LA MIRADA, CALIF. – The American Psychological Association (APA) Division 36 Conference will be hosted on the west coast for the first time April 25-26. Biola University’s Rosemead School of Psychology is hosting the conference, which is the only professional conference dedicated to promoting research in religion and spirituality. 

“The conference being held at Biola represents a more intimate forum for the exchange of ideas,” said professor of psychology Elizabeth Hall. “It is a place to disseminate information, but also a place for scholars in this area to exchange ideas and collaborate.”

Biola is co-hosting this year’s event with Division 36 of the APA, the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Division 36 encourages the integration of psychological study results and religious perspectives. Pepperdine University professor of psychology Edward Shafranske is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the conference.

“The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum for scholars in the psychology of religion and spirituality to present their work and to engage with each other to forward our field,” said Hall.

According to the APA website, the goal of the conference has been to “leverage resources in an effort to stimulate research in the area of psychology and religion/spirituality.”

“The conference is open to all, but it is a research conference so will primarily be of interest to scholars and practitioners of psychology and related fields, such as pastoral psychology, sociology of religion, marriage and family, social work, and others who value the contributions of the scientific study of religion and spirituality,” said Hall.

Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University is one of the top universities in the country for clinical psychological studies.

Learn more about Biola’s Rosemead School of Psychology.

Written by Molly Magee, iBiola Intern. For more information, contact Jenna Bartlo, Media Relations Specialist, at 562.777.4061 or jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu.