Re-Launch of the 2026 Conference will be announced by May 1
Destination: La Jolla October 11-16, 2026
Announcement, Venue, Call for Abstracts, Links will be outlined.
Contact:
archived:
Notice: Feb, 2026 The Science of Consciousness Conference for April 2026 (Tucson) was cancelled. We regret to inform you that the 2026 The Science of Consciousness conference, scheduled for April 6–11, at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, has been cancelled. After careful consideration and consultation with the conference organizing team, we have determined that it is no longer feasible to move forward with the conference as planned. We will instead focus on exploring a program for next year that reflects the conference’s mission and its longstanding positive impact on the scientific and scholarly community it serves. All registration fees will be fully reimbursed. Additional details regarding the refund process will be shared directly with registrants. We apologize for the disruption this decision may cause and appreciate your understanding. Registration: Refunds via Eventbrite - Eventbrite is refunding registrations which may take 24-48 hours. Hotel reservation refunds -Loews is processing refunds of room deposits. 1-800-234-5117 loewshotelsreservations@loewshotels.com
Re-Launch of the 2026 Conference will be announced by May 1
Details, Announcement, Call for Abstracts, Links will be outlined.
The Science of Consciousness Conference for 2026 has been canceled.
Concerns regarding refunds should be sent to center@email.arizona.edu
The Science of Consciousness (TSC) is an interdisciplinary conference emphasizing rigorous approaches to the study of consciousness and its place in the universe. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, biology, quantum physics and quantum brain biology, cosmology, meditation, altered states, artificial intelligence/machine consciousness, the nature of reality, culture and experiential phenomenology.
The study of human consciousness is one of science's last great frontiers.
Background:
The Science of Consciousness (‘TSC’) conference is the world’s longest running inter-disciplinary conference on broad and rigorous approaches to all aspects of the study and understanding off consciousness, the nature of existence and our place in the universe. TSC emphasizes broad and rigorous approaches to all aspects of the study and understanding of consciousness. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, biology, quantum physics, cosmology, meditation and altered states, AI/machine consciousness, culture and experiential phenomenology
In 1994, the first TSC Consciousness conference "Toward a Science of Consciousness" - now known as TSC - "The Science of Consciousness" was held in Tucson, Arizona at the University of Arizona Medical Center. TSC-1994 is widely regarded as a landmark event, and the subsequent series of biennial conferences in Tucson and alternate years abroad have attracted extraordinary interest. After being neglected for many years (i.e. during a period of dominance by behaviorism in psychology), interest in the science of consciousness exploded in the last decades, with much progress in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and other areas. The University of Arizona has been at the center of these developments. The Center for Consciousness Studies was formed in 1998 with a seed grant from the Fetzer Institute. The Center is a unique institution whose aim is to bring together the perspectives of philosophy, the cognitive sciences, neuroscience, the social sciences, medicine, and the physical sciences, the arts and humanities, to move toward an integrated understanding of human consciousness. Other groups tend focus either on cognitive neuroscience, philosophy or purely phenomenal experiential approaches, whereas the Center not only integrates these areas, but "thinks outside the box" of conventional wisdom which has thus far, at least, failed to make significant breakthroughs. CCS also supports original research on consciousness, not only to understand the origins of consciousness, but to advance therapies for mental and cognitive disorders.
TSC Conferences since 1994
The Conference:
The Science of Consciousness (TSC) conferences (since 1994) are the pre-eminent world gatherings on all approaches to the profound and fundamental question of how the brain produces conscious experience, a question which addresses who we are, the nature of reality and our place in the universe.
The Science of Consciousness is an interdisciplinary conference emphasizing broad and rigorous approaches to all aspects of the study and understanding of conscious awareness. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, biology, quantum physics, meditation and altered states, machine consciousness, culture and experiential phenomenology.
Held annually since 1994, the Conference is hosted by the Arizona Astrobiology Center at the University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Arizona and various locations around the world. The Science of Consciousness Conference (‘TSC’) has become the world's largest and longest-running interdisciplinary conference addressing fundamental questions regarding consciousness, the brain, reality, and existence. Held in Tucson Arizona in even-numbered years, TSC attracts 700 to 800 neuroscientists, philosophers, psychologists, artificial intelligence (AI) proponents, physicists, meditators, altered-state researcher, mystics and interested lay people from all over the world. In odd-numbered years the conference is held in various cities. TSC has alternated yearly since 1994 between Tucson, Arizona USA and elsewhere including Italy, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, California, Switzerland, Finland, and Taormina, on the island of Sicily; TSC 2025 was held Barcelona (July 6-11)
*The 2020 Covid Consciousness was held online.
We face a crossroads in the age-old study of consciousness. Over the past thirty years approaches to understanding consciousness have diverged along two distinct paths: 1) ‘neurocomputational’ views of the brain as a complex computer of simple neurons, a view compatible with AI systems becoming conscious, and 2) ‘funda-mental’ views in which consciousness is intrinsic to the universe, connected to the brain through quantum biology. Exploring the funda-mental view, TSC embraces neuroscience biology far more rigorously than AI-compatible simple neurons. Ironically, conscious AI may be most likely to occur in biomimetic quantum computers.
Future conferences:
The Relaunch of the 2026 CONSCIOUSNESS SCIENCE Conference will be announced by May 1