Philip Gerrans

Dr Philip Gerrans

Professor

School of Humanities

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

My main research interest is the use of psychological disorder to study the mind. I have written on developmental disorders (autism and Williams syndrome), cognitive neuropsychiatry, on moral psychopathologies (such as psychopathology) and the emotions as well as a large monograph and associated series of papers on delusion and disorders of rationality. I am an Associate of the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences where I collaborate with philosophers psychologists and neuroscientists. Currently I am completing a project on the relationship between emotional processing and self-representation with an emphasis on psychiatric disorders. Chris Letheby and I have just commenced a project on philosophical issues raised by the nature of psychedelic experience. In all these cases my focus is on the role of computational models linking experience to neural processing.

My main research interest is the use of psychological disorder to study the mind. I have written on developmental disorders (autism and Williams syndrome), cognitive neuropsychiatry, on moral psychopathologies (such as psychopathology) and the emotions. I have published two monographs on psychiatric disorders, on on delusion and irrationality and one on disorders of self representation. I am an Associate of the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences where I collaborate with philosophers psychologists and neuroscientists.   in 2024  Chris Letheby and published an edited collection philosophical issues raised by the nature of psychedelic experience. In all these cases my focus is on the role of computational models linking experience to neural processing.  Currently my projects focus on the nature of  neural self representation within the active inference framework, with an emphasis on developmental trauma.

 

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2018 - ongoing VIsiting Professor Mahidol University International College
    2018 - ongoing Visiting Professor Swiss Centre For Affective Sciences
    2003 - ongoing VIsiting Professor Simon Fraser University

  • Research Interests
    Philosophy of Cognition

FUTURE FELLOWSHIP 

 

FT 110101050 The Emotional Architecture of Self Representation for the years 2012-2015. The project integrates and extends a decade of work on developmental and psychiatric disorder and emotions to help explain the relationship between emotional processes and disorders of the self.  Funding  $774,000

 

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL DISCOVERY GRANTS

Since 2003 I have been awarded 4 ARC Discovery Grants. 

 

DP190101451: Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry. Funding $534,000

 

DP0988514: A model of the mind which explains the role of emotions in normal cognition and affective disorder. Funding: $163,000 

 

DP0451655 : The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence from Psychopathology and Neuroscience.  Funding $199, 532. 

 

DP0559464: Philosophy and Cognitive Neuropsychiatry: Delusions as a case study for an integrative neurocomputational theory of rationality. Funding $194, 811

 

Junior Member, McDonnell Project in the Philosophy of Neuroscience. 2000- 2005.

Australian Research Council Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship. 2000 (Declined)

Adelaide University URG 2001.

ARC Small Grant 2002.

 ARC Small Grant 2003.

ARC Small Grant 2004

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2025 Co-Supervisor The Physical Basis of Consciousness Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Prof Keith Dear
    2024 Principal Supervisor Active Inference and Psychiatry Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Samuel Madsen
    2024 Principal Supervisor AI and Accountability: Transparency, Explainability, and Accounting for Responsibility
    Gaps    		 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Michael Lazarou

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Self-Deception and Wilful Ignorance: ‘Self-induced, purported ignorance?’ Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Ms Margaret Leila Penhall-Jones
    2020 - 2022 Principal Supervisor To Blame or Not to Blame: Respect, Fittingness, and Standing Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Henry Littleton Phillips
    2020 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Moral Agency Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Mr Timothy Nailer
    2011 - 2013 Co-Supervisor Understanding is Simulating: a Defence of Embodied Linguistic Comprehension Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Dr Christopher Edward Ross Letheby
    2006 - 2013 Principal Supervisor Moral Competence and the Psychopath Master of Arts Master Part Time Mr Matthew Tieu
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83135297
  • Email: philip.gerrans@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134341
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Napier, floor 7
  • Org Unit: School of Humanities
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