Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.) considers his most sacred work to be learning how to be with his daughter and son, Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden—and their mother, his wife and "life-nectar,” Ijeoma. Emergence Network is a constellation of humans and nonhumans working together trans-locally to curate projects, rituals, conversations and events that nurture senses of the otherwise via practices that trouble the traditional boundaries of agency and possibility. Bayo is also a visiting professor at Middlebury College, Vermont, and has taught in universities around the world. He is a consultant with UNESCO, leading efforts for the Imagining Africa’s Future (IAF) project. Bayo has authored two books, We Will Tell Our Own Story! and These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home, and has penned forewords for many others.We are humbled to share this space with such a powerful thinker as Bayo, whose poetic invocations trace the flowering worlds of an entangled Universe of time, Indigenous realities, and fugitive space. Plunging into deep pools of philosophy and imagination, Ayana and Bayo’s conversation winds through dimensions of the new and the ancient: Yoruba mythology, children as guides to bewilderment, the strategy of separation, grieving as ceremony, trickster spirits, and the teachings of failure and brokenness. As we slow down to listen anew, may we stumble beyond the human story into sanctuaries of “the otherwise”—spaces for falling apart, shapeshifting, resting, and embodying new forms.

Diane served as the Director of Dispute Resolution for the Utah Judiciary from 1994 - 1999, mediating many kinds of matters from simple neighborhood disputes to complex, multi-party negotiations. She was most recognized for her skills in facilitating the difficult conversations related to race, gender, and religion in Utah.

She began working with Ken Wilber and the Integral Institute in 2004, and for fifteen years has held transformative containers for many people interested in their own development. She is the author of three books, most recently Compassionate Conversations, co-authored with Gabriel Wilson and Kimberly Loh.

Aithan serves on McKinsey's think tank for Learning Innovation and has evolved his curricula intersecting transformation, skills development, culture and creativity for the future of work at MIT Sloan, Harvard iLab, Stanford d.school, and the Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship. He has trained more than 12,000 leaders, 200 facilitators, given over 100 keynotes, and delivered customized leadership curricula for more than 30 Fortune 500 organizations in health, technology, finance, and energy.

Aithan developed his research on the creative process at the Royal College of Art & Design, lived in an Australian Aboriginal community for three years to study creativity in cultures of survival, and continues to be a visiting critic at arts institutions internationally. He exhibits his artwork in museums and galleries in New York, London, and Miami.

An international lecturer, researcher and writer, Nora wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary, An Ecology of Mind, a portrait of her father, Gregory Bateson. Her work brings the fields of biology, cognition, art, anthropology, psychology, and information technology together into a study of the patterns in ecology of living systems. Her book, Small Arcs of Larger Circles, released by Triarchy Press, UK, 2016 is a revolutionary personal approach to the study of systems and complexity.

The IBI integrates the sciences, arts and professional knowledge to create a qualitative inquiry of the integration of life. As President, Nora directs research projects at the IBI that require multiple contexts of research and interdependent processes. Asking, “How can we create a context in which to study the contexts?”, an impressive team of international thinkers, scientists and artists have been brought together by the IBI to generate an innovative form of inquiry, which Nora coined “Transcontextual Research”.

As an educator she has developed curricula for schools in Northern California and produced and directed award winning multimedia projects on intercultural and ecological understanding. Her work, which has been presented at the world’s top universities, is described as “offering audiences a lens through which to see the world that effects not only the way we see, but also the way we think”. Nora’s work in facilitating cross-disciplinary discussions is part of her research into what she calls “the ecology of the conversation”. Her speaking engagements include keynote addresses and lectures at international conferences and universities on a wide range of topics that span the fields of anti-fascism, ecology, education, the arts, family therapy, leadership, and many more aspects of advocacy for living systems — she travels between conversations in different fields bringing multiple perspectives into view to reveal larger patterns.

Dustin spent 20 years studying with Ken Wilber and is considered an expert in Integral Theory. He is a senior teacher of Tibetan meditation practices in the Pointing Out Way Lineage and studied with his main meditation teacher, Daniel P. Brown, for 16 years. Dustin and Dan co-taught Mahamudra and Dzogchen meditation retreats together for 10 years until Dan’s passing. Dustin teaches regularly in the US, Europe, Australia, and China.

Through his writing, teaching, and entrepreneurship, Dustin helps people find happier and more fulfilling ways of being in the world. His books include Streams of Wisdom, Evolution's Ally, and Earth is Eden. An avid lover of art, design, and nature, he lives in California with his wife, Amanda, and daughters, Jaya and Rumi.