Living Mirrors with Dr. James Cooke Introducing Oxford's new Contemplative Science Research Program
Apr 8, 2026
An announcement of a new Contemplative Science Research Program at Oxford and its funding. Placement within Oxford's Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing and the leadership rationale are discussed. The program's philosophical basis in non-dual naturalism and the Dawn of Mind paradigm is introduced. Research priorities include links between selfhood, suffering, psychiatry, contemplative traditions, and neuroscience.
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Contemplative Science Program Integrates Traditions And Neuroscience
- James Cooke will lead a new Contemplative Science Research Program at Oxford integrating contemplative traditions with computational and experimental neuroscience.
- The program builds on his non-dual naturalism from The Dawn of Mind to study selfhood and suffering as foundations for psychiatry.
Oxford Placement And Funding Story
- The program is based in the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing and funded by Snow Medical and Tom Snow.
- James Cooke emphasizes gratitude for the funding that made the position possible and the institutional fit with Morton Kringelbach's centre.
Reframing Psychopathology Through Selfhood
- The research reframes psychopathology not as mere brain malfunction but as rooted in selfhood and existential human conditions addressed by contemplative traditions.
- Cooke aims to translate contemplative insights into computational neuroscience language to ground psychiatry in first principles.