The Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest and the European SPES Institute – Leuven organized an international transdisciplinary workshop on Contemplative Science & Management in May 19-21, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. Collaborative partners included Mind & Life Europe and the Hungary-Bhutan Friendship Society.

The conference invited scholars and practitioners devoted to exploring and presenting new developments in contemplative inquiry related to Buddhist Economics, Well-Being, Social Transformation, Mindful Organizations, and Ecological Worldview in the management context. This particular combination of fields represents a unique nexus for reflection and action toward developing ways of mindful and sustainable management for organizations in economic and social life. Post-modernism, process philosophy, complex systems theory, feminism, inter-spirituality, integral theory, embodied mind, global/planetary consciousness can serve to catalyze the much required transformation at the individual, organizational and societal levels.

Speakers included Sander Tideman (Mind and Life Europe, The Netherlands), Knut Ims (Norwegian School of Economics – Bergen, Norway), , Vincenzo Giorgino (University of Turin, Italy), Xabier Renteria-Uriarte (University of Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain), Claire Brown (University of California at Berkeley, USA), Joel Magnusson (independent economist, Portland, USA), and Ernest  NG (Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong).

The aims of the Contemplative Science & Management conference were (1) to develop working models inspired by contemplative inquiry for the transformation of management practices in a variety of organizational settings, (2) to build a collaborative platform for scholars and practitioners devoted to contemplative inquiry in management and business, and (3) to foster the development and expansion of Buddhism related approaches in economics and other social sciences.