A Contemplative Science Summit

How can contemplative sciences get out of the lab and into the world—to both present a more complete picture of the consequences of contemplative practice, and to engage with society in meaningful, impactful ways?

Join us for this daylong summit, which will bring together leading researchers and scholars in contemplative science and related fields to explore these questions, and to offer a vision for the future.

This is a hybrid meeting with the option to participate in person or online via zoom. Please make sure you make the correct selection when registering.

This meeting will be offered free of charge to all attendees. Breakfast, lunch, and a coffee break provided for in-person attendees. In-person space is limited, so please only register if you plan to attend in-person. A Zoom link will be mailed to virtual attendees in advance of the meeting.

The schedule will include three symposia, with three talks in each. An overview of the day’s program is provided below. For a full program with the schedule, talk abstracts, and speaker bios click here.

Program Overview

Symposium 1: Embedded Measurement & Remote Technologies, 9:00-12:00pm

In the quest to understand the true consequences of contemplative practice in people’s lives, how can we conduct research that is more ecologically valid and embedded, and how might advances in remote data collection technologies support these efforts?

Contemplative Research in Context: Insights from COVID-era Research and Intensive Retreat Studies by Quinn Conklin, PhD, Brandon King, PhD, Alea Skwara, PhD – Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis, CA.

Capturing the Natural Unfolding of Memory for Events Encountered under Threat and Curiosity by Vishnu Murty, PhD – Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

App-based Contemplative Trainings: Promises and Pitfalls of Scalability by Paul Condon, PhD – Department of Psychology, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR.

Symposium 2: Social Identity and Context, 1:00-3:45pm

Humans are highly social creatures, embedded in interpersonal, environmental, historical, and societal contexts that are often insufficiently captured in traditional laboratory settings. In recent years, innovative researchers have pushed to more fully describe the human experience as it is impacted by our manifold interactions. In this session, we will explore approaches to capture real-life phenomena, what they can teach us, and how they can be integrated into studies of contemplative practice.

Restoring the Elan Vital of Research: Principles and Practices of Inclusive, Anti-Racist Science by Kamilah Majied, PhD - Department of Social Work, California State University, Monterey Bay, Seaside, CA .
Can deep language models serve as a cognitive model for natural language processing in the human brain? by Uri Hasson, PhD – Department of Psychology, Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
Contemplative Practice in Context: A Cultural-Ecosocial Approach by Laurence Kirmayer, MD - Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, CA.

Symposium 3: Shifting Societal Structures & Priorities, 4:00-6:30pm

The ultimate goal of generating knowledge through research is to positively impact the world. While mindfulness is rapidly gaining popularity, the path from empirical research to application is not yet well-established. This symposium will draw on the experience of researchers who have bridged the gap between science and policy, exploring leverage points for implementing the knowledge generated through the contemplative sciences in society.

Law’s Middle Way: Contemplative Presence and Restorative Justice by sujatha baliga, JD – Restorative Justice Practitioner, Berkeley, CA.

Pay Attention Like Your Life Depends On It: Advancing Research on Mindfulness Training in Real-World High-Demand Settings by Amishi Jha, PhD – Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, FL.

Mindfulness training and peacemaking: Toward embracing reconciliation by Nava Levit-Binnun, PhD – Departments of Psychology & Neuroscience, Sagol Center for Brain and Mind, Muda Institute for Mindfulness, Science,and Society, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel.

Program Planning Committee:

Clifford Saron, PhD Chair
Alea Skwara, PhD
Brandon King, PhD
Quinn Conklin, PhD

Out of the Lab Into the World: The Next Chapter of Contemplative Science