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The Future of Meditation '26

An interdisciplinary symposium on meditation's role in science, culture, and society.

Event details

About the symposium

The Future of Meditation '26 is the second annual symposium convened by Meditation Artifacts. It brings together researchers, contemplatives, clinicians, founders, artists, and institution-builders to advance the dialogue on meditation as a cultural technology — its science, its traditions, its institutions, and its role in public life.

Major themes

  1. Meditation, Peace, and Public Life
  2. Science, Mind, and Method
  3. Traditions, Transformations, and Technology
  4. Institutions, Ethics, and Culture

Featured speakers (confirmed)

Matthew D. Sacchet, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Director, Meditation Research Program — Mass General and Harvard Medical School

Dr. Matthew D. Sacchet, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General). Dr. Sacchet and his team study advanced meditation: states, stages, and endpoints of contemplative practice that unfold with mastery. He has authored more than 150 publications, presented more than 170 times, and been cited more than 10,000 times. Dr. Sacchet has received generous support from numerous foundations and repeat awards from the primary federal funding bodies in the United States. His work has been covered extensively by mainstream media and he is an Associate Editor of the academic journal Mindfulness, and a Research Fellow of the Mind & Life Institute.

meditation.mgh.harvard.edu

Monica Sanford, PhD

Assistant Dean for Multireligious Ministry; Lecturer in Ministry Studies — Harvard Divinity School

Sanford is one of the first fully-trained Buddhist practical theologians in the United States, having earned her PhD in practical theology from Claremont School of Theology. She also holds an undergraduate degree in design from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master of divinity from University of the West. Sanford is an ordained Buddhist lay minister in a Chan lineage and trained as a Buddhist chaplain. Her recent book, Kalyāṇamitra: A Buddhist Model for Spiritual Care (January 2021), is the first textbook for Buddhist chaplains.

hds.harvard.edu/people/monica-sanford

Francis X. Clooney, SJ

Parkman Professor of Divinity — Harvard University

Clooney is the author of numerous articles and books, including Thinking Ritually: Retrieving the Purva Mimamsa of Jaimini (Vienna, 1990), Theology after Vedanta: An Experiment in Comparative Theology (State University of New York Press, 1993), Comparative Theology: Deep Learning across Religious Borders (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and His Hiding Place Is Darkness: A Hindu-Catholic Theopoetics of Divine Absence (Stanford University Press, 2013). His translation of the Hindu theologian Ramanuja's Manual of Daily Worship (Nityagrantham) appeared in the International Journal of Hindu Studies in 2020.

francisclooney.hsites.harvard.edu

Dr. Sarah Eagger

Chair — Janki Foundation

A retired consultant psychiatrist (MB, BS, FRCPsych) formerly at Imperial College London, Dr. Eagger chairs the Janki Foundation, a UK-based charity that promotes spirituality in healthcare. She serves on the executive committees of both the Religion, Spirituality, and Psychiatry section of the World Psychiatric Association and the Special Interest Group on Spirituality at the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK). With over 45 years of experience in Raja Yoga meditation, she is also a teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion and a co-author of Stillness in the Storm: 7 Tools for Coping with Fear and Uncertainty.

jankifoundation.org/chair-dr-sarah-eagger-mbbs-frc-psych-london

Rev. Rita Powell

Chaplain, Harvard Episcopal Community — Harvard University

Rita Powell is the Episcopal Chaplain at Harvard, where she leads a diverse community committed to exploring the future of religion and Christianity through innovative engagement with land, ritual, liturgy, art, music, poetry, and the church's legacy of slavery. She has lived and worked in South Dakota, with the Taizé community in France, and at Trinity Church in Copley Square, Boston. She recently earned her MFA in poetry. She is also an avid KPop fan, yoga teacher, and distance runner.

chaplains.harvard.edu/people/rita-powell

Kathryn Devaney

Chief Science Officer — The Consciousness Foundation

A neuroscientist and meditation researcher, Kati co-founded the SF Dharma Collective and designed the course "Meditation and the Brain" at Stanford. She has lectured at MIT, Harvard, and IIT Delhi, and previously taught Cognitive Psychology at Boston University. From 2022 to 2025 she was a co-founder and the founding Executive Director of The Berkeley Alembic, a science advisor at Jhourney.io, and a researcher at the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.

kathryndevaney.com

Additional speakers are being confirmed. Updated speaker list lives at meditationartifacts.org/fom26#speakers.

Participating institutions

Speakers are joining us from:

Schedule (May 13, 2026)

9:00 AMDoors Open, Coffee & Registration
9:30 AMOpening Remarks & Keynote
10:00 AMPanel I: Defining Meditation Across Perspectives
11:00 AMLunch & Community Workshops
12:30 PMPanel II: Building the Future Meditation Institutions
1:30 PMFeatured Presentations
2:30 PMOpen Call Presentations (10 min each)
3:50 PMClosing Remarks
4:00 PMReception & Mingle

Schedule subject to minor adjustments.

Tickets

Call for Proposals (CFP)

The symposium accepts open-call presentations (10 minutes each). Apply via the Call for Proposals form at meditationartifacts.org/fom26/cfp. Proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Sponsors & partners

Institutions and organizations interested in sponsorship: see meditationartifacts.org/fom26/sponsor.

Volunteer

Volunteer opportunities at meditationartifacts.org/fom26/volunteer.

Past edition

The Future of Meditation '25 archive: meditationartifacts.org/fom25.

Last updated: April 2026. Maintained by Meditation Artifacts.