I am an Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Institute of Culture and Society, currently based at the  Interacting Minds Centre and at the Department of Anthropology.

My current research explores the meeting ground between contemplative traditions, especially Buddhism, consciousness research and modernity.

I study how contemplative traditions negotiate the challenges and possibilites of modern society and how scientific research and normative secularism inform the emergence of new forms of contemplative life, community and practice.

One of the goals of my current research is to contribute to refine our understanding of the significance of the spread of mindfulness and related forms of modern contemplative practice for people and for society today

Together with colleagues at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and at Rice University in Houston I am engaged in research on the phenomenology of contemplative experience. This work is funded in part by the Mind and Life Institute, of which I am a Fellow.

In addition, I am continuing my earlier research on the nexus between politics, development and religion, focusing on the Himalayan region and here especially Ladakh in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir.