Cyril Costines
Scholar-Practitioner of Consciousness

Academic Profile

My academic education has taken me across disciplinary boundaries, with studies in biology, psychology and philosophy at the universities of Berkeley, Greifswald, Heidelberg, Konstanz and Magdeburg. I hold a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Philosophy-Neurosciences-Cognition. My research aims to improve the scientific understanding of consciousness as such, more specifically the quality of phenomenality inherent in all states of consciousness. To this end, I use both descriptive and analytical methods and rely on empirical evidence.

Currently, I am a doctoral researcher at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany, and at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP), Freiburg, Germany. Under the supervision of Stefan Schmidt and Marc Wittmann, I am investigating the phenomenology and neurophysiology of minimal phenomenal experience (MPE) induced by non-dual meditation and floatation-REST. I am a collaborative member of the international MPE research network led by Thomas Metzinger, which is primarily concerned with the development of a minimal model of conscious experience. I am a co-operative partner of the Psychedelic Substances Research Group (PSRG) at Charité Berlin University of Medicine, Berlin, Germany, which addresses issues related to altered states of consciousness. I am a co-initiator of the Altered X Project (AXP), an international citizen science initiative with the aim of mapping the phenomenal state-space (Phenomenomics). I am a co-founder of the MIND Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting psychedelic research and therapy. In addition to my doctoral thesis, I am currently employed as a research assistant at the IGPP, where I am working on the phenomenology of parapsychological phenomena.

If you would like to learn more about my research work or are interested in collaborating, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Research Focus & Interests

My empirical and philosophical research focuses on three key areas:

In this context, I have a particular interest in altered states of consciousness induced by:  

Research Expierences

Publications

Posters

Talks & Tutorials

Initiatives

Service

Outreach

Media

Memberships

Self-Experimentation