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Graduate Conference in Religion and Ecology
by
Fri, Feb 20, 2026
8:30 AM – 5:30 PM EST (GMT-5)
Registration begins at 8:30am with our Opening Remarks beginning promptly at 9:00am.
Yale Divinity School, Old Refectory
409 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511, United States
Registration
Registration will only be open from Dec 19, 2025 (at 9 AM) to Feb 13, 2026 (at 11:55 PM).
It's now 12:52 AM on Feb 19, 2026.
Details
Conference Information
The 10th annual Graduate Conference in Religion and Ecology, hosted at Yale Divinity School, will take place on Friday, February 20, 2026, 8:30 am-5:00 pm, with an optional Opening Reception Gallery on Thursday, February 19, 2026, 7:00 pm-9:00 pm.
This year's conference, "Return to the Roots: How We Move Forward," features keynote speaker Carol Wayne White, Chair of Religious Studies at Bucknell University, who will deliver the keynote address, “The Sacrality of Roots: Religious Naturalism’s Prelude to Living in Wonder.” We will feature over 12 artistic works, spotlight 36 student presenters from universities around the world, and hold four participatory workshops.
Returning to the Roots
Inspired by root systems and mycorrhizal networks, both existing and emergent, this year’s theme invites us to explore the intelligences of nature that ground us amid crises and navigate us toward hope. May these expansive systems permeating the world remind us that we are part of something bigger, a sentiment that finds itself in the depths of ancestral wisdom, spiritual traditions, and place-based relationships. We will wrestle with several critical questions this year: How do roots inspire us in the midst of crises, whether they be environmental, within our communities, or in our own personal, spiritual lives? How can our ancestral and unfolding place-based relations tether us to hope? How do emerging roots allow us to move forward through intercommunions of persons, communities, religions, spiritualities, and scientific practices? And ultimately, we ask, what if everything we need is right below our feet?
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Food Provided (Breakfast (light continental fare), coffee and tea, and lunch provided. Includes vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options; please specify your requirements below. For anyone whose dietary restrictions we cannot accommodate, a student kitchen is available. )
Where
Yale Divinity School, Old Refectory
409 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511, United States
Speakers
Carol Wayne White
Carol Wayne White (Presidential Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Bucknell University [2018-21]) specializes in Poststructuralist Philosophies, Process Philosophy, Religious Naturalism, Science and Religion, and Critical Theory & Religion. Her books include Black Lives and Sacred Humanity: Toward an African American Religious Naturalism (2016), which won a Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Titles; The Legacy of Anne Conway (1631-70): Reverberations from a Mystical Naturalism (2009); and Poststructuralism, Feminism, and Religion: Triangulating Positions (2002). White has published numerous essays in philosophy of religion and on religious naturalism; her work in philosophy and critical religious thought has also appeared in Zygon: The Journal of Religion and Science, The American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, Philosophia Africana, and Religion & Public Life. White has received international awards and national fellowships, including an Oxford University Fellowship in Religion and Science, a Science and Religion Grant from The John Templeton Foundation, and a NEH Fellowship. White is currently completing a book with Oxford UP on Anna Julia Cooper (1858 – 1964), which explores the unique set of theoretical perspectives, narrative strategies, and epistemological claims in Cooper’s distinctive model of African American philosophy. She is also doing research for another book project that explores the insights of religious naturalism expressed in contemporary North American nature poets and writers. Her keynote address, "The Sacrality of Roots: Religious Naturalism's Prelude to Living in Wonder," explores aesthetic and ethical responses to recognizing humans as natural processes.
Sponsors
