Developed in 2019, our research team has innovated ideas in Fristonian entropy (modelling anxiety), neuro-psychoanalysis (Jungian archetypology), and novel conceptual ways of considering psychedelic substances within the context of qualia structure. Our team spans Monash University, the Australian National University, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, and we frequently collaborate with scholars in the United Kingdom and the United States (i.e., at Yale University). The group was established by Dr Brendan Hutchinson, Dr Alexander De Foe, Hugh McGovern, and Kavindu Bandara.
The principal focus of the The Australian Centre for Consciousness Studies is to promote the advancement of our understanding of consciousness. By engaging transdisciplinary perspectives of science, phenomenology, spirituality, religion, clinical medicine, psychology, mental health, and traditional knowledge systems, we aim to generate outcomes that contribute to the prevention of human suffering and the promotion of human flourishing. The Centre was established by Dr Kylie Harris, Dr Alexander De Foe, and Dr Brian Spittles.
The mental health and VR embodied cognition laboratory was established at RMIT University in 2017 by Dr Russell Conduit, Dr Alexander De Foe, Dr James Collett, and Dr Marcel Takac. The main aim of the laboratory is to build a stronger bridge at the Engineering/Psychology nexus, focusing on transdisciplinary discourse and methodological refinement around such constructs as embodiment, presence, agency, affect, and the exteroceptive sensory space. Work at the laboratory has culminated in over a dozen papers and studies central to these ideas.
6-month fellowship. Involves training/mentoring and opportunity to work on existing papers and/or conceive of new ideas/papers. Generally offered to honours in psychology graduates who are about to complete or have completed their UG sequence within three-years.
My main vision is to connect people and ideas across academe, industry, and praxis domains to further our understanding of concepts central to perception, consciousness, and embodiment.
My project scope has involved working across industry (e.g., Tennis Australia), Government (e.g., Department of Defense), academia (both VET and higher education institutes) as well as in the vein of ‘essential philosophy’ underpinning our understanding of human consciousness. I’ve developed coursework, benchmarked standards, non-structural curricula (i.e., process-oriented), DMAIC-standardization for research efficiency, multimedia engagement (e.g., in collaboration with publishers such as Wiley and Routledge), and other initiatives to support the flourishing of connections across and between these knowledge-silos.
I’ve directly collaborated with research leaders in their respective fields, including Dawson Church (EFT Universe), Steve G Jones (NLP / Clinical Hypnosis), and Emma Bragdon (Spiritual Emergence in the Stan Grof Model).
Finally, I’ve secured over $100,000 in direct funding to support the deployment of student and community led innovation projects, including those bridging teaching, research, and practice, and accessible education initiatives. I’ve also attained various funding grants and industry support to examine seriously the parapsychology thesis (mind/matter interaction), including the Parapsychological Association Research Endowment, which is normally only awarded to one or two scholars per annum.
As a leading international authority on out-of-body experiences and the social neuroscience underpinning phenomenal embodiment, my interests broadly center at a greater understanding of human consciousness, perceptual integration, and feature detection in unique and varied contexts (e.g., VRE, ASMR and biophilic environments, and psychedelic landscapes).
At the moment I’m mostly open to collaboration on Big Ideas, big data projects, and industry/academia integration initiatives:
