CERCAP Members
The Center for Research on Consciousness and Anomalous Psychology (CERCAP) consists of a group of researchers and associates dedicated to the scientific study of unusual but not necessarily pathological experiences and events, including reputed parapsychological phenomena. We have published influential books and empirical studies in collaboration with many multidisciplinary, international collaborators. We endorse programmatic research using a plurality of methodologies, and are open to diverse perspectives in this area, as long as they are informed and respectful. Our aim is to continue developing multidisciplinary, national, and international collaborations, and train undergraduate and graduate students in a supportive environment.
Current/Transitioning Students and RAs
Kevin Ekstrand Odd
PhD studentKrin Ekstrand Odd, M. Sc., is a PhD student at Lund University, developing and validating a taxonomy of non-ordinary states of consciousness using natural language processing and topic-modeling. He is gathering first-hand recollections of people describing their experience, for instance of states of disorganized thought and behavior. He is also active in the Harmony Research Group from Lund University, and also sculpts with ceramic clay.
Enzo Soares Gil
Project assistantEnzo Soares Gil started working as a project assistant on detecting experiences of spirit communication/interaction from text, and preparing them for an LLM. Enzo currently studies his master's in computational social science at Linköping University, where he is learning about NLP and Computational Text Analysis.
Marc Sparhuber
Project assistantMarc Sparhuber, M. Sc., has been working as a project assistant on detecting experiences of spirit communication/interaction from text, and preparing them for LLM. Marc has gone on to start a Ph. D. at the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education in Frankfurt, Germany. He’s in a project researching disinformation targeted at migrants who have recently arrived in Germany. https://www.dipf.de/de/institut/personen/sparhuber-marc#0
Past Doctoral Students and RAs
Sandra Buratti, Ph. D.
past RASandra Buratti's research interests are in cognitive psychology, with a focus on judgment, decision-making, learning, and metacognition. Her research examines the cognitive processes that shape learning, reasoning, and human judgment.
Sabina Gušić, Ph. D.
past doctoral studentPhoto by Max Thorsson
Sabina Gušić is a licensed senior clinical psychologist whose work centers on innovations in pediatric mental health research. She is primarily affiliated with the Department of Clinical Sciences at Lund University and a research unit at BUP Skåne. Her expertise spans trauma assessment and treatment, PTSD/CPTSD, dissociation, anxiety disorders, and refugee psychology. https://portal.research.lu.se/sv/persons/sabina-gusic/
Lena Lindström, Ph. D.
past doctoral studentLena Lindström’s research concerns alterations of the sense of self, both as a state induced by e.g. psychedelics, and as a trait e.g. following years of meditation, with a mixed-methods approach rooted in phenomenological interviews. She uses fMRI to investigate the neural correlates of self-consciousness as well as visual consciousness, and currently heads the EEG laboratory of the University of Skövde. https://www.his.se/en/about-us/staff/lena.lindstrom/
David Marcusson-Clavertz, Ph. D.
past doctoral studentDavid Marcusson-Clavertz's research focuses on two topics. The first is the neurocognitive underpinnings of mind wandering, including the brain mechanisms and executive functions involved when attention drifts and individual differences in the tendency to mind wander. The second is the relation between altered states of consciousness and anomalous experiences and cognition, with a focus on the methodology of this field, including what qualifies as reproducible evidence for purported phenomena like precognitive dreams. https://www.lnu.se/personal/david.marcussonclavertz
Devin B. Terhune, Ph. D.
past doctoral studentDevin B. Terhune is a Reader in Experimental Psychology in the Department of Psychology in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, & Neuroscience at King’s College London. His research in the Awareness & Modulation Lab draws on methods and theories from cognitive neuroscience, experimental psychology, and psychiatry to characterise different features of awareness, with a focus on dissociative states, and how they can be modulated using verbal suggestion and pharmacological agents.