Transpersonal Psychology Section Annual Conference 2025
- Spirituality and religion
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About
The theme of this year's conference is Sacred Unity: transpersonal dialogues with nature, earth and self.
This year, the conference will be taking place at
- Cober Hill, Newlands Rd, Cloughton, Scarborough, YO13 0AR
The pace of life has rapidly accelerated in great strides since the Industrial Revolution. Daily life continues to present ever more complex and challenging issues for the human mind to deal with. As Steve Taylor describes, in his book DisConnected, we have largely lost our sense of connection with nature, feeling that it is separate from us, which in turn tends to reduce worlds and homes to a well of resources for consumption and comfort. New strands of psychology are also emerging, with concerns rooted in nature, spirituality and ecology, slow living and mindfulness, as we search for ways through which humanity can live and thrive in this fast-paced and ever shifting world.
This year's Transpersonal Psychology Section conference aims to explore ways of deepening that connection, using novel and traditional methods, including sensitively learning from cultures and traditions that maintain and prioritise a harmony with and connection to nature. Keynote speakers will be announced shortly.
We invite submissions in particular, on the subject of Transpersonal Psychology and Nature. This includes academic papers, practitioner presentations and experiential workshops. These might explore, in the broadest terms, the psychological (and transpersonal) benefits of nature connections. They might consider questions such as what can we respectfully learn from different practices and traditions, or how can we live, adapt and thrive in harmony with and as part of nature when we are faced with ecological crises and a whole host of other challenges?
Please note that all submissions more broadly connected to Transpersonal Psychology are also welcome.
Please view the submissions tab for more information.
Who Is This Conference For?
Our conference is open to all researchers interested in Transpersonal Psychology, including students, academics and practitioners no matter what age, stage or affiliation. BPS and Transpersonal Psychology Section (TPS) members are eligible for reduced registration rates, but you do not have to be a BPS or TPS member to attend.
Conference Feel & Tone
We are a warm and welcoming community. During an early autumn weekend at the beautiful Cober Hill, near Scarborough, surrounded by a gorgeous coastal landscape and gardens, we will simultaneously seek to sink into nature while exploring these topics. Workshops, including Shinrin Yoku; the simple and serene practice of forest bathing, yoga, meditation, and an earth-based ceremony will facilitate a nature connection. Illuminating and engaging talks, symposia and lectures will enhance our understanding of the psychological benefits of reconnecting with nature and spark intellectual interest and discussion. In addition to this, we will also have our usual wonderful human connection that arises through the evening social activities and entertainment, with our traditional blend of music and poetry. To embody that ideal, here is a poem by Mary Oliver about being with trees.
When I Am Among the Trees by Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, "Stay awhile." The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, "It's simple," they say, "and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."
Submissions Timeline
Authors are strongly advised to register on the on-line submission system and begin preparing their submissions well in advance of the following deadlines.
- 18 February 2025: Submissions system opens
- 09 May 2025: Deadline for submissions
- 30 May 2025: Notification of outcome
- 05 September 2025: Deadline for registration
How To Submit
If you wish to submit more than one abstract, please complete individual submissions for each.
Please ensure you read the submission guidelines before submitting, including the reviewer guidelines. These allow you to see how your submissions will be reviewed.
Registration Fees
Full registration inclusions can be found at the bottom of this page.
All rates listed are inclusive of VAT at 20%, and an added service charge at 2.5%.
| Ticket Type | Ticket Cost | + 2.5% service charge |
| 1-Day - Early Bird | ||
| Transpersonal Psychology Section Member | £90.00 | £2.70 |
| BPS Member | £108.00 | £3.24 |
| Non-Member | £130.50 | £3.92 |
| Full Conference - Early Bird | ||
| Transpersonal Psychology Section Member | £337.50 | £10.13 |
| BPS Member | £351.00 | £10.53 |
| Non-Member | £378.00 | £11.34 |
| 1 - Day | ||
| Transpersonal Psychology Section Member | £100.00 | £3.00 |
| BPS Member | £120.00 | £3.60 |
| Non-Member | £145.00 | £4.35 |
| Full Conference | ||
| Transpersonal Psychology Section Member | £375.00 | £11.25 |
| BPS Member | £390.00 | £11.70 |
| Non-Member | £420.00 | £12.60 |
When booking online you will be directed to Oxford Abstracts.
Both the BPS and Oxford Abstracts terms and conditions and privacy policies will apply.
Registration Inclusions
Full Conference
- Friday Lunch
- Friday 3-Course Dinner
- Friday Night Accommodation
- Saturday Breakfast
- Saturday Lunch
- Saturday 3-Course Dinner
- Saturday Night Accommodation
- Sunday Breakfast
- Sunday Lunch
1-Day (Friday or Saturday Only)
- Lunch
- 3-Course Dinner
Dr Caroline Watson
Dr Caroline Watson is an independent scholar, single parent and full-time carer.
She received her PhD at the University of Liverpool (2007), with the thesis "Ancient Springs? A Study of Kathleen Raine's Retrospective Assembling of Edwin Muir, David Jones, David Gascoyne & Vernon Watkins."
She presented her paper "Poetry, Spirituality & the Divine: The Fourfold Vision of Kathleen Raine" at the Women & The Divine Conference held at the Institute of Feminist Theory & Research, Liverpool University (2005); her paper "Afternoon Tea with Kathleen Raine: The Sophia Perennis at Home – Parenting & Children's Learning in the Light of the Imagination" at the International Conference: A Homage to Kathleen Raine - Poet of times past or times to come? at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris (2022), and her paper "Spiritual & Psychological Renewal & Healing in the Eco-Poetics of Kathleen Raine" at the Eurotas Conference: Creative Bridges – Embodied Consciousness, Psyche & Soul in Research and Practice in Oxford (2024). Her essay "Kathleen Raine's Vision of Nature in Her Children's Books" is in the book 'Kathleen Raine: A Voice for the Twenty-First Century', recently published by Peter Lang Group AG.
Professor David Sheffield
David is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Derby where he has worked since 2010. He has previously worked at Staffordshire University and three cardiology departments in the south of the United States. Much of his work aims to understand the impact of stress and pain on health, wellbeing and performance. Since his doctoral work in the 1990s he has also focused on the role and importance of relationships. His current research interests include: Human-Nature relationships; Music and well-being; Pain and pain management in patients and athletes; Compassion and mindfulness based approaches to living; Inequalities and justice in healthcare; and Women's health.
Paul Maiteny
Paul's inquiry into the place, or 'niche', of the human in Earth's life, has been life-long, sparked by childhood experiences and questions. It has led him to work professionally in practical ecology and ecological education (NGOs), academic research in ecological anthropology, systemic dynamics and group behaviour (UCL, Open, Oxford, Milan Bocconi/MBA), psychotherapy (psychodynamic and transpersonal), and as a spiritual accompanier (Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and Teilhard de Chardin). In 1990, Paul was awarded PhD funding but, given the research climate at that time, chose instead to combine independent research with work in other sectors.
For 25 years, Paul taught Science & Culture, and Theory & Perspectives) for an MSc Education for Sustainability (LSBU). For 10 years he has run the course, Ecology, Meaning and Survival: Transpersonal Ecopsychology, for the Alef Trust. The subject is also part of his teaching at the Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy Education and the Tariki Trust's Ten Directions Ecotherapy training.
Paul has published his interdisciplinary research since 1990 and contributed to many events, starting in the 1990s with conferences of the BPS Consciousness & Experiential Psychology Section. Most recently, he chaired and presented in the Ecopsychology & Spirituality thread of the 2024 EUROTAS Oxford Conference, Creative Bridges: Embodied Consciousness, Psyche and Soul in Research and Practice; and was invited to give a keynote talk entitled Esoteric Ecology at the 2025 Gareth Knight conference in Glastonbury.
Professional work has always interwoven with practical involvement in spiritual traditions, including Advaita Vedantic, Sufic, Qabalistic, Christic & Alchemical, & the Fourth Way of Ouspensky & Gurdjieff.
As a life-long naturalist, Paul has learned a great deal from observing the behaviour of other-than-human species. One of his favourite activities is gazing from hides in wetland habitats.
Want to speak with one of the team?
Contact us at [email protected].