The 11th Annual Mid-Year Research Conference on Religion and Spirituality will be held March 22-23, 2013 at the Loyola Columbia Graduate Center in Columbia, Md.
The conference is a joint partnership between Division 36, the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality division of the American Psychology Association, and Loyola's pastoral counseling department. The goal of this partnership is to leverage resources in order to stimulate research in the area of psychology as it relates to religion and spirituality.
The conference provides a supportive academic forum where professionals discuss the latest research findings and scientific advances in the field. The 2013 program guide showed a very diverse range of interests being represented by scholars at all levels, from graduate students to leading figures in the field. This is the only professional conference whose major purpose is promoting research in religion and spirituality.
The department of pastoral counseling has sponsored this research event since its inception 15 years ago as a small roundtable discussion on religious research. The first conference was attended by about 15 graduate students, faculty members, and invited researchers. Over the following several years, the conference has grown to a two-day event with several invited speakers and more than 200 attendees.
Membership to Division 36 of the American Psychological Association
Division 36-Psychology of Religion promotes the application of psychological research methods and interpretive frameworks to diverse forms of religion and spirituality; encourages the incorporation of the results of such work into clinical and other applied settings; and fosters constructive dialogue and interchange between psychological study and practice on the one hand and between religious perspectives and institutions on the other.
About Loyola University Maryland
Established in 1852, Loyola University Maryland is a Jesuit comprehensive university comprising Loyola College, its school of arts and sciences; the Sellinger School of Business and Management; and the School of Education. Loyola enrolls 3,800 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students from across the country and around the world.