Skip to content
Mindful Diving — depth lens with dolphin, seal and turtleMindful Diving™

Onderzoeksagenda

Wat we nog niet weten.

An agenda is a promise about honesty. These are the ten questions where the Mindful Diving Standard currently rests on reasoning rather than evidence, grouped by the horizon in which the Institute intends to answer them. Three are already being answered by instruments running inside the network. The Research Council retires a question only when a study answers it.

De acht domeinen — fysiologie, psychologie, instructeurs, ecologie, klinisch onderzoek, FP20-validatie, pedagogiek, en beleid en wereldwijde opschaling — zijn gepubliceerd in de basispublicatie. Hier blijven ze open onderzoeksvragen. Zoals gepubliceerd in de Foundational Paper →

Lees de evaluatie waarop deze agenda is gebaseerdBekijk wat al gepubliceerd isHoe duikers bijdragen aan de wetenschap

Near horizon

2026–2027

Questions the network can answer with instruments already running.

  1. Q01ActiefDuiken & welzijnHorizon 2026–2027

    What is the dose?

    Blue-space research shows restoration rises with contact, but nobody has described a dose-response curve for diving. How many dives, over how many weeks, before a change in perceived stress holds a month later?

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Repeated FP20 measurement across a dive season, minimum 300 divers, three climates.

    Being answered by the network now — the FP20 instrument →

  2. Q02ActiefVeiligheid & aandachtHorizon 2026–2027

    Does instructor wellbeing change student safety?

    Pillar 3 assumes it does. The literature on diving is almost silent on the people who teach it: burnout, seasonal load, sleep and decision quality on the boat.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Cohort of instructors across Founding Centers, wellbeing and incident–near-miss reporting paired.

    Being answered by the network now — the center Quick Scan →

  3. Q03ActiefVeiligheid & aandachtHorizon 2026–2027

    Can a wellbeing signal be caught before it becomes an incident?

    Centers already log a green–amber–red check on each staff member before the day starts. The question is whether an amber, recorded early and acted on, precedes fewer near-misses than an amber recorded late — and whether the signal survives contact with a busy season.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Two seasons of paired amber logs and near-miss reports across at least twenty centers, analysed blind.

    Being answered by the network now — the staff amber signal →

Middle horizon

2027–2029

Questions that need designed studies and external partners.

  1. Q04In ontwikkelingAdemhaling & fysiologieHorizon 2027–2029

    Which mechanism carries the effect — breath, buoyancy, or silence?

    Slow continuous breathing, weightlessness and sensory reduction all plausibly drive the calm divers report. They have never been separated experimentally.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Controlled comparison: confined-water sessions isolating each condition, HRV plus FP20.

  2. Q05OpenenMindfulness in het waterHorizon 2027–2029

    Does the practice transfer to land?

    «Beyond» is the fourth phase of the practice arc and the least evidenced. If presence trained underwater does not survive the drive home, the claim is a holiday effect.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Twelve-month follow-up of MD-1 graduates against matched divers with no mindful training.

  3. Q06OpenenOcean ConnectionHorizon 2027–2029

    Does mindful attention underwater change what divers do above it?

    Diving experience predicts pro-environmental attitude, but attitude is cheap. We want measured behaviour: contact with the reef, gear choices, local stewardship over two seasons.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Behavioural observation at partner sites, paired with the Atlas practice notes.

  4. Q07OpenenDuiken & welzijnHorizon 2027–2029

    Who does this not work for?

    Almost every published sample is made of people who already dive and already liked it. The anxious first-timer, the diver returning after an incident and the person who finds the mask intolerable are absent from the literature — and they are the people a standard most needs to protect.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Prospective cohort recruited at the point of first try-dive, including everyone who stops.

  5. Q08OpenenBlauwe ruimteHorizon 2027–2029

    How much of the effect is the water, and how much is the cold?

    Cold-water immersion has its own literature and its own claimed effects. Diving research rarely reports temperature at all, so warm-reef and cold-quarry findings are pooled as if they were one exposure.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Temperature-stratified analysis across the network, with thermal comfort recorded alongside FP20.

Far horizon

2029+

Questions that need a field, not a study.

  1. Q09OpenenGrondslagenHorizon 2029+

    Are we measuring the right thing?

    Stress scales and mindfulness inventories were built on land, for populations sitting still. Whether they capture what happens to a person forty minutes into a dive is an open psychometric question, not a settled one.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Validation programme for the FP20 in aquatic settings, with invariance testing across languages and cultures.

  2. Q10OpenenTherapeutisch duikenHorizon 2029+

    Where is the line between practice and therapy?

    Therapeutic diving programmes report reductions in trauma symptoms. Mindful Diving is not therapy and never will be. The Institute wants the boundary drawn by evidence, not by marketing.

    Wat het nodig heeft
    Joint protocol with dive medicine and clinical psychology partners; referral pathways defined first.

Een onderzoek voorstellen

Onderzoekers, clinici, duikmedisch specialisten en master- en promotiestudenten zijn allemaal welkom. Vertel ons welke vraag je wilt onderzoeken. Of breng een vraag mee die wij hebben gemist.