The inaugural conference of the International Society for Contemplative Research (ISCR) will be held on the campus of the University of California, San Diego during February 2-5, 2023.

Over the past few decades, as the awareness of the transformative potential of contemplative practices has grown in our cultures, many people have been working in separate and siloed academic fields on scholarship and research into these practices and their results. Far too often such people have had to carry out this research and scholarship in relative isolation from one another and often at the fringes of what each of their separate fields considered respectable. Despite these barriers, important discoveries and insights have been made. Yet the full development of contemplative research continues to be impeded by fundamental conceptual and methodological challenges that jeopardize its longevity. Many of these are caused by the existing intellectual silos in the Academy that divide the empirical sciences from one another and from the humanities, social sciences, and education. Because of this, the potential for a cumulative humanistic science that cultivates and integrates these previously siloed academic approaches has not yet been fully realized, and the need for standards and benchmarks for multidisciplinary approaches to engage in contemplative research remains.

The ISCR academic association was formed to provide an organization in which like-minded contemplative scholars and researchers can find mutual support and serious interdisciplinary intellectual exchange. This new organization will host a biennial conference and develop new programs to support innovative research and interdisciplinary collaborations.

See the conference website for registration details and program.