Summary: In 2021, we received a small research grant from INSBS to conduct a pilot study on children’s cognitive understanding of death as the cessation of agency. In part 1 of the project, we began fieldsite development in Tana Toraja in Indonesia and assessed the feasibility of future research on similar concepts. We request additional funding in 2022 to launch an expanded project on the role of scientific and religious experiences, scientific knowledge, and supernatural beliefs on multiple cognitive dimensions of death concepts (cessation and irreversibility). Part 2 of the project will take place in Tana Toraja with the addition of a surrounding rural area, Sa’dan, in Northern Toraja, providing direct comparisons of diverse sub-populations within the same location. We will be the first research team to conduct mixed-methods research with children and adults in these areas. This continuing interdisciplinary project addresses the following four areas of research as identified

Summary: This research project seeks to answer the broad question: Which cognitive and cultural factors predict when scientific knowledge conflicts or coexists with religious ideas about the afterlife in Indonesia? We seek funding for a small-scale 12-month mixed methods research project in Tana Toraja, Indonesia, on the role of scientific knowledge and supernatural beliefs on concepts of death. This interdisciplinary project addresses the following three areas of research as identified in INSBS: The social scientific study of the relationship between science and religious belief International comparative perspectives on the study of science, religion and belief in society (3) Public perceptions of the relationship between science, religion and non-religion and their respective roles in society. A convergent aim of this project is to grow international research collaborations by establishing a new research team and securing Tana Toraja as a field site amenable to future research. Our working hypothesis, based on previous