Welcome
To ACCS
Advancement of the study of human consciousness
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 purpose of the ACCS is to:
- Promote the advancement of our understanding of consciousness
- Promote the prevention of human suffering and the promotion of human flourishing
- Improve human health
- Promote the advancement of knowledge through phenomenological and transdisciplinary research, in the areas of spirituality, religion, clinical medicine, psychology, mental health, and traditional knowledge systems
- Accomplish specific public benefits to society
Our goals
Generate Research Opportunities
Support and undertake rigorous, objective phenomenological and transdisciplinary research into the study of consciousness and associated psychological experience
De-stigmatize altered and transpersonal states
Support the development of ontologically-agnostic clinical knowledge of consciousness and associated psychological phenomena
Provide education
Promote the culturally-sensitive incorporation of this transdisciplinary research and knowledge into global mainstream evidence-based medical, clinical, therapeutic, scientific, public health, public policy, and general public knowledge bases
Inform clinical praxis
Broadly support healthy outcomes for individuals undergoing challenging and traumatic psychological experiences
Board Directors
Dr Kylie P. Harris is a transpersonal research and climate psychologist, writer, and activist from Tasmania, Australia. She is a Founding Board Director of The Australian Centre for Consciousness Studies (ACCS), and a Board Director of Integrative Mental Health University (IMHU). Her doctoral thesis investigated the relationships between spiritual emergence(y), psychosis, and personality. Other research and writing projects have included shamanism and psi, mediumship, and holotropic breathwork. Kylie works experientially and her research is guided by personal experience. Her current research interests involve the psychology of climate change and the global crisis; human rewilding; and shamanic and Indigenous perspectives towards healing and transformation. She is also actively involved in creative projects that help to bridge the divide between academia and the general public, highlighting the importance of creative expression and peer support.
Dr Brian Spittles is a Director of the Australian Centre for Consciousness Studies (ACCS) and a member of the global Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC). He lives in Perth, Western Australia, and has worked since 2007 as an academic researcher and/or tutor at several Perth universities in the fields of community and sustainable development, Australian Indigenous studies, sociology, multicultural identity politics, intercultural communication, and ecotourism. His research interests are eclectic and multidisciplinary. These include consciousness studies, transpersonal and eco-psychology, psychosis, mental health recovery, quantum physics, meditation, Buddhism, shamanism, mysticism, nature studies, and Indigenous knowledge/healing systems. Many of these research foci are incorporated into his 2018 doctoral dissertation which will be published in October 2022 by Aeon Books under the title of Psychosis, Psychiatry and Psychospiritual Considerations: Engaging and Better Understanding the Madness and Spiritual Emergence Nexus. He is also a committed activist in the climate emergency, environmental protection, and social justice arenas.
Dr Alexander De Foe is a Melbourne-based researcher with expertise in human consciousness and perception and is a Founding Board Director of the Australian Centre for Consciousness Studies. Dr De Foe has carried out numerous projects on the role of self/body integration in the feature binding problem, as well as the use of modern technology in transforming mind-body perceptions. He has worked extensively on research in altered states of consciousness, including those apparent in the use of mindfulness, meditation, clinical hypnotherapy, entheogens, and induction via modern technologies. He has also lectured on these topics, including teaching expertise in the philosophical antecedents of modern psychology, coordination experience in a VET subject on exceptional human experiences, and a higher-degree subject he created on Eastern models of self and personality. He presently supervises 3 doctoral students, has previously overseen 14 masters/honours dissertations, and has published in leading academic journals such as Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, and the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Support us
Crowd-funded projects
The ACCS funds may be directed to:
- Provide research equipment and facilities
- Partially or fully fund academic and other research-supporting positions and support staff
- Further academic education, training, and attendance at educational conferences and meetings
- Public opinion research, including effective incorporation of knowledge into various cultural and linguistic settings
Updates on Tasmania Project
Collaboration
Reach us
You can reach us at info AT theaccs.org.au