The Science of Consciousness Conferences - Since 1994

The Science of Consciousness Conference - Arizona Astrobiology Center - AABC www.consciousness.arizona.edu We are no longer affiliated with SBS - The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, nor with CCS, The Center for Consciousness Studies in SBS.

“The Science of Consciousness” Conferences, related research and scientific exchanges remain under the same management, Stuart Hameroff and Abi Behar-Montefiore, now in Arizona Astrobiology Center (AABC), with support and future direction of AABC Director Dante Lauretta and staff.  We believe the origins of life and consciousness may be related, and will pursue this possibility. Official Conference information, historical data, videos, news and research can be found on our website: www.consciousness.arizona.edu

JOIN the TSC Conference E-MAIL LIST if you are not already receiving our updates Sign up for announcements and programs questions: center@arizona.edu

The Science of Consciousness Conference - TSC 2026 

Plenary Speakers 

Anirban Bandyopadhyay PhD

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Anirban Bandyopadhyay is Principal Research Scientist (NIMS), Tsukuba, Japan.  International Center for Materials and Nanoarchitectronics (MANA). National Institute for Materials Science. Anirban earned his Ph.D. in Supramolecular Electronics at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, 2005. From 2005 to 2008 he was ICYS research fellow at the ICYS, NIMS, Japan, and worked on the brain-like bio-processor building. In 2008, Anirban joined as a permanent scientist at NIMS, working on the cavity resonator model of human brain and design-synthesis of brain like organic jelly. From 2013 to 2014 he was a visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. Awards include: Hitachi Science and Technology award 2010, Inamori Foundation award 2011–2012, Kurata Foundation Award, Inamori Foundation Fellow (2011–) and Sewa Society international member, Japan.   www.nanobraintech.com

André M Bastos  PhD

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Andre Bastos Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology - Principal Investigator Bastos Lab - Vanderbilt Brain Institute - Vanderbilt University

Dr. Bastos received his PhD from the University of California, Davis (2013) where he worked with Drs. Ron Mangun and Marty Usrey on thalamocortical communication. During his PhD, Dr. Bastos was a Fulbright scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Pascal Fries at the F.C. Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (and later at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute in Frankfurt, Germany). His studies with Dr. Fries focused on distinct oscillatory frequencies used in feedforward vs. feedback cortical communication. He was also a visiting student with Dr. Karl Friston at Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London, where he first got interested in the theory of predictive coding. André then went on to work as a postdoctoral associate with Dr. Earl Miller at MIT and Dr. Nancy Kopell at Boston University where he used large-scale neuronal recordings to gain insight into predictive processing. He joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University in 2021 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology and member of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute (VBI). The mission of the Bastos Lab is to understand how neurons perform the Computations that enable Cognition and Consciousness.  Bastos received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to further investigate the inhibitory brain mechanisms involved in predictive processing. Bastos’s lab plans to utilize the funding in a study to understand the role of cortical inhibition, helping to inform how predictions are made in the brain and potentially transforming our understanding of the brain in both health and disease.  https://www.bastoslabvu.com/lab-members 

ED BOYDEN  PhD

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Ed Boyden is Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT, an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the MIT McGovern Institute and Yang Tan Collective, and professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Media Arts and Sciences, and Biological Engineering at MIT. He leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops ground truth-oriented tools for analyzing and repairing the brain, and applies them systematically to reveal fundamental mechanisms underlying brain functions, as well as to repair the brain. One ultimate goal of the group is to create biologically accurate computer simulations of entire brains, starting with small brains like those of worms and fish, and ultimately pointing towards the human brain.  The group’s inventions include optogenetic tools, which enable control of neural activity with light; expansion microscopy, which enables ordinary microscopes to do nanoimaging; tools for multiplexed high-speed imaging of living biological signals; strategies to integrate the aforementioned toolsets towards the deconstruction and simulation of entire small brains; noninvasive brain stimulation strategies that may help with conditions ranging from Alzheimer’s to blindness; and new strategies for inexpensively creating 3-D nanotechnology, amongst many others.
He co-directs the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering, which aims to develop new tools to accelerate neuroscience progress, and the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, which pioneers transformational bionic interventions across a broad range of conditions affecting the body and mind. He is a faculty member of the MIT Aging Brain Initiative, Alana Down Syndrome Center, Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Computational & Systems Biology Initiative, and Koch Institute. He is an affiliate faculty member of the MIT Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT, and the Broad Institute.  Amongst other recognitions, he has received the Wilhelm Exner Medal (2020), the Croonian Medal (2019), the Canada Gairdner International Award (2018), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016), and the Grete Lundbeck Brain Prize (2013). He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (2019), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2017), and the National Academy of Inventors (2017). https://mcgovern.mit.edu/profile/ed-boyden/

ROBIN CARHART HARRIS  PhD

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Dr. Carhart-Harris obtained a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol in 2009 before moving to Imperial College London. There, Prof CH and colleagues completed multimodal human functional neuroimaging studies with LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and DMT, and clinical trials of psilocybin therapy for various disorders, including trials in depression, anorexia and fibromyalgia syndrome. Dr CH founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London in April 2019 and set up the Carhart-Harris Lab at University of California San Francisco in 2023, where he moved in 2021, becoming the Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professorship in Neurology and Psychiatry at University of California. He spoke at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2019, was listed among the top 31 medical scientists by The Times newspaper in 2020, TIME magazine’s ‘100 Next’ in 2021 and Vox Magazine’s ‘Future 50’ in 2023. His current research program at UC San Francisco focuses on the action of psychedelics and psychedelic-therapy. He has published widely, including in top-tier scientific and medical journals and will soon release his first book, entitled: How Psychedelics Work. https://www.carhartharrislab.com/about 

DEEPAK CHOPRA  MD, FACP, FRCP

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Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, FRCP, is a physician and author of over 95 books on Integrative Well-Being and Spiritual Intelligence, Founder of Cyberhuman.ai and DeepakChopra.ai. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is also an Honorary Fellow in Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He is the author of over 95 books, translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. For the last thirty years, Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution. His mission is to create a more balanced, peaceful, joyful and healthier world. Through his teachings, he guides individuals to embrace their inherent strength, wisdom, and potential for personal and societal transformation. Chopra has played a pivotal role in shaping global perceptions of Indian culture and spirituality, particularly by bridging Eastern wisdom with Western science. His influence spans multiple domains—medicine, mindfulness, consciousness, and personal transformation—making him one of the most recognizable ambassadors of India’s spiritual heritage on the global stage. His upcoming book, *Awakening, The Path to Freedom and Enlightenment* (Harmony, 01/06/2026), is a groundbreaking guide to spiritual and personal wellness. Deepak Chopra unveils profound discoveries on how we can connect with our true self and construct a life free from fear. Building on decades of spiritual teachings, he illustrates through enlightening sutras how to move from a state of simply surviving to leading an awakened life that unlocks the dormant potential within each of us. Featuring meditations, mental exercises, and personal stories from Chopra’s own spiritual journey, Awakening grants the power to free yourself from the limitations of ego into a life marked by inner and outer peace, purpose, and boundless possibility. TIME magazine has described Chopra as “one of their top 100 most influential people.” www.deepakchopra.com 

SONIA ANTORANZ CONTERA  PhD

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Sonia A. Contera, Professor of Biological Physics and Associate Head, Department of Physics, University of Oxford. She works on physics at the interface of biology, nanotechnology, and information processing and is an expert in atomic force microscopy of biological systems. She has a special interest in the role of mechanics in biology. Her interest in matter at the nanometre scale led her from a PhD at Osaka University (Japan) on the physics of nanostructures, to biology. Sonia’s multidisciplinary journey is a quest to interrogate how matter entangles itself with its environment, storing information in time and space, to create (and sometimes to compute) complex structures (from the nanometre scale up) that are able to adapt, learn, reproduce and evolve to become “alive”. Her main interest is understanding the profound physical meaning of “biological shape”; she studies the physics of “biological growth and shape” in diverse systems such as plants, neural networks and tumours. Sonia studied and worked in Madrid, Moscow, Prague, Beijing, Osaka and Aarhus before moving to Oxford. Nano Comes to Life: How Nanotechnology Is Transforming Medicine and the Future of Biology, Princeton University Press  SA Contera's Lab  

LEROY (LEE) CRONIN  FRSE, PhD

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Lee Cronin is a Chemist. He is the Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow and the Founder & CEO of Chemify. External Faculty, SFI, Sante Fe, NM, USA.  He is known for his approach to the digitization of chemistry and developing digital-to-chemical transformation known as Chemputing which can turn code into reactions and molecules. Prof. Cronin has also developed a new theory for evolution and selection called assembly theory which aims to quantify and explain how selection can occur in chemistry before biology. He is also exploring how chemical systems can compute, and what is needed for the evolution of intelligence, as well as designing a new type of computational system that uses information encoded in chemical reactions and molecules. http://www.croninlab.com

SUZANNE GILDERT  PhD

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Suzanne Gildert, Founder and CEO of Nirvanic, a company pioneering quantum consciousness technologies for artificial intelligence. Suzanne previously co-founded and was CTO of Sanctuary AI, a company building Human-Like Intelligence in General Purpose Robots. At Sanctuary she helped design, build and launch the Phoenix humanoid robot and its novel Carbon AI control software, with a focus on work applications to address labor shortages. Prior to Sanctuary, Suzanne was co-founder and CTO of Kindred AI. She oversaw the design and engineering of the company's human-like robots and was responsible for the development of cognitive architectures that allow these robots to learn about themselves and their environments. Suzanne also has deep expertise in quantum computing from her time at D-Wave Systems, where she ported AI algorithms to D-Wave’s quantum annealing hardware. She also invented and implemented MAXCAT, the world’s first game ever played against a quantum computer, worked on the world’s first supervised classifier run on a quantum computer and was the first person to control the motion of a robot using a quantum computer. Suzanne received her Ph.D. in experimental physics from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2008, specializing in quantum device physics, microfabrication techniques, and low-temperature measurements of novel superconducting circuits. She likes science outreach, programming, retro tech, fantasy and gothic art, coffee, electronic music and lifelogging and is a published author of a book of art and poetry. Suzanne is passionate about conscious robots and their role as a new form of symbiotic, friendly life in our society.  nirvanic.ai

STUART HAMEROFF  MD

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Stuart Hameroff MD is Professor at the Arizona Astrobiology Center; Prof. Emeritus Anesthesiology & Psychology; Director of the Science of Consciousness Conference at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Retired from Anesthesiology where he researched how general anesthetic gases act on quantum vibrations in microtubules to prevent consciousness. Hameroff is known for his collaboration with British physicist and Nobel Laureate Sir Roger Penrose on the ‘Orch OR’ quantum theory of consciousness, and for managing ‘The Science of Consciousness’ conferences for the past 30 years. Hameroff is also collaborating with Planetary Scientist Professor Dante Lauretta at Arizona AstroBiology Center (AABC) to study putative ‘signs of life’ and ‘roots of consciousness’ in extraterrestrial organic molecules from the early solar system retrieved by Dante’s NASA OSIRIS REx mission to asteroid Bennu. We will probe these molecules to answer the question: Which came first, life or consciousness?    https://astrobiology.arizona.edu/     https://consciousness.arizona.edu/

Sarika Katiyar  PhD

Sarika Katiyar is a consultant anaesthesiologist with over 16 years of experience, currently serving at Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, a superspeciality hospital in Bhopal, India. Her clinical focus spans cardiac hemodynamics, neurology, and critical care, with a special interest in Critical Care Neurology. She has presented papers at various global conferences and has over 20 publications in reputed journals, contributing to advancements in anaesthesia and intensive care. Diploma in Anesthesiology from MGM, Medical College, Indore in July 2003.

NICK LANE  PhD

Nick Lane is a British biochemist and writer. He is a professor in evolutionary biochemistry at University College London. He has published five books to date which have won several awards. Educated at Imperial College, London, he earned his PhD at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School in 1995 with a thesis entitled In vivo studies of ischaemia-reperfusion injury in hypothermically stored rabbit renal autograft. He then worked as Medical Writer at Oxford Clinical Communications for a year before joining Medi Cine International a medical multimedia company, also as a writer. In 1999 he became strategic director at what was, by then, Adelphi Medi Cine, a post he held until 2002.^[1]  He became an Honorary Researcher at University College London in 1997, has held the post of Honorary Reader since 2006 and was the first Provost's Venture Research Fellow there from 2009 to 2012. Since October 2013 he has been Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at UCL.^[1][2] He is the author of popular science books and many articles on the origin of life, hydrothermal vents, evolution, and cellular biology, among topics. He is the winner of the 2015 Biochemical Society Award^[3] and the 2016 Michael Faraday Prize.  https://nick-lane.net/

Books

Lane, Nick., Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death. 2022 / Lane, Nick., The Vital Question: Why Is Life The Way It Is? 2015 Profile Books / Lane, Nick., Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution. 2009 Profile Books / Lane, Nick., Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life. 2005 Oxford University Press.

DANTE LAURETTA   PhD

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Dante Lauretta, CCS External Adviser, UArizona, Regents Professor, Planetary Science & Cosmochemistry, University of Arizona Lunar & Planetary Laboratory. Dante Lauretta is principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission and a Regents professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. His research interests focus on the chemistry and mineralogy of asteroids and comets, and he is an expert in the analysis of extraterrestrial materials, including asteroid samples, mete-orites and comet particles. Dr. Lauretta fosters the advancement of the next generation of scientists, engineers, and other space leaders through mentorship and taught coursework which apply his expertise in planetary science and spacecraft mission design & implementation.  Dr. Lauretta heads the OSIRIS-REx research team at UArizona working on this mission, which has included more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students. This project will help ensure that the University of Arizona remains at the forefront of planetary exploration for the next decade.  The Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum is now one of only three places in the world where the public can see a piece of the asteroid Bennu, collected during NASA's University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission.  A pebble scooped from an asteroid is now on display at UArizona museum     https://astrobiology.arizona.edu/

EDWARD LARGE   PhD

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Dr. Edward Large is a leading figure in the neuroscience and psychology of music, known for pioneering research on how musical rhythm entrains brain dynamics. A Professor of Psychological Sciences and Physics at the University of Connecticut, he directs the Music Dynamics and Theoretical Neuroscience Laboratories and leads the Ecological Psychology program. His work with Mari Reiss Jones on Dynamic Attending Theory and his development of Neural Resonance Theory have reshaped understanding of how the brain and body synchronize with music. Author of over 100 scientific papers in journals such as Nature, Journal of Neuroscience, and Psychological Review, Dr. Large has received major honors including an NSF CAREER Award, a Fulbright Visiting Chair at McGill University. He has served as President of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, and recently received the Music Has Power award from the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. He is also co-founder of Oscillo Bioscience, a neurotechnology company developing music-based digital therapeutics for brain health and Alzheimer’s disease.

https://musicdynamicslab.uconn.edu     https://www.oscillobiosciences.com    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardlarge/ 
 

HARMUT NEVEN  PhD

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Hartmut Neven, Google Quantum AI -  is an Engineering Director at Google. He is the founder and manager of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence lab. The objective of the lab is to fabricate quantum processors and develop novel quantum algorithms to dramatically accelerate computational tasks for machine intelligence. Previously, Hartmut was head of the Visual Search team. His team developed the visual search service which today is used by a large number of Google products including Image Search, Google Photos, YouTube, Street View and Google Goggles. His teams won a number of competitions designed to establish the best visual recognition software for faces (FERET 1996, FRVT 2002), objects (ImageNet 2014) and text (ICDAR 2013). Hartmut was also a co-founder of project Glass and led the team that built the first prototype. Prior to joining Google, Hartmut started two computer vision companies, the second one was acquired by Google in 2006. Hartmut obtained his Ph.D. in 1996 with a thesis on "Dynamics for vision-guided autonomous mobile robots". Then he became a research professor for computer science and theoretical neuroscience at the University of Southern California. 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmut_Neven 

ALYSSON MUOTRI   PhD

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Dr. Muotri is a professor at the Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular & Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego. He is also the Director of the Sanford Stem Cell Education and Integrated Space Stem Cell Orbital Research (ISSCOR), the Director of the Archealization Center (ArchC), and Associate Director for the Center for Academic Research & Training in Antropogeny (CARTA). Dr. Muotri earned a BSc in Biological Sciences from the State University of Campinas in 1995 and a Ph.D. in Genetics in 2001 from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He moved to the Salk Institute as Pew Latin America Fellow in 2002 for postdoctoral training in the fields of neuroscience and stem cell biology. His research focuses on brain evolution and modeling neurological diseases using human induced pluripotent stem cells and brain organoids. He has received several awards, including the prestigious NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NARSAD, Emerald Foundation Young Investigator Award, Surugadai Award, Rock Star of Innovation, NIH EUREKA Award, two Telly Awards for Excellence in Science Communication, among several others.     Muotri Lab

NIROSHA J. MURUGAN   PhD                                         

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I am a recently appointed Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biophysics from Algoma University, where I started my academic appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Biology. Prior to my time at AU and transitioning to Wilfrid Laurier University as Faculty of Science Research Chair and assistant professor of Health Sciences, I completed an NSERC-funded PhD in Biomolecular Sciences from Laurentian University. I was then recruited to the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University as a postdoctoral fellow, where I developed a successful research program grounded in regenerative biology and in comparative cognition with Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University for over 3 years. It was during this time where I also was a teaching fellow at Harvard University in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Research Interests / Ongoing Projects:  Combating any pathological state requires comprehensive and the integration of interdisciplinary models of cellular communication. Just as chemicals instruct cells to divide, grow, and specialize to form organisms, so to do biophysical signals. Mechanical, optical/magnetic, and electrical signals are pervasive in the cell’s microenvironment but are only now being recognized as determinants of cell fate and plasticity. My lab adopts a top-down approach to understand the biophysical language of cellular communication toward transformative breakthroughs in human disease. Specifically, combining state-of-the-art techniques from several fields including neuroscience, regenerative medicine, and cancer biology, my research investigates how cancer cell fate can be re-programmed by modulating tissue microenvironments, reverting cells to healthy states. Along with this, my lab investigates the mutual relationships between cancers, their microenvironments, and distant organ systems such as the brain which express cancer-related alterations of function including neurocognitive impairment.  -  Nirosha Murugan Lab   -             Research / Areas of Expertise: tissue biophysics, electromagnetic biology; quantum biology; stem cell and regenerative medicine; cancer biology 

SIR ROGER PENROSE   FRS, OM PhD

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SIR ROGER PENROSE is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher and Nobel Laureate in Physics. University of Oxford – Nobel Laureate Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College University of Oxford United Kingdom. Roger Penrose was born, August 8, 1931, in Colchester Essex UK. He earned a 1st class mathematics degree at University College London; a Ph.D. at Cambridge UK, and became assistant lecturer, Bedford College London, Research Fellow St John’s College, Cambridge (now Honorary Fellow), a post-doc at King’s College London, NATO Fellow at Princeton, Syracuse, and Cornell Universities, USA. He also served a 1-year appointment at University of Texas, became a Reader then full Professor at Birkbeck College, London, and Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, Oxford University (during which he served several ½-year periods as Mathematics Professor at Rice University, Houston, Texas). He is now Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor, Fellow, Wadham College, Oxford (now Emeritus Fellow). He has received many awards and honorary degrees, including knighthood, Fellow of the Royal Society and of the US National Academy of Sciences, the De Morgan Medal of London Mathematical Society, the Copley Medal of the Royal Society, the Wolf Prize in mathematics (shared with Stephen Hawking), the Pomeranchuk Prize (Moscow), and one half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, the other half shared by Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez. He has designed many non-periodic tiling patterns including a large paving at entrance of Andrew Wiles Mathematics Building, Oxford, and the Transbay Center, San Francisco, California. Sir Roger is widely acclaimed for fundamental advances in understanding the universe. His 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was bestowed for showing that black holes are robust predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Roger has also proposed a solution to the measurement problem in quantum mechanics (‘objective reduction’, ‘OR’), which he suggests is also the origin of consciousness, leading to a theory of brain function (‘orchestrated objective reduction’, ‘Orch OR’). And Roger’s concept of Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (‘CCC’) posits a serial, eternal universe, with the Big Bang preceded by a previous aeon which had its own Big Bang, that aeon preceded by another and so on.    Roger Penrose – Wikipedia 

MARTIN PICARD  PhD                                      

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Martin Picard, is Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where he directs the Mitochondrial Psychobiology Group (www.picardlab.org). Pioneering Mitochondrial Psychobiology, Martin has bridged the science of energy and the human experience to advance Healing Science—a field dedicated to understanding the dynamic energetic processes that keep us healthy. As Chair of Energy and Health at the Columbia Aging Center, he leads NIH-funded research on the mind-mitochondria connection that has uncovered connections between subjective experiences and mitochondria in the brain and immune system, linked mental stress to energy metabolism and aging, discovered that hair greying is reversible, and mapped the diversity of mitochondria across the brain and body. Author of the upcoming book ENERGY, Martin collaborates globally to drive scientific and cultural transformation around energy, health, and healing. He finds inspiration in nature, exploring energy and consciousness with his family, friends, and colleagues.  Martin received his PhD at McGill University in Canada in 2012, completed postdoctoral training with the father of mitochondrial genetics Doug Wallace at the University of Pennsylvania, and opened his laboratory at Columbia in 2015.    https://www.picardlab.org/all-publications

STEEN RASMUSSEN  PhD                                       

Steen Rasmussen is a Danish physicist mainly working in the areas of artificial life and complex systems. He is currently a professor of physics and center director at University of Southern Denmark as well as an external research professor at the Santa Fe Institute.  Steen Rasmussen’s scientific focus is to understand the creative forces in nature by using self-organization to engineer minimal living and intelligent processes. In his early career, he worked 20 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA (1988-2007, Alien of Extraordinary Abilities) contributing to a variety of interdisciplinary research programs and projects. He was part of the core group establishing the Artificial Life field in the late 80s and in the 90s he co-developed the Transportation Simulation System (TRANSIMS) implemented by the US Department of Transportation, integrated simulation frameworks for urban security systems. He also developed web-based disaster mitigation tools, which were deployed in Cerro Grande Wildfire, May 2000, where 20,000 people were evacuated, and he was part of the original Los Alamos team on Critical Infrastructure Protection, implemented by the US Department of Homeland Security after September 11, 2001.  In 2004 he co-founded the European Center for Living Technology (ECLT) Venice, Italy, and late 2007 he returned to Denmark as Director of the Center for Fundamental Living Technology (FLinT) at SDU. In 2009 he founded the Initiative for Science Society and Policy (ISSP), which together with SFI and the ECLT allows Rasmussen to explore how living and intelligent technologies change society and what it means to be human. He has consulted on science and technology issues for the European Commission, Danish Parliament, German Bundestag, US Congress, as well as businesses and NGOs. He was part of the Danish Government’s Data Ethics Expert Group in 2018.  https://www.santafe.edu/people/profile/steen-rasmussen 

Technical University of Denmark, PhD, in physics of complex systems; University of Copenhagen, PhD., philosophy

SARA I. WALKER  PhD

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Prof. Sara I. Walker, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, is a theoretical physicist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, known for her work on the origins of life, particularly through her development of assembly theory with Lee Cronin. Her research explores fundamental questions about life, including how it emerges from non-living matter, how to find life on other planets, and the role of information in the universe. She is also the deputy director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and co-founded the astrobiology website SAGANet.org.  Since joining ASU in 2013 she has built a highly interdisciplinary research program to tackle the origin of life problem from all sides. She has mentored dozens of early career scientists and leads one of the largest theory groups in origins of life and astrobiology internationally. Her team's major contributions are in theoretical advances in the field of astrobiology, developing new approaches to the problem of understanding universal features of life that might allow a general theory for solving the matter to life transition, detecting alien life and designing synthetic life. At Arizona State University, she is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and Associate Director of the ASU-Santa Fe Institute Center for Biosocial Complex Systems. She is an Associate Professor with joint appointments in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and in the School of Complex Adaptive Systems. She is also a member of the External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.    www.emergence.asu.edu   

Dartmouth College, Ph.D., Physics and Astronomy; Florida Institute of Technology, B.S. Physics

MIKE WIEST  PhD                                                  

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Mike Wiest graduated from high school in Kenya, East Africa, then returned to the United States to earn a BA in physics at Dartmouth College in 1991, and a PhD in high-energy theoretical physics at Michigan State University in 1998. Excited by the Orch OR quantum theory of consciousness, he spent the next 10 years learning neuroscience as a postdoc in computational neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and behavioral neurophysiology at Duke University. He is now an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where he has been teaching and conducting chronic multi-electrode recording experiments in awake behaving rodents since 2008.  https://www.wellesley.edu/people/michael-wiest 

Conference  ABSTRACTS 

Abstract Submissions - Submit your abstract to  our TSC account at Oxford Abstract Submissions    Early Deadline November 15     

TAXONOMY 2026

PRESS RELEASE - Conference announcement 09/09/25

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Program Outline 2026

Sunday, Apr 5 - optional - details to follow to purchase Loews Brunch

Monday, Apr 6 - Workshops (7) (3 morning; 3 afternoon; 1 evening)

Tuesday, Apr 7 - Plenary (3) Concurrents (5) Welcome reception

Wednesday, Apr 8 & Friday Apr 10 - Plenary (3) Concurrents (5), Posters, Demos, Exhibits

Thursday, Apr 9 - Plenary (3); Optional Dinner

Friday, Apr 10 - Plenary (3) Concurrents (5), Posters, Demos, Exhibits, Party, Poetry Slam, Dancing

Saturday morning Apr 11 - Plenary sessions

Conference Registration  via Eventbrite. 

Early Deadline: December 20 

Standard: $550   -  Student (ID required $450)  Optional Thurs Dinner $95  Stream:   $199   

Exhibitors $2500 includes 1 registration -  10' x 10' - via the Conference Registration Link - $2500 includes 1 registration  Email 

CONFERENCE SESSIONS  - updating

Plenary sessions, in-depth workshops, concurrent presentations, poster sessions, art and technology exhibits, health and wellness exhibitors, early morning experiential sessions.

Concurrent Sessions:   5 presenters; Each presenter has 25 minutes (+5 Q@A)  Laptops and Projectors for Power Point provided

Poster Sessions: Location: Grand Ballroom  **** Poster Sizes  18x24 inches  or  24x36 inches  

Exhibitors: Location: Grand Ballroom Lobby   **** 6 ft. Tables ; (approx 10x10 feet of space)

Art/Tech Demos/Installation: Catalina Ballroom  Email 

Requests for Visa Letters/Letters of invitation     Email  requests by December 15 (include name, affiliation, ID #, residency and any other required info)  

HOTEL / VENUE  

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort - Use the Group Block Link for TSC 2026 registrants and reserve early. 

A breathtaking desert sanctuary located in a lush 100-acre desert garden at the foothills of the magnificent Santa Catalina Mountains, this resort captures the spirit, beauty and culture of the Southwest's Sonoran Desert. Loews has recently renovated their guestrooms offer private terraces, breathtaking views of the area, and every creature comfort. Group Block rate $179 based on availability. Group Block - deadline March 13th 

All Hotel Reservations will require Conference Registration.

Stuart Hameroff, Director, TSC, Prof. Emerit. Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, UA Arizona, Senior Scientist, Arizona Astrobiology Center Dante Lauretta, Director, TSC, University of Arizona, Director, Arizona Astrobiology Center (AABC) UA Arizona, Regents Professor  - Thomas Brophy, President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS)  - Jeffery Martin, President, CIHS; Director, The Center for the Study of Non-Symbolic Consciousness (CSNSC)  - Abi Behar Montefiore, TSC Manager, Arizona Astrobiology Center  center@arizona.edu 

2026 Conference Deadlines

2025:

October 15       Workshop Proposals                   

November 15   Abstract Submissions  (Call 1)              

November 30   Notifications         

December 15   Visa Letter requests                   

December 20   Conference Registration Early 

2026:

March 13, 2026  Hotel - Group Rate deadline ***        Loews Ventana Canyon Resort  | Tucson AZ  

About Us

The Science of CONSCIOUSNESS  Conferences - since 1994

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. 

Held annually since 1994, the TSC conference is now hosted by The Arizona Astrobiology Center, University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Arizona and held at various locations in Italy, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, Finland, San Diego, Switzerland and Barcelona. The 32nd annual TSC will be held April 6-11, 2026, in Tucson Arizona. The conference is planned for in-person participation with online livestreaming. Live participation and broadcast will take place at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, a beautiful eco-lodge in the hills above Tucson, Arizona.  

Tucson TSC conferences consist of keynote, plenary and concurrent talks, posters, exhibits, workshops and social events. A welcome reception/dinner, poster session refreshments, optional dinner and end of conference (poetry slam) party are planned. The hotel provides daily free hikes, stargazing, tennis, pickleball, gym, spa offerings as designated times to be announced. We hope for a robust in-person audience and will update and finalize conditions and participation mode in early 2026. Looking forward to your participation.

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TSC 2026 Workshop Proposals - Now Closed 

MONDAY, April 6 Workshops
Please Email your 1-2 paragraph proposal to the organizers include a paragraph description and list of facilitators with short bios.    Deadline Oct 15 -center@arizona.edu  

The Science of Consciousness Conference is now under the auspices of UA – AABC  

The Science of Consciousness Conference - since 1994 

Early Interviews  - The Science of Consciousness Conferences 

Closer to Truth: Science Meaning and the Future, Season 1, 2003 12:12  “Is Consciousness Definable, J Bogen, C  Koch, L Brothers, S  Hameroff.

The Science of Consciousness interview with Stuart Hameroff, Quantum Physics and Consciousness, Gregory Alsbury, 2003, Albsbury Films 

Simulation by BBC TV in consultation with Stuart Hameroff for show “ESP” produced by Peter Getzels and Harriet Gordon.  Original artwork by Dave Cantrell.  Download the video 

BBC TV Simulation of Orch OR Model of Consciousness 

BBC SIMULATION-  Link to CCS iTunes Page 

Early Films 

What the Bleep Do We Know!?   Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality, 20th Century Fox, Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2004  What the Bleep Do We Know!? | Feature Film) 

Closer to Truth: Science Meaning and the Future, Season 1, 2003 12:12  “Is Consciousness Definable, J Bogen, C  Koch, L Brothers, S  Hameroff. 

Quick Links

TSC The Science of CONSCIOUSNESS Conference Website

Arizona Astrobiology Center AABC       

S. Hameroff website   

YouTube Channel   (Over 400 TSC  Conference Session & Related Program Videos)   

Facebook CCS-TSC        

center@arizona.edu     
text: 520.247-5785   

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The TSC Conference Website is under reconstruction....