Research forum with Marc Santolini and Liam Kavanagh: Contemplative Citizen Science

This video forms part of our series of research community monthly fora.

In this call, Marc and Liam discuss how an extreme citizen science of contemplation can be built, bringing together the wisdom of ancient contemplative practices and the rigor of modern scientific methodologies.

As Liam points out in the talk, 'Relative truths are the kinds of truths that we can grasp with the intellect, and ultimate truths are the kinds of things that you only see if you let go of intellectual understanding, and a large part of what a lot of contemplatives puzzle over are these ultimate truths'. Given this distinction, how can contemplatives help guide science? Additionally, how can this be done in a collaborative and meaningful way?

More information on the Collaborative Citizen Science Residency can be found here:Contemplative Citizen Science, September 2023 (lifeitself.org)

Marc Santolini is a research fellow at the Learning Planet Institute (Université Paris Cité), Co-director of Life Itself Research and co-founder of the Life Itself Praxis Hub. With a background in network science and epistemology, his work focuses on innovation, collaboration, and learning within open and citizen science communities. As a core resident of the Praxis Hub, Marc investigates how collective practices impact relational well-being and foster group self-regulatory processes.

Liam Kavanagh is a Cognitive & Social Scientist devoted to using his understanding of human motivation, ideology, and economics to aid more effective responses to the climate crisis. He has worked on three continents over 20 years doing applied social research, co-founded Life Itself, a community for responding to the poly-crisis, and written a book on how Western ideology contributes to climate change inaction.