We believe another world is within our grasp. Systematic research of counter-hegemonic knowledge and practices has gained supreme relevance with the world in crisis. Our PhD program will equip you with the necessary skills to participate in the "nowtopian" task of constructing social scientific knowledge that looks beyond capitalism, hierarchy, and ecological disaster. Our graduates are trained for professional careers in academia, policy, social-political journalism, advocacy, and community, legal, and environmental organizations. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them urban social movements, agri-food studies, politics and filmmaking, post-structuralist philosophy, gender equality, forced migration and refugees, radical oral history, and psychoanalytic time.

The mission of our Transformative Studies Ph.D. program is to develop transdisciplinary scholars committed to exploring leading-edge issues in innovative ways that combine scholarship, creativity, and self-inquiry. We invite students to take a systems view of a topic of interest, interrogating its context and complexity. From there, students will design a dissertation drawing on a wide range of qualitative and theoretical research approaches. Our graduates are trained for professional careers as both thought and action leaders who work in fields such as broadcasting, coaching, academia, and policy. Our faculty have a broad range of research interests, among them systems thinking as a catalyst for personal and social change, consciousness, education reform, creativity and improvisation, personal growth, leadership development, future studies, coaching, and spiritual intelligence.

The Ph.D. in Women’s Spirituality is a rigorous transdisciplinary online program building students towards thought-leadership and propelling change. The program explores varied spiritual, ecological, and political perspectives rooted in care for the Earth, each other, and the Sacred. Through your coursework and unique research, you will explore transpersonal and embodied ways of knowing holding womanist, feminist, Indigenous and decolonial lenses. Our graduates pursue a unique interdisciplinary curriculum which prepares them for professional careers in academia and research, teaching and education, coaching and counseling, media, and entrepreneurship. Our innovative and diverse faculty pursue research interests in the three areas of the curriculum: Women and World Religions; Feminist and Ecofeminist Philosophy and Activism; and Women's Mysteries, Sacred Arts, and Healing.

Transpersonal psychology is transformative psychology of mind and body, and of the individual in felt connection with a diverse, interconnected, and evolving world. The field pays particular attention to mystical, spiritual, and other exceptional human experiences associated with healing and transformation—encounters that disclose a vibrant reality that enfolds our seemingly individual minds. We offer a whole-person approach to transpersonal psychology that includes learning and research structured to meet the needs and goals of working professionals. This approach includes affiliation with a planned research laboratory; a peer-reviewed journal produced in part by student interns; and senior scholars in the field who are available to guide student research. We are committed to diversity and inclusion, embodied tools for scholarship, and systematic approaches to building transpersonal areas of knowledge. Our program is offered as a part-time course of study, where online learning is supplemented by residential intensives.

CIIS’ Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion Ph.D. offers a nurturing community engaged in revitalizing relationships to Earth while exploring the intersections of world religions, Indigenous traditions, eco-spirituality, eco-justice, and eco-feminism.

The mission of the PhD in East-West Psychology at CIIS is to explore the convergence of Eastern, Western, and Indigenous psychologies and spiritualities in the spirit of dialogue and integral inquiry. Our students engage in research subjects that explore the meaning of this convergence for a diverse, multicultural, and peaceful world. Our graduates are prepared for professional careers in academia and research, activism and organizational leadership, and spiritual counseling or coaching. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them: Asian wisdom traditions, yoga studies, Integral Yoga, traditional Chinese medicine, Depth and archetypal psychologies, Western religious and esoteric traditions, folklore and mythology, ecopsychology, indigenous psychospiritualities, plant medicines, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and transpersonal and existential psychologies.

CIIS’ Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Ph.D. program is dedicated to reimagining the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community. The heart of the program is its focus on knowledge that is transformative—of ourselves and of our civilization. Our program attracts intellectually engaged individuals who are to varying degrees dismayed by what they see happening in modern societies and who are striving to find meaningful ways to develop their gifts to serve the future of the world. Our students pursue a unique interdisciplinary curriculum which prepares them for professional careers in academia, writing and research, consulting, counseling and coaching, and entrepreneurship. Our faculty have established international reputations and a wide range of research interests in fields such as: evolutionary and archetypal cosmology, philosophy, religious studies, Jungian and transpersonal psychology, ecology, and the evolution of consciousness.