Julia Lange was awarded a Fulbright open study research grant to complete a project titled “Intensive Mindfulness Retreats and Outgroup Bias in Israel-Palestine.” She will be working with Dr. Nava Levit-Binnun at the Sagol Center for Brain and Mind at Reichman University. Her research investigates how intensive, religiously grounded mindfulness meditation retreats affect outgroup empathy and attitudes toward coexistence among Israelis in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The project aims to address how mindfulness practices may reduce polarization and restore the capacity to recognize the humanity of those with differing political and social identities.

Julia recently completed a BA in psychology at Barnard College of Columbia University, and a second BA in Jewish texts at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Her undergraduate research focused on both eating disorders (EDs) and mindfulness, working first on a clinical trial for a mindfulness-based ED treatment and then studying eating disorders more broadly in low-income, food-insecure populations. She also served as the principal investigator on a study examining the impact of mindfulness meditation on visual attention. In the long term, Julia plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology and contribute to both the research and clinical practice of mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions.