Miguel Farias PhD

He is the Founding Director of the Brain, Belief, & Behaviour Lab at Coventry University (UK), where he serves as an Associate Professor. He is also the Director of Studies in Psychology at Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford - SCIO (UK). He co-authored “The buddha pill: Can meditation change you?” (2015) and is the lead editor of the “Oxford Handbook of Meditation” (2021). His expertise lies in the science of meditation and the interplay between cognitive-behavioral and biological aspects of spiritual practices and experiences.

He pursued his studies in Psychology and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy at the University of Lisbon (Portugal), later earning a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University (2000-2004), and a master’s degree in the study of Religion and Religious Experience from the University of Wales, Lampeter (2005).

He was a Postdoctoral Researcher at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities (2005-2007) and a Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University (2008-2013). Around 2010, in collaboration with the Prison Phoenix Trust, he embarked on the first randomized-controlled trial examining the effects of yoga and meditation on prisoners.