ABSTRACTS

Clifford Saron, PhD, Research Scientist, UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain. Francisco Varela, in a 1984 interview stated that “science, in its core, its active … Read More

David Germano, PhD, Director, Center for Contemplative Sciences, Univ. of Virginia. We will explore Tibetan Buddhist meditation in the complexity of its forms in classical sources, … Read More

William Waldron, PhD, Chair, Department of Religion, Middlebury College. This presentation will outline the Buddha’s basic understanding of our cognitive processes. It will discuss the factors … Read More

Giovanna Colombetti, DPhil, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Exeter. In my talk I will advance some preliminary ideas on how to make progress in the … Read More

Linda Heuman, Visiting Scholar, Dept. of Religion, Brown University. In this talk, I reflect on the question of how to best communicate across difference in a … Read More

Gaëlle Desbordes, PhD, Instructor (research faculty) at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-Harvard-MIT Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. I will begin by presenting the circumstances and choices … Read More

Amir Raz, PhD, Canada Research Chair in the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Canada An integrative synthesis of hypnosis and meditation provides an especially interesting lens … Read More

David McMahan, PhD, Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies, Franklin & Marshall University. The scientific study of Buddhist and Buddhist-derived meditative practices often contains certain … Read More

Ken Paller, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Research on the cognitive neuroscience of human memory has gathered an empirical basis for … Read More

Francisca Cho, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Theology, Georgetown University. Western observers appreciate the way Buddhism’s non-theism allows relatively more harmony with science, but they also insist … Read More

Michael Sheehy, PhD, Director of programs, Mind and Life Institute, Charlottesville, VA. Considering the interface of Buddhism / science, we begin with historical and semantic reflections … Read More

Kalina Christoff, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of British Columbia. Mind-wandering has recently come to occupy a central position in psychology and neuroscience. Most theories and … Read More

Cortland Dahl, PhD, Research Scientist, Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin – Madison Despite the great diversity of practices found in the world’s contemplative traditions, … Read More

Claire Petitmengin, PhD, Professor, Institut Mines-Télécom; Associate Researcher, Archives Husserl, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris. Numerous scientific studies are now conducted on the neurophysiological effects of meditation … Read More

Martijn van Beek, PhD, Associate Professor, Interacting Minds Centre & Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University. The scientific study of contemplative practices, their mechanisms and effects has … Read More

Shaun Gallagher, PhD, Lillian and Morrie Moss Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis. We know about different practices of mindfulness involved in meditation and other contemplative … Read More

Elena Antonova, PhD, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. Experimental psychology of behaviourist era was explicitly non-ontological. Cognitive psychology that based its explorations … Read More

Andrew Dreitcer, PhD, Director of Spiritual Formation; Co-Director of the Center for Engaged Compassion; Associate Professor of Spirituality, Claremont School of Theology. Christian spiritual/contemplative practice traditions … Read More

David Presti, PhD Professor, Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, Univ. of California, Berkeley. Contemporary biophysical science assumes that the qualities of mental experience (mind, consciousness) … Read More

Catherine Shaddix, PsyD, Instructor, Baywell Psychiatry Group. Hidden cultural assumptions and unacknowledged worldviews permeate the myriad forms of Buddhist practice that one might encounter in 2017, … Read More

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