Centre

Key Innovations

• The world's first research centre focused on the scientific study of consciousness through the lens of non-ordinary states

• Developing the first MSc and PhD programmes dedicated to consciousness, meditation, and psychedelics

• Research that bridges neurobiology, psychology, phenomenology, and computational modelling

• A focus on underlying mechanisms, going beyond therapeutic or clinical applications

Overview

We are creating the world's first cross-disciplinary centre dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of consciousness, with a focus on both ordinary and non-ordinary states (including meditation and psychedelics) to deepen our understanding of the nature of experience.

Based at University College London (UCL), the UCCR will be the first institution globally to support consciousness research involving non-ordinary states that extends beyond (but also include) clinical and therapeutic applications. We focus on uncovering fundamental neurobiological, psychological, and phenomenological mechanisms, and integrating these with computational approaches to build a more complete science of consciousness.

Our findings will also offer insight into how non-ordinary states shape conscious experience, and how they may enhance wellbeing, cognition, creativity, insight, and human development more broadly.

We intent to offer the world's first MSc and PhD degrees in Consciousness, Meditation, and Psychedelics. Following the Centre's founding with seed funding, these pioneering programs will help ensure its long-term sustainability.

The MSc and PhD programmes will draw on UCL's global leadership in psychology and neuroscience (ranked in the top 5 worldwide), and its reputation for innovative, ecological approaches to brain research. In line with UCL's tradition of disruptive thinking and its current Grand Challenges, the UCCR will foster boundary-crossing research and teaching that redefines what's possible in consciousness science.

Together, these innovations will place UCL and the UK at the forefront of global efforts to understand consciousness, establishing London as the premier destination for research, education, and innovation in the rapidly emerging field of consciousness science.

Mission: To pioneer interdisciplinary research on consciousness, meditation, and psychedelics through a focus on neurobiological, phenomenological, and computational mechanisms, with a vision to become a world-leading institution recognised for innovation in consciousness science.

Research

Focus

• Consciousness-first approach. The UCCR develops research which invites experience in the forefront of scientific investigation, combining phenomenological, neurobiological, and computational approaches. 

• Integrative methodology. While valuing traditional methods, we move beyond disciplinary silos to embrace holistic, ecological, and multilevel approaches to conscious experience.

• Expansive research. Among other topics, we have a special interest in meaning, embodiment, individual variation, and the self–world relationship.

Our Approach

The UCL Centre for Consciousness Research (UCCR) adopts a distinctive, forward-thinking approach to the scientific study of consciousness.

First, we take a consciousness-first approach: Non-ordinary states are powerful methods for illuminating the nature of conscious experience by deconstructing, and reconstructing its core features. By exploring these with phenomenological, neurobiological and computational approaches, the Centre contributes mechanistic insights related to the foundations of wellbeing, cognition, creativity, insight, and human development.

Second, our integrative methodology moves beyond disciplinary silos. We value and incorporate traditional scientific methods but do not believe they alone are sufficient to explain subjective experience. Historically dominant reductionist approaches, though useful, have left major explanatory gaps in our understanding of consciousness. UCCR embraces a more holistic, ecological, and multilevel philosophy of science. We promote pluralism in both theory and method, and support interdisciplinary collaboration as essential to genuine progress in this field.

Third, we maintain an expansive research focus. Among other topics, the Centre is especially interested in four interrelated areas: (1) creativity and meaning-making, (2) embodiment and ecological context, (3) individual differences and neurophenomenology, and (4) the dynamic relationship between self and world. These domains reflect our commitment to studying consciousness in its richness and diversity, unconstrained by narrow disciplinary conventions.

Topics