Our July Talk: 'Awesome science & the science of awe: how we can and cannot find meaning and answers to life's big questions in a secular age' with Dr Valerie van Mulukom (Oxford Brookes University)

Across Western countries, Enlightenment and secularisation has shifted the process of our understanding of the world to focus on the scientific method, empirical evidence, and rational thinking. While clearly advancing our understanding of physical reality, what does this approach mean for how we navigate questions of how humans should relate to each other? And does this approach mean that we are losing our enchantment with the world, our sense of awe and wonder - or are we finding it in new places? 

Dr van Mulukom will present her international survey research which investigates how nonreligious and humanist individuals across the globe create meaning and understanding without recourse to the supernatural. Specifically, we will examine how science as a worldview can (and cannot) provide meaning and answers to life's big questions, and how it compares to other worldview frameworks. We’ll ask: Can science itself inspire awe and provide a foundation for meaning? How do knowledge frameworks, like science but also art and the humanities, fill the spaces once occupied by religion? What is valid knowledge? Do we truly live in a 'disenchanted' world? Insights will be put forward into the extent and limits of awe-inspiring secular worldviews in providing meaning and connection in our rational age. 

Our Speaker: Dr Valerie van Mulukom is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Oxford Brookes University, where she teaches, and does research, on a variety of topics, including nonreligious worldviews, conspiracy beliefs, awe, social bonding, imagination, and memory. Broadly speaking, her current main strands of research are in (i) how and when we take on worldview ideas, including religious beliefs, conspiracy beliefs, and nonreligious and humanist worldviews, and (ii) how extraordinary experiences, including awe experiences, psychedelic trips, mind-body practices, religious rituals, and art performances, can invoke social bonding.

She has published over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, 7 chapters, one edited volume, and several encyclopaedia entries, as well as popular science articles in i newspaper, BBC Future, Newsweek, and others. She was featured on numerous radio programmes and podcasts, including BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Five Live, BBC World News radio programme CrowdScience and ABC Radio National’s All in the Mind podcast. 

We are thrilled to host Valerie in Oxford in July and we hope you'll register to join us for what promises to be an awe-inspiring topic. This event is free to join, however we do request registration to help us manage numbers with the venue and, as always, any donations you are able to contribute will support our running costs.

Not sure if this is for you or have questions about the event? Please get in touch with Andrew, our Events Manager; we'd love to hear from you at events-oxford@humanistbranches.uk.

We hope to see you there!