“Inclusivity and accessibility are at the heart of everything we are doing.”
(Dr. Gemma Griffith)
At Bangor University’s Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP), mindfulness is more than a subject to be studied. It is a living practice, a field of research and a way of supporting people, communities and professional settings across the world. Founded in 2001 and developed under the leadership of Professor Rebecca Crane, the Centre has grown from a local training initiative in Bangor into an internationally recognised centre for contemplative research and professional development.
Its early work focused on training people in and around North Wales, before expanding across Wales and then reaching a global community of students, teachers and practitioners. Today, under the leadership of Associate Professor Gemma Griffiths, the centre combines Bangor’s long heritage with accessible online learning designed for people wherever they are in the world, building on its history of offering the oldest, most established degree in mindfulness in the world.
The centre is designed for people who want to explore mindfulness experientially and understand how contemplative practice can be brought into professional, community and personal contexts. Many students arrive with an established practice; others are beginning their journey and want a structured, supportive environment in which to develop. While the centre has long been associated with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, its work has evolved to reflect a wider spectrum of mindfulness-based and contemplative approaches.
As Gemma explains, research remains central to the centre’s identity, feeding directly into teaching and helping students engage with the evidence base, develop critical thinking skills and understand both the “why” and the “how” of mindfulness and compassion-based approaches.
To make its programmes more accessible, the centre now offers two fully online, part-time, field-leading master’s degrees. Each runs over three years and is designed to fit around work, family life and existing commitments while retaining the depth, community feel and teaching ethos for which Bangor has become known. Students benefit from expert teaching, guided practice, live sessions, reflective learning, tutorials and shared enquiry.
The Contemplative Psychology: Mindfulness and Compassion MA is ideal for students drawn to the deeper questions behind why mindfulness works and its underpinning mechanisms. It explores psychological theory, neuroscience and philosophy as students develop practical experience alongside academic and research skills, critique research, reflect on practice and complete a research project on a contemplative tradition of their choice.
The Applied Contemplative Approaches: Mindfulness and Compassion MA is for those drawn to exploring how mindfulness can be applied in healthcare, education or organisational settings, offering a practice-rich route into teaching and applying mindfulness in real-world contexts. This route allows students to work towards a certificate of competence in teaching while building confidence in leading groups, communicating clearly, facilitating reflection and teaching in ways that are safe, inclusive and trauma sensitive.
A defining feature of the centre’s approach is accessibility. Students do not need to arrive as experts. The programmes support people at different stages of practice and professional experience, creating an inclusive learning environment where curiosity, reflection and community matter. Although the degrees are delivered online, students are not learning in isolation. The centre emphasises connection, shared practice and international community, with opportunities to meet in person during summer retreats that deepen both practice and belonging.
That global reach is visible through teaching and training connected with communities in places such as Singapore and China, supported through partnerships and blended models of learning allowing its work to ripple outward through the practitioners, teachers and professionals it supports. That support was particularly evident at the International Conference on Mindfulness in 2024 which brought together hundreds of students, researchers and lecturers to Bangor from around the world to consider how best to offer mindfulness in a changing world.
The centre also offers short courses and professional development opportunities, including competency assessment following other BAMBA registered courses, and is open to commissioned bespoke programmes. This flexibility enables organisations and professional groups to shape training around their context, reflecting the centre’s wider mission to make mindfulness and contemplative approaches relevant, ethical and useful where people live and work.
“We don’t know exactly the extent to which our work ripples out, but what we do know is that they are going out there with a really solid skill base of being able to communicate and/or teach what mindfulness truly is.” (Gemma Griffiths)
The CMRP has trained hundreds of mindfulness teachers, many of whom continue into professional registration pathways with bodies such as the British Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches (BAMBA) and the European Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches (EAMBA). They carry with them a strong skill base, an understanding of research and ethics, and the ability to communicate what mindfulness truly is. In doing so, they help bring contemplative practice into settings where it can support resilience, awareness, compassion and good citizenship.
The centre’s research culture ensures teaching remains connected to evidence and enquiry. Through rigorous research and publications, including publishing papers in top journals, Bangor continues to help shape how mindfulness-based and contemplative approaches are understood, taught and applied. The centre also evaluates impact: how effective online programmes and retreats can be, what students gain from lived experience and community practice, and what online learning reveals about best practice. These insights contribute to work with neurodivergent mindfulness teachers to develop guidance, and potentially future publications, on making mindfulness teaching genuinely inclusive.
From Bangor to its international community of practitioners, the CMRP continues to nurture learning grounded in practice, strengthened by research and carried forward by students helping mindfulness make a meaningful difference in the world.
Contact details:
Email: g.m.griffith@bangor.ac.uk
Website: Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice
Facebook: Centre for mindfulness https://www.facebook.com/centreformindfulness
Course links:
Contemplative Psychology: Mindfulness and Compassion | Bangor University
Applied Contemplative Approaches: Mindfulness and Compassion | Bangor University
Newsletter: https://conta.cc/4fvROF2
Commissioned courses link:
https://www.bangor.ac.uk/centre-for-mindfulness/commission-bespoke-programmes
Competency assessment link:
https://www.bangor.ac.uk/short-courses-and-cpd/cpd-programmes-at-bangor-university
Links to publications and research:
https://research.bangor.ac.uk/en/persons/gemma-griffith
https://www.bangor.ac.uk/centre-for-mindfulness/publications
Advancing Third-Wave Psychotherapies with Evidence and Diverse Adaptations
by Gemma Griffiths
Link to Conference page: International Conference on Mindfulness (ICM 2024)