9th Symposium - 2012

Chairman | Fernando Lopes da Silva

Emeritus Professor of General Physiology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Head researcher of the Higher Technical Institute (IST) of Lisbon, Portugal. Research interests: electrophysiology of the brain, origin of epileptic phenomena, neuronal networks in relation to memory, attention and consciousness.

Vanessa Charland-Verville

Neuropsychologist, part of the Coma Science Group, Cyclotron Research Centre and Neurology department, CHU Sart Tilman University Hospital, Belgium. She obtained her B.Sc. in Psychology, University of Montreal, and worked on sport concussions in professional football and hockey athletes. She then obtained her Master degree in Neurosciences and is currently doing her PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of Liège, Belgium. Research interests: post-coma memories and cognition, behavioral and neurofunctional study of altered states of consciousness in patients with severe brain injury.

Allan Hobson

Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Basic Science Course on Sleep and Dreams, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Visiting Professor of several European Universities. Several scientific awards for excellence in research, especially on sleep. Editor of numerous neuroscience journals , especially on sleep. Author or coauthor of books and hundreds of papers on neurosciences, namely about sleep research. Research interests: sleep and dream, neurophysiological basis of mind and behaviour, History of neurology and psychiatry.

Moderator | Axel Cleeremans

Research Director, Consciousness, Cognition & Computation Group, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Author of numerous papers on implicit learning and consciousness and editor of the books “The Unity of Consciousness: Binding, Integration and Dissociation” and “The Oxford Companion to Consciousness”. Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. Research interests: consciousness and implicit learning, models of conscious and unconscious cognition, neural network of cognitive processes.

Moderator | Axel Cleeremans

Research Director, Consciousness, Cognition & Computation Group, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Author of numerous papers on implicit learning and consciousness and editor of the books “The Unity of Consciousness: Binding, Integration and Dissociation” and “The Oxford Companion to Consciousness”. Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. Research interests: consciousness and implicit learning, models of conscious and unconscious cognition, neural network of cognitive processes.

Robert Stickgold

Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Member of the Harvard Standing Committee on Mind, Brain, and Behavior. Associate editor of the Journal Mind and Matter and member of the editorial board of several journals on sleep and consultant for more than ten journals on Neuroscience, Chronobiology, Consciousness, Sleep and Dream. Author of dozens of articles and co-author of books on Sleep Medicine. Research interests: nature and function of sleep and dreams from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, memory consolidation and integration in patients with schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders and post-traumatic stress.

Sophie Schwartz

Senior researcher and Professor of Neuroimaging and Programming Methods. Head of the Laboratory for Neuroimaging of Sleep and Cognition, Member of the Executive Committee of the Brain and Behavior Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland. Author of books of scientific communication, in the area of sleep, for children. Author of papers and book chapters on sleep and dream neuroimaging. Consultant and member of the editorial board of several journals on sleep and chronobiology. Research interests: neural plasticity in human adults, role of sleep and dream in cognition, impact of psychiatric disorders on attentional and perceptual processing as assessed by fMRI, attention, visual learning and early visual processing.

Kai Spiegelhalder

Resident and Associate Researcher at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany. Consultant for Cognitive Therapy and Research, Journal of Sleep Research, Nature and Science of Sleep. Young Investigator Award 2008, German Sleep Research Society and Marie Curie Award, European Sleep Research Society. Research interests: sleep medicine and research on various aspects of sleep.

Eus van Someren

Professor of Neurophysiology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Head of the department of Sleep and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences. Author of hundreds of papers in journals of high impact. Founder of an internet sleep registry (www.sleepregistry.eu) database with many volunteers, and co-founder of the European Insomnia Network. Research interests: sleep, circadian rhythms, cognition, ageing, thermoregulation, imaging and acquisition of physiological and behavioral time-series.

Moderator | Caroline Watt

A founder member of the Koestler Parapsychology Unit, and Senior Lecturer, Psychology Department, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Former Perrott-Warrick Senior Researcher and Past President of the Parapsychological Association, co-author of the book “An Introduction to Parapsychology” and author of journal articles on parapsychology and paranormal beliefs. Research interests: replication issues in parapsychology, the psychology and parapsychology of precognitive dream experiences.

Moderator | Dick Bierman

Heymans Chair of Exceptional Experiences, University for Humanistics, Utrecht, Netherlands (Emeritus). PhD in Experimental Physics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Research interests: consciousness studies, artificial intelligence, learning during altered states of consciousness (especially during sleep), non-conscious emotions and their role in (intuitive) decision-making, pre-sentiment (anomalous body arousal preceding emotional events), relation between quantum physics and consciousness.

Carlos Alvarado

Professor of Research in Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia, USA. Chairman of Domestic and International Programs, Parapsychology Foundation. Adjunct Researcher of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, USA. Associate Editor of the Journal of Scientific Exploration and member of the editorial board of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. President of the Asociación Iberoamericana de Parapsicología. Outstanding Career Award, Parapsychological Association. Published hundreds of papers in books and journals of Parapsychology. Research interests: sociological studies of dissociative and exceptional experiences, out-of-body experiences, history of psychology, psychiatry, historical aspects of paranormal research.

Sally Rhine Feather

Executive Director, Rhine Research Center, Durham, NC, USA. Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology. Outstanding Career Award, 2011, Parapsychological Association. Multiple publications on Parapsychology. Research interests: historical and biographical aspects of Parapsychology figures, extraordinary experiences of ordinary people.

Christopher A. Roe

Reader in Psychology, University of Northampton, UK. Research Director, Psychology Division and member of the university’s Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, University of Northampton. Course Leader for the MSc in Transpersonal Psychology and Consciousness Studies, University of Northampton. Editor of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and Committee Member of the British Psychological Society Section for Transpersonal Psychology and Council Member of the SPR, London. Consultant of several journals on Parapsychology, Consciousness and Cognitive Psychology. Research interests: factors associated with Paranormal belief and anomalous experiences, the psychology of deception, and psychological correlates of performance on laboratory-based tests of extrasensory perception and psychokinesis.

Moderator | Caroline Watt

A founder member of the Koestler Parapsychology Unit, and Senior Lecturer, Psychology Department, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Former Perrott-Warrick Senior Researcher and Past President of the Parapsychological Association, co-author of the book “An Introduction to Parapsychology” and author of journal articles on parapsychology and paranormal beliefs. Research interests: replication issues in parapsychology, the psychology and parapsychology of precognitive dream experiences.

Moderator | Caroline Watt

A founder member of the Koestler Parapsychology Unit, and Senior Lecturer, Psychology Department, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Former Perrott-Warrick Senior Researcher and Past President of the Parapsychological Association, co-author of the book “An Introduction to Parapsychology” and author of journal articles on parapsychology and paranormal beliefs. Research interests: replication issues in parapsychology, the psychology and parapsychology of precognitive dream experiences.

Moderator | Miguel Castelo-Branco

Professor of Biophysics and Mathematics and Visual Sciences and Director of IBILI and ICNAS, University of Coimbra. Several awards on Neuroscience. Dozens of papers published on Bioengineering, Visual Neuroscience and Clinical Neuroscience. Consultant (peer-reviewer) for several journals on Neuroscience and Visual Sciences. Scientific Secretary of the European Society EVER (Visual Sciences). Research interests: sensory and cognitive neuroscience in healthy and ill populations.

Moderator | Mário Simões

Professor of Psychiatry and Consciousness Sciences, Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, Portugal. Director of the Post-Graduation Course in Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon. Research interests: psychology and psychophysiology of altered states of consciousness, ethnomedicine, human exceptional experiences and psychology and spirituality.

Moderator | Andreia Azevedo Soares

Journalist at Público newspaper. MA in Brazilian and Portuguese Literary Studies and BA in Journalism. Presenter of the TV Talk-show “4x Ciência” (Four Times Science) dedicated to scientific topics, where she interviewed renowned scientists, philosophers and architects. Subeditor of the Web edition of P3 from Público newspaper. PhD applicant of Science Communication, Imperial College, London, UK. Research interests: printed and multimedia journalism on Science and Health, communication in Science, Art and Politics.

Moderator | Alexandre Castro-Caldas

Professor of Neurology, Director of the Health Sciences Institute of the Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal. Past President of the International Neuropsychological Society. Research interests: literacy/illiteracy and orthography and brain neurobiological substrates, aphasia and Parkinson's disease.

Moderator | Alexandre Castro-Caldas

Professor of Neurology, Director of the Health Sciences Institute of the Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal. Past President of the International Neuropsychological Society. Research interests: literacy/illiteracy and orthography and brain neurobiological substrates, aphasia and Parkinson's disease.

Michael Schredl

Professor in the area of sleep and dream, University of Manheim, Germany. Head of the Sleep Laboratory Research, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim. Published hundreds of scientific papers and four books on sleep topics. Research interests: continuity between waking and sleep, dreams and psychopathology, dream recall, treatment of nightmares, REM sleep and memory and restless legs syndrome.

Teresa Paiva

Associate Professor of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon. Invited Associate Professor of Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon. Researcher of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon. Coordinator of the Master Degree in Sleep Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Lisbon. Holds 3 national patents for the study of Sleep Medicine. Research interests: sleep medicine, Psychophysiology of dream, Fibromyalgia.

Péter Halász

Emeritus Director of the Epilepsy Center and Professor of Post-graduation courses on Epileptology and Clinical Neurophysiology, National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Budapest, Hungary. Published more than 200 articles in journals, six books and was member of several editorial boards of neurological journals. Pioneer in Hungary in the field of sleep medicine and promoter of studies in epileptology, which earned him the title of "Ambassador of Epilepsy". Research interests: epileptology, clinical neurophysiology and research in microstructural dynamics of sleep.

Moderator | Stephen LaBerge

Lecturer on Sleep and Dreams, Stanford University, USA. Founder, CEO and Director of Research, The Lucidity Institute, Inc., USA. Co-founder of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Member of the editorial board of Dreaming, Consciousness and Cognition and of Sleep and Hypnosis. Consultant for several journals on Psychology and Consciousness. Holds patents for equipment and substances, respectively, to induce and evoke lucid dreams. Author and co-author of books and papers on lucid dreams. Research interests: dreams in general, lucid dreaming and its neurophysiological correlates.

Dick Bierman

Heymans Chair of Exceptional Experiences, University for Humanistics, Utrecht, Netherlands (Emeritus). PhD in Experimental Physics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Research interests: consciousness studies, artificial intelligence, learning during altered states of consciousness (especially during sleep), non-conscious emotions and their role in (intuitive) decision-making, pre-sentiment (anomalous body arousal preceding emotional events), relation between quantum physics and consciousness.

Participants: Robert Stickgold, Michael Schredl, Stephen LaBerge