Institution
University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS)
The most academically credible address in consciousness research: UVA's DOPS, founded by Ian Stevenson
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About
The Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia, founded in 1967 by Dr Ian Stevenson, is a university-embedded research group devoted to the rigorous evaluation of empirical evidence for extraordinary human experiences and capacities. Its primary focus is investigating the mind's relationship to the body and the possibility of consciousness surviving physical death, studying phenomena that challenge mainstream scientific paradigms about consciousness.
DOPS's research programs cover the field's hardest questions: children who report memories of previous lives (the research line Stevenson built the division on), near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, after-death communications, and mind-matter interaction studied in the laboratory. The division's faculty and staff publish in academic journals, explore the implications for scientific theory, and disseminate findings to both public and scientific communities.
The division invites participation: people can contribute their own experiences to its research, take part in studies, and support the work. As part of one of America's major research universities, DOPS gives the study of survival of consciousness an institutional home that no independent organization can match. The institution's stated mission: Scientific Study of Extraordinary Experiences.
Mission
Scientific Study of Extraordinary Experiences.
History
The Division of Perceptual Studies was founded at the University of Virginia in 1967 by Dr Ian Stevenson and carries his research line on children's reports of past lives into modern programs on near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, after-death communications and mind-matter interaction.