IHSRC Keynote Speakers

Scott D. Churchill, Ph.D.

Scott D. Churchill, Ph.D. retired last summer from his 42-year position as Professor of Psychology at the University of Dallas, where he was founding director of its current Masters programs in psychology. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Churchill is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of the APA Division Journal The Humanistic Psychologist.

Dr. Churchill has presented papers, workshops, and invited addresses at professional conferences around the world, including Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Taiwan, Malaysia, Canada, and Australia. He has published over 80 articles and chapters, mostly devoted to methodological issues in phenomenological research with a special focus on Empathy as an investigatory posture. His book Essentials of Existential Phenomenological Research was published by the American Psychological Association in 2022.

“Applying Phenomenological Procedures to Research in the Human Sciences.”

Pre-Conference Workshop Sunday, June 9, 2024 1:00pm-5:00pm

Abstract: It can be a daunting experience to try to make the jump from reading Phenomenological Philosophy to conducting research in any of the Human Sciences. Even the so-called experts cannot agree on whether it’s important to utilize reflective procedures like the epoché and reduction in the conduct of qualitative research; or whether or not we are engaging in transcendental inquiry when we focus on research topics found in everyday life experiences and practices. 

In the first part of this workshop, we will take a look at several of these methodological concepts, and what they mean for the human science researcher. We will define more precisely what is meant by the expression “Human Science” as well as what it means to take an “Existential” approach to research. We will also discuss when and how (and to what extent) it makes sense to build one’s research analyses upon “existentials” (or eidetic structures of human being, which are themselves the result of the research efforts of phenomenological philosophers). 

In later portions of this workshop, we will discuss the role of empathy in generating the researcher’s intuitions into their phenomena of interest. This will include a consideration of how empathy enters into the generating of data through the research interview, as well as the analysis of data through reflective analysis. (This will also give us a context for considering whether we should follow RD Laing in referring not to “data” but to “capta” as the starting point for all disciplinary research in the “human science” tradition.) Participants will be invited to present their own research interests, and questions that they have about how they might best approach these lived experiences phenomenologically.

Rebecca Lloyd, Ph.D.

“Creating Spaces for Motion-Sensing Inquiry” Keynote Speaker

Monday, June 10, 2024 at 9:00am

Abstract: What if sensations of tension, relaxation, force, and tempo became a central feature of phenomenological meaning-making? Professor Lloyd draws upon examples from her InterActive for Life Research Team and Interdisciplinary Function2Flow Research Unit to illustrate how motion-sensing knowledge may be generated and mobilized in innovative ways.

Stephen Smith, Ph.D.

Stephen Smith, Ph.D. is Full Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. His phenomenological scholarship draws upon life-wide practices of mutual flourishing, including those involving other-than-human lifeforms, all of which can inform the professional education of teachers and health care workers.

“Crittercal Encounters of a Life-Altering Nature” Keynote Speaker

Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 9:00am

Abstract: I focus phenomenologically on animated consciousness within the more-than-human world. Taking up interspecies encounters, I describe the tactile dynamics of proximity through distance and how this vital contact can be so life-altering. Implications have to do with practices of animal-assisted learning and the promotion of holistic wellbeing.

Anne Kubai, Ph.D.

Anne Kubai, Ph.D. is an associate professor of World Christianity and Interreligious Studies. Currently, she is a researcher at the school for Historical and Contemporary Studies in Södertörn University, Sweden. She is Professor Extraordinarius at UNISA, University of South Africa, (Institute of Gender Studies), South Africa. She is also an affiliated Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Kubai’s research interests include religion, peace and conflict, genocide and mass atrocities, gender, transitional justice, international migration, development, and psychosocial studies. A great deal of her work has focused on peacebuilding and reconciliation after mass atrocities/grave violations of human rights. She has a keen interest in the way spiritualties/religions (indigenous and others) shape social-political developments, post-conflict social reconstruction and the sustainability discourse in various parts of the world. Kubai’s work on confession, forgiveness and reconciliation in Rwanda has contributed to the debates on peacebuilding and transitional justice after mass atrocities/grave violations of human rights.

Anne Kubai served as lecturer, Kenyatta university, Kenya; senior lecturer, Kigali Institute of Education, Rwanda; Research Director, Life & Peace Institute, Sweden; Senior Social Scientist, Division of Global Health, Department of Public Health Sciences at Karolinska Institute, Sweden; and researcher, Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Racism, Uppsala University, Sweden.

“Mending Broken Social Fabric and Restoring Communities’ Wellbeing” Keynote Speaker

Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 9:00am

Abstract: Mending broken social fabric and restoring communities’ wellbeing after mass atrocities and gross violations of human rights. Researching and describing the processes, dilemmas, and outcomes: a personal experience with phenomenological methods in different cultural settings and dynamic complexities.