We are living at the edge of a new scientific and cultural frontier—one that is calling us to expand how we understand consciousness, connection, and the nature of reality itself.
Lighting the Path: Giving Day 2026 is an inspiring, free online gathering bringing together pioneering scientists, visionary thought leaders, and a dedicated global community to explore the emerging science of consciousness and human potential.
At a time when many are questioning the limits of a purely materialist worldview, IONS is advancing research that bridges rigorous science with lived experience—investigating phenomena such as nonlocal awareness, mind-matter interaction, and the deeper dimensions of human knowing.
Through conversation, reflection, and shared inquiry, this event invites us to engage with the big questions of our time and to imagine what becomes possible when science expands to include the full spectrum of human experience.
As part of Giving Day 2026, this gathering also offers an opportunity to support this work and help shape the future of consciousness science. After the event, there will be an optional 30-minute discussion time where you can meet and talk with other like-minded seekers in our community.
Hear from Dean Radin, Helané Waheh, Theresa Cheung, Donald Hoffman, and more special guests.
Lighting the Path: Giving Day 2026
Friday, June 12
Main Event | 11:00am – 12:30pm PDT
Social | 12:30pm – 1:00pm PDT
All registrants will receive a link to the recording. Please register even if you can’t attend live.
PRESENTERS
Dean Radin, MS, PhD, is Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Associated Distinguished Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He was awarded an Honorary DSc in yoga research from S-VYASA. Before joining the research staff at IONS in 2001, he held appointments at AT&T Bell Labs, Princeton University, University of Edinburgh, and SRI International. Dr. Radin is author or coauthor of hundreds of technical articles, some 145 peer-reviewed journal articles, four dozen book chapters, and four best-selling, popular books. He has given over 750 invited presentations and interviews for government, military, business, scientific, and other groups around the world.
Helané Wahbeh, ND, MCR, is the Director of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Wahbeh is clinically trained as a naturopathic physician and research trained with a Master of Clinical Research and two post-doctoral research fellowships. She has published on and spoken internationally about her studies on complementary and alternative medicine, mind-body medicine, extended human capacities, stress, posttraumatic stress disorder and their relationships to physiology, health, and healing. Dr. Wahbeh is especially known for her research around — and noetic approach to — channeling.
Arnaud Delorme, PhD, is a neuroscientist at IONS and has been studying human consciousness for the last 20 years. He is a CNRS Research Director in Toulouse, France, and a senior Research Scientist at the University of California, San Diego. He is a long-time Zen meditator, and recipient of several research prizes. He is the author of some 160+ peer-reviewed publications, and is best known for his work on the neural correlate of mind wandering and for developing the EEG software that is now the most-used in EEG research worldwide. He is the author of Why Our Minds Wander: Understand the Science and Learn to Focus Your Thoughts.
Mark Gober is a Partner at Sherpa Technology Group in Silicon Valley, a former New York investment banker with UBS, and former Princeton University tennis team captain. He is the author of An End to Upside Down Thinking and host of the Where Is My Mind? podcast. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a major in Psychology and wrote his thesis on Prospect Theory, a Nobel Prize-winning theory in the field of behavioral economics. He was also a Division-1 athlete all four years at Princeton, serving as captain of Princeton’s Men’s Varsity Tennis Team.
Theresa Cheung is a Sunday Times bestselling author and a renowned expert in dreams, spirituality and personal transformation. Her writing and research bridges the mystical and the scientific, offering grounded insight into the deeper dimensions of human experience. Theresa has a degree in Theology and English from King’s College, University of Cambridge and has published close to a 100 spiritual titles with her latest titles: Extreme Dreaming published by Hachette in October and Invisible Strings published by Inner Traditions in December. In 2018 she co-authored The Premonition Code with IONS fellow, Dr Julia Mossbridge and is a frequent expert guest on mainstream TV, radio, podcasts and in major print and online media, Theresa has become a trusted voice in the world of holistic wellness. Hailed by the media as the “Queen of Dreams” and the “British grande dame of psychic and spiritual studies,” she has been repeatedly named among the ‘100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People.’ Theresa also hosts a weekly live radio show: The Healing Power of Your Dreams on UK Health Radio: The world’s number 1 talk health radio station. You are invited to contact her with any stories, insights or questions via her website www.theresacheung.com or @thetheresaCheung on Instagram, @thetheresacheungofficial on Tik Tok or her author pages on X and Facebook.
Donald Hoffman, PhD received his doctorate from MIT and joined the faculty of the University of California, Irvine in 1983, where he is a Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Sciences. He is an author of over 100 scientific papers and three books, including Visual Intelligence and The Case Against Reality. He received a Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association for early career research, the Rustum Roy Award of the Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. His writing has appeared in Edge, New Scientist, LA Review of Books, and Scientific American and his work has been featured in Wired, Quanta, The Atlantic, and Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. He has a TED Talk titled “Do we see reality as it is?” and a podcast with Lex Fridman titled “Reality Is an Illusion.”
