari, S., Srinivasan, N., & Stevenson, C. (2015). Shared identity predicts enhanced health at mass gatherings. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 18, 504-52.

• Khan, S.S., Tewari, S., Srinivasan, N., Hopkins, N., Reicher, S., & Ozakinci, G. (2014). Efficacy and well-being in rural north India: The role of social identification with a large-scale community identity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(7), 787-798.

• Srinivasan, N., Hopkins, N.P., Reicher, S.D., Khan, S.S., Singh, T., & Levine, M. (2013). Social meaning of ambiguous sounds influences retrospective duration judgments.Psychological Science, 24, 1060-1062.

• Tewari, S., Khan, S.S., Hopkins, N., Srinivasan, N., & Reicher, S. (2012). Participation in mass gatherings can benefit well-being: Longitudinal and control data from a North Indian Hindu pilgrimage event. PLOS ONE, 7(10): e47291.