European Varela Awards (EVAs)
Neuroscientist, philosopher, and Mind & Life co-founder Francisco J. Varela (1946-2001) believed that contemplative training offered modern science novel methods for investigating the depth of human experience. In his vision, contemplative training such as meditation not only provided a new domain for scientific study, but also offered resources for advancing scientific models of consciousness, emotion, and cognitive processing.
Named in his honor, the European Varela Awards (EVAs) are grants of up to €22,000 awarded annually to research scientists who have attended the European Summer Research Institute (ESRI). These grants fund scientific and scholarly examinations of contemplative techniques, with the ultimate goal that findings will provide greater insight into the mechanisms of contemplative practice and its application for reducing human suffering. See in the list below all EVA recipients and their research projects.
Mind & Life Europe extends its sincere thanks to the Hershey Family Foundation for its support of this program. Mind & Life Europe also congratulates the awardees on their award and wishes them well in their work.
2022 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Donagh Coleman | Tukdam, cultural bodies, and questions of consciousness University of California, Berkeley, USA |
| Jo Holmberg | Disentangling the roles of psychopathy and equanimity in resilience: cross-cultural study in UK-migrant and UK-domestic populations Brunel University London, London, UK |
| Rocio Martinez Vivot | Impact of a multimodal school program on social relationships, emotional, attentional and physiological stress regulation in children presenting multiple adverse childhood experiences Argentinean Natinal Council for Research and Technology (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Hamed Mohammadi | Impact of mindfulness meditation on the modulation of the sensory and affective dimensions of pain by expectations and uncertainty: a bayesian modeling approach of intracortical EEG and behavioral measures Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, Lyon, France |
| Nicolas Pellerin | Self-transcendence and happiness in spiritual vs. secular contexts University of Nimes, Nimes, France |
| Christopher Timmermann | A neurophenomenological investigation of ego-dissolution induced by 5-MeO-DMT and different meditation practices Imperial College London, London, UK |
Click here to read the abstracts!
2021 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Omer Dar | Cultivating Internal Attention Through Intensive Mindfulness Training University of Haifa, Mount Carmel Haifa, Israel |
| Milan Scheidegger | Mindfulness and Psychedelics: A neurophenomenological approach to characterizaton of DMT-induced transformative experiences in long-term meditators University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Anna Ciaunica | Walking with my Heart: Examining the Effect of Dynamic Real-Time Sensory Feedback of Bodily Movements and Heartbeats on the Sense of Self and Sense of Presence in Depersonalisation University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal |
| Anam Saifullah | What Captures Your Attention? The Effects of Mindfulness on Attentional Capture and Attentional Blink with and without Emotion Brunel University London, Middlesex, United Kingdom |
| Aude Cardona | The Motor Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Voice Production University of Delaware, Delaware, USA |
Click here to read the abstracts!
2020 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Constanza Baquedano | A Mindful Mental Vaccine for the Neuromarketing Virus? Assessing the Protective Effect of a Brief Mindful Instruction to Prevent Desires Generated by Advertising in the Food Domain Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile |
| Prisca Bauer | PRESENCE Prodrome Recognition in Epilepsy and its Neurophenomenological Correlates Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Germany |
| Ema Demšar | Towards the Neurophenomenology of Dreaming: Developing and Employing a Novel Interview-Based Research Format for Acquiring Reports on Lucid and Nonlucid Dream Experience Monash University, Melbourne, Australia |
| Jonas Mago | Practicing Plasticity: How Collective Rituals Promote Neuro Cognitive Flexibility McGill University, Raetzlingen, Germany |
| Shannon Maloney | Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy – ‘Taking it Further’ (TiF) Programme Compared to Waitlist Control in the Promotion of Well-being and Mental Health: A Randomised Controlled Trial with Graduates of MBCT and MBSR University of Oxford, United Kingdom |
| Betül Tatar | Bringing Brief Mindfulness Instructions into Daily Life Encounters with Food University of Glasgow, United Kingdom |
Click here to read the abstracts!
2019 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Tatiana de Castro Amato Locatelli | The FO-CO Programme: Development of Contemplative Practices and Scientific Assessment Plan UNIFESP/NEPSIS, São Paulo, Brazil Click here to read to e-book |
| Jonathan Hamilton | Using Sustained Mindfulness Training to Change Brain Functioning in Patients with Persistent Depression University of Surrey, United Kingdom |
| Catherine Juneau | Investigating the Relationship between Equanimity and Automatic Emotional and Motivational Reactions LAPSCO Université Clermont Auvergne, France |
| Léa Martinon | Realtime Neuroimaging of Mental States: Enhancing Wellbeing by Shifting Individuals’ Mode of Self-Consciousness LAPSCO Université Clermont Auvergne, France |
| Lena Ramstetter | Meeting Global Challenges from the Inside Out: Tracing the Effects of Mindfulness on Climate Change Attitudes and Actions University Salzburg, Austria |
| Julio Rodriguez Larios | Integrating Brain, Body and Phenomenology to Investigate Mind Wandering Eposides During Breath Focus Meditation: An Experience Sampling Study with Mindfulness Practitioners and Novices KU Leuven, Belgium |
| Mareike Smolka | Tracing Collaborative Reflection Moment-To-Moment: Bringing Science & Technology Studies to Contemplative Science and Vice Versa Maastricht University, the Netherlands |
| Kim Lien van der Schans | The Dynamics of Mindful Conflict in Romantic Relationships Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands |
Click here to read the abstracts!
2018 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Corina Aguilar-Raab | The Enhancement of Compassion in Burdened Couple Relationships and Its Impact on Immune-FunctioningUniversität Heidelberg, Germany |
| Filip Van Droogenbroeck | Compassionate Attitude Training in a Challenging School Context in Brussels – An Effectiveness Study Assessing the Impact on Well-Being, Prosocial Attitudes and Behavior, And Socio-Psychological Attitudes Concerning Prejudice Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium |
| Mike Keesman | Compassionate Attitude Training in a Challenging School Context in Brussels – An Effectiveness Study Assessing the Impact on Well-Being, Prosocial Attitudes and Behavior, And Socio-Psychological Attitudes Concerning Prejudice Leiden University, the Netherlands |
| Heather McDonald | Turning the Curse into a Blessing: Using Mindfulness to Reduce Suspiciousness and Paranoia in Individuals with High Positive Schizotypy Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, United Kingdom |
| Ciaran Tobin | Tibetan Mind Science and Western Mental Health: A Cultural Congruence Framework University College London, United Kingdom |
| Anthony Tuckwell | The Differential Effects of Attention and Insight Meditations on Economic Decision-Making: Evidence on Four Behavioural Biases from a Randomised-Control Trial University of Warwick, United Kingdom |
| Sebastjan Vörös | Laying Down a Path in Walking: The Life-Worlds of Francisco Varela Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia |
Click here to read the abstracts!
2017 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Oussama Abdoun | Investigating the Deconstructive Effects of Open Presence Meditation on Neural Representations of Perceptual Objects and Bodily Signals Using Magnetoencephalography INSERM UMR 1028 Lyon, France |
| Michelle Carr | Dream Work, Dream Yoga: A Comparative Neurophenomenological Study of Intentional Practices for Healing Nightmares Swansea University, United Kingdom |
| Liudmila Gamaiunova | Effects of Two Different Meditation-Based Programs on the Dynamics of Stress Response Institute of Social Sciences for Contemporary Religion (ISRRC), University of Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Annika Lübbert | Assessing the Subjective Experience of Engaged Interaction: How Asking Questions About Experience Influences Experience and Behavior in the Mirror Game, an Interactive Coordination Task Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany) |
| Patricia Milz | Do Personality Traits and Brain Electric Activity Predict How Meditation Affects Individuals’ Psychological and Physical Well-Being? – A Combined Electrophysiological and Mobile App-Based Experience Sampling Approach The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Willeke Rietdijk | A Micro-Phenomenological Exploration of Vipassana and Shamatha Meditators’ Experiential Shifts Into Deeper Meditation University of Southampton, United Kingdom |
| Frank Schumann | Mindful Movement and Skilled Attention: Quantifying Changes in Spatial Awareness Induced by a Mindful Sensorimotor Intervention Based on the Feldenkrais Method School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom |
Click here to read the abstracts!
2016 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Gabriel Axel Montes | Elicitation Interviews as a Contemplative Intervention: Insights from Stroke into Body Ownership and Agency University of Newcastle, Australia |
| Carlos Garcia Rubio and Catherine Andreu | The Effects of Mindfulness Practice on Neural Correlates of Executive Functions in Elementary School Children: A Cluster-randomized Controlled Trial Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile |
| Britta Hölzel | Is the Neural Signature of Emotion Regulation following a 2-Week Mindfulness Intervention in Chronically Depressed Patients Characterized by Positive Fronto-Limbic Connectivity? Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Germany |
| Barbara Jachs | The Neurophenomenology of Meditative States: Integrating Neural Markers of Consciousness with Dimensions of Subjective ExperienceConsciousness and Cognition Lab/ University of Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| Gesa Kappen | The Effect of an Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Partner Acceptance and Relationship Quality Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands |
| Anna Reebs | Mindfulness and Refugee Mental Health: Cross-Cultural Contemplative Science with a Social Mission IRCA, University of Haifa, Israel |
| Michael Tremmel and Freya von Hohnhorst | Risks and Adverse Effects of Meditation University of Giessen, Germany |
Click here to read the abstracts!
2015 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Katarzyna Bylow-Antkowiak | Second Person Issues in Contemplative Life – Polite Talk, Teasing and Debating Dyads in a Tibetan Buddhist Non-Monastic Educational Setting University of St Andrews, Scotland |
| Anira Esrichs | Interplay between Structural Connectivity and Resting-State Dynamics in Meditators University of Barcelona, Spain |
| Enrico Fucci | Investigating Modulation of Compassion by Self-Related Factors in Expert and Novice Meditators: Behavioural and Neuroendocrine Correlates Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, France |
| Emily Hammond | Investigating the Impact of Mindfulness Practice on Embodied and Subjective Dimensions of Emotion Dynamics University of Exeter, United Kingdom |
| Josipa Mihic | Towards Caring & Mindful Schools Model University of Zagreb, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, Croatia |
| Anne Maj van der Velden | Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and maintenance antidepressant treatment: differential mechanisms in the treatment of recurrent depression Aarhus University, Denmark |
| Nina Vollbehr | The Effects of Yoga-Based Therapy for Patients with Chronic Mood and Anxiety Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial Center for Integrative Psychiatry, Lentis Mental Health Care, Groningen, The Netherlands |
2014 European Varela Awards (EVAs) Recipients
| Corina Aguilar-Raab | The Effects of Compassion Meditation on Health and Social Interaction in Depressed Patients Institute of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany |
| Tim Gard | Assessing Resilience of Brain Functional Networks and Fluid Intelligence in Aging editators: A Combined TMS-fMRI Study Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands |
| Bergljot Gjelsvik | A Translational Approach to Short-Circuiting On-Going Suicidal Vulnerability: Understanding Brain Mechanisms of Action University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, United Kingdom |
| Terje Sparby | Varieties of Contemplative Experience: Anthroposophy Bender Institute of Neuroimaging/University of Giessen, Germany |