24 September 2026

ICEM 2026: Mindtrek Presented at the International Conference on Environmental Mindfulness

Mindtrek was presented at the International Conference on Environmental Mindfulness (ICEM), held in Rome from 17 to 19 September 2026. The conference brought together researchers working at the intersection of contemplative practice, environmental psychology, and cognitive science.

On 18 September, an abstract drawn from the paper Mindtrek: Nature as Contemplative Mirror was presented in a session shared with contributions on forest bathing and ecotherapy, discussing Mindtrek's integrative oncology programme delivered in collaboration with the Komen Italia Center for Integrative Oncology at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli, Rome. In line with ICEM's abstract-only publication policy, the full paper was not circulated at the conference; it is in preparation for submission to international and Italian journals in integrative medicine and medical anthropology, as noted below.

The session was followed by an extended Q&A, at the initiative of ICEM president Luca Simione (CNR-ISTC), in which questions concerned primarily the theoretical distinction between Mindtrek and the session's other frameworks, the governance separation between method design and clinical oversight, and the design of the planned 2027 pilot.

The conference was honoured by the presence, across its three days, of Antonino Raffone (Sapienza University of Rome); Yair Dor-Ziderman, of the Safra Brain Research Center at the University of Haifa; Gábor Karsai, Managing Director of Mind & Life Europe; and eco-acoustic composer David Monacchi (Conservatorio "G. Rossini," Pesaro), known for his long-term field project Fragments of Extinction on the soundscapes of primary equatorial forests.

A structured mixed-methods pilot is planned for the programme's next cycle, in winter 2027, incorporating the WHO-5 Well-Being Index and the PHQ-4 alongside continued qualitative data collection. The full paper is in preparation for submission to international and Italian journals in integrative medicine and medical anthropology.