Professor Fiona Macpherson

Professor of Philosophy (Philosophy)

telephone: 01413308761
email: Fiona.Macpherson@glasgow.ac.uk

R505 Level 5, Philosophy, 69 Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow G12 8LP

Import to contacts

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4950-3309

Overview

News

Research, Books & Online Papers

Public Engagement & Knowledge Exchange

Online presence:

The Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience has a website that I set up and run that from 2004 - 2017 includes The Illusions Index, a fully searchable interactive curated collection of illusions aimed at the public . This was funded by £9,000 incentivisation funds, £5,000 from the School of Humanities and College of Arts, and £2,000 from the Knowledge exchange fund at the University of Glasgow. In August 2020 we launched the 'Master of Illusion' Quiz, completion of which earns you a 'Master of Illusion' certificate from the Universisty of Glasgow.

In May 2020 we also lunched our online art exhibition Extreme Imagination: Inside the Mind’s Eye – the digital counterpart of twin exhibitions hosted by Tramway, Glasgow, and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, in 2019. Those exhibitions were organised by the Eye's Mind research project team and curated by Susan Aldworth and Matthew MacKisack. This online version was conceived and created by Fiona Macpherson and Joanna Helfer.

The Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience has a lively FaceBook page that I set up in November 2008 and now run detailing our activities and research news from around the world on perception. The page has received over 2,600 “likes” and some weeks our “total reach” is over 12,000 people. The Centre's Twitter account @UofGCSPE was started in 2014 and has over 1,500 followers. My own Twitter account, @ProfMacpherson, has over 4,800 followers.

Public Events:

8 & 9 June 2024 The Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience Research Stall, featuring illusions and numerous interesting perceptual effects, was showcased at the at the Riverside Museum, Glasgow, as part of the Glasgow Science Festival.

23rd May 2024 Policy report launch for industry, policy makers, and public to discuss our report on augmented reality: Colburn, B., Macpherson, F., Brown, D., Fearnley, L., Hodgson, C., and McDonnell, N (2024) "Policy and Practice Recommendations for Augmented and Mixed Reality", Enlighten, pp. 1-16, https://doi.org/10.36399/gla.pubs.326686.

May – December 2022 Dreamachine live experience in London (May 10 - July 24) and Cardiff (May 12 - June 18), Belfast (July 25 –September 04) and Edinburgh (August 13 – September 25): A new, one-of-a-kind immersive experience, created by Collective Act, in collaboration with Turner Prize-winning artists Assemble, Grammy and Mercury nominated composer Jon Hopkins, and a team of leading technologists, scientists (led by Prof Anil Seth, University of Sussex) and a philosopher, Professor Fiona Macpherson, University of Glasgow). Dreamachine invites you on a magical journey to explore the extraordinary potential.of your mind. Conjured entirely by stroboscopic light and music, the colourful world of the Dreamachine will unfold behind your closed eyes – created by your own brain and completely unique to you.

From May 2022 The Dreamachine Schools programme is a major UK wide programme, developed by A New Direction in partnership with the British Science Association and UNICEF UK, Prof Anil Seth and Prof Fiona Macpherson.

From June 2022: The Perception Census led by Prof Anil Seth and Prof Fiona Macpherson is the largest scientific research project of its kind inviting you to explore your senses and discover the similarities and differences in how people perceive both the world and themselves. You’ll be able to take part in a series of interactive tasks and experiments, playing with colours, shapes, and visual illusions, and reveal the fascinating ways your mind is unique. Connecting thousands of participants around the world, the Perception Census will shed new light on the diversity of our inner worlds, opening up major scientific opportunities and encouraging new dialogues and understanding about what it means to be human.

18 November 2021 Perceptual Illusion Café: Online presentation of illusions, focusing on mirror illusions and the watercolour effect

23 Nov 2020 Explorathon: Online presentation of illusions, focusing on ambiguities in visual and auditory perception, and discussion with the public

18 Nov 2020 Perceptual Illusion Café: Online presentation of illusions, focusing on after effects such a colour afterimages and the motion aftereffect, and discussion with the public

August 2020 'Master of Illusion' Quiz launched on The Illusions Index website.

May 2020 Online verson of the Extreme Imagination Art Exhibition launched

27 – 28 Sept 2019 Research Stall showcasing perceptual effects at Explorathon, Riverside Museum, Glasgow

8 – 9 June 2019 Research Stall showcasing perceptual effects at the Glasgow Science Festival, Riverside Museum, Glasgow

5 – 7 April 2019 Co-organiser of the Extreme Imagination Conference, University of Exeter aimed at those with aphantasia and hyperphantasia.

Jan – June 2019 Co-organiser of art exhibition ‘Extreme Imagination: Inside the Mind’s Eye’ shown at the Tramway, Glasgow (Jan – March) and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter (march – June). The exhibition included six exhibits by myself illustrating strange perceptual phenomena that are in some way like visual imagination. Funding awarded for this activity is detailed in the previous section.

12 January 2019 Co-organised and took part in a workshop for the public about the ‘Extreme Imagination’ exhibition and about aphantasia and hyperphantasia, at the Tramway, Glasgow. (60 attendees)

18 – 20 Jan 2019 Co-organised and co-ran virtual reality demonstrations and workshops to inform people about it and instruct them how to prepare a brief to give to a virtual reality developer at the British Council in Hong Kong Spark Festival of Ideas

15 – 16 June 2018 Organised stall demonstrating perceptual effects and virtual reality at the St Enoch Centre at the Glasgow Science Festival

28 – 29 April 2018 Organised stall demonstrating the Illusions Index and illusions at the University of Glasgow Teaching Conference on Visualisation

29 Sept 2017 Co-organised research stall at Explorathon at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow.

18 June 2017 Co-organised a research stall at Glasgow Science Festival, Kelvin Gallery, University of Glasgow.

6 - 11 June 2017 Co-organised a research stall at the Cheltenham Science Festival.

5 May 2017 Co-organised a research stall at a Glasgow Science Centre Lates Event, Glasgow Science Centre.

29 April 2017 Co-organised a research stall at the Question of Perception Celebration Event, Glasgow Science Centre.

30 September 2016 Organised the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience’s contribution to Explorathon 2018, consisting of a research stall at the Explorathon Extravaganza in the Glasgow Science Centre.

7 July 2016 Co-organised a lecture and poetry reading by Dr Nuala Watt at the University of Glasgow for the public as part of the Understanding the Senses: Past and Present project.

6 July 2016 Co-organised an event in Special Collections in the University of Glasgow Library for the public as part of the Understanding the Senses: Past and Present project. It consisted of a room displaying visual, audio and cross-modal illusions, illustrating the work of the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience and a display of some of the library’s collection of manuscripts and early printed books relating to the history of the senses.

17 June 2016 Co-organised the “Beer: History, Philosophy, Science" workshop and tasting that was open to the public.

11 – 12 June 2016 Organised the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience’s contribution to the Glasgow Science Festival, consisting of a research stall in the Kelvingrove Museum for two days. We presented a large number of visual, auditory, and, taste illusions and effects. The stalls were manned by myself and other members of the CSPE. Members of the CSPE also gave talks as part of the festival: Myself and David Simmons on the Philosophy and Psychology of Colour (over 150 registered participants), and David Bain on Pains that are Not Unpleasant (over 100 registered participants).

28 September – 29 November 2015 Organised the ‘Impossible Lego Object’ exhibit, one item in the Objects of Research exhibition at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

25 September 2015 - Centre for the Study of Perception research stall at Explorathon '15, European Researchers' Night.

6 & 7 June 2015 - Centre for the Study of Perception research stall at the Glasgow Science Festival at Kelvingrove

November 2014 - Helped to run “The Hidden Senses: the secrets of taste and smell” a day of talks, activities, experiments, demonstrations, and exhibitions for the public to challenge their understanding of the senses of taste and smell, involving philosophers, psychologists, perfumiers, neurosciencest,s artists, chefs, and technologists at the Dana Centre, Scoence Museum, London. The event showcased the work of the Rethinking the Senses project and was part of the national AHRC Being Human Festival of the Humanities.

September 2014 - I supervised Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience Postdocs Keith Wilson and Jennifer Corns in showcasing the CSPE’s research at the ‘Explorathon’ European researchers night at the Glasgow Science Centre.

June 2014 - Took part in “Moving Water”, an art participation project by Sensory Sites and collaborators at the October Gallery, London.

December 2013 - Attended and led discussion at the workshop, “Data, Dada, Data: the Next Big Confluence of Art, Science and Technology” organised by UCLIC, UCL, held at Cumberland Lodge, London. The event involved engineers, computer scientists, philosophers, psychologists, and architects and sought to address the challenges and opportunities of the new data revolution for Art, Science and Technology.

November 2012 - Took part in and was discussion leader for a workshop on ‘Creative Dining, Cooking and Technology’, organised by UCLIC, UCL, held at John Salt Restaurant, Islington, involving chefs, designers, a film maker, psychologists, philosophers and technologists. I also wrote an essay “The Future of Dining Practices” for the website of the project.

March 2012 - I organised a public exhibition of all the sensory substation and augmentation devices discussed at the academic conference on one afternoon and evening in the British Academy. This was the first time ever that all these devices were at the same location at the same time. A video was made of the event, which I present. It can be viewed online together with the presentations from the conference.

October 2011 - 'Sensory Substitution: Challenges for Philosophy and Science’, invited paper and practical demonstration of tactile-vision sensory substituion, jointly presented with Jon Bird (UCL), Undergraduate Philosophy Society, Umeå University, Sweden

May 2011 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Lecture, University of Glasgow. I organised the public lecture given by Professor Barry Smith (Philosophy, London) and Professor Charles Spence (Psychology, Oxford) entitled “On the Blind Versus Sighted Tasting of Wine” and the tutored wine-tasting, sponsored by Quel Vin vintners, that followed.

My work in, or cited in, the media:

Wrote opinion piece (with Ben Colburn) “Exploring the risks and rewards in augmented reality” for The Herald, published 23 May 2024, about our Policy and Practice Recommendations for Augmented and Mixed Reality.

The launch and the content of the “Policy and Practice Recommendations for Augmented and Mixed Reality” report, was covered in The Herald, “Augmented reality - the next big tech wave?”

Interviewed about perceptual diversity and The Perception Census on BBC Radio 4, Inside Science, 12 October 2023.

Published advertorial to promote The Perception Census, “Which has a bigger tail: a squirrel or a rabbit?” in New Scientist, August 2023.

Interviewed about psychological and perceptual differences for the cover story, “How Are You Thinking?”, New Scientist, published 22 July 2023: 32-35.

Interviewed about aphantasia for the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry’, Series 21, ‘The Case of the Blind Mind's Eye’, broadcast 10th January 2023.

Guest on the “Philosophy Takes On The News” Podcast, Series 2, Episode 8, 9th December 2022, end of year special on constitutional reforms, crypto and effective Altruism, end of year round-up, plus hopes and fears for 2023.

Published article, “Perceptual Diversity: Do You See What I See” for ReSourcE, the magazine of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an accompanying blog post on 1st December 2022.

Guest on the “Philosophy Takes On The News” Podcast, Series 2, Episode 6, 10th November 2022, special episode on the 2022 US mid-term elections with a run-through of the results plus discussion of democracy, trust, compromise, Trump, information, and media. https://stkirchin.podbean.com/e/s2-ep-4-13th-october/

I was a guest on the “Philosophy Takes On The News” Podcast, Series 2, Episode 4, 13^th October 2022, discussing the absolute state of UK politics and artificial intelligence. https://stkirchin.podbean.com/e/s2-ep-4-13th-october/

I appeared as guest on BBC Radio Ulster radio programme Sunday Sequence 24^th July 2022 discussing the Dreamachine project.

I appeared as a guest on NewsTalk's FutureProof, on 19th July 2022, talking about the Dreamachine project.

I was interviewed by Harry Pettit, Deputy Technology and Science Editor for the Sun newspaper on optical illusions for an article, “Fame Game: You’re in the top 1% if you can spot the hidden celeb in this optical illusion – & there’s a clue to help” 16^th June 2022.

Guest on the “Philosophy Takes On The News” Podcast, Series 1, Episode 14, 9th June 2022, discussing the vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson, the Jubilee and values, and food policy.

Interviewed on Radio 4’s ‘All in the Mind’ programme about the Dreamachine, 11^th May 2022.

Guest on the “Philosophy Takes On The News” Podcast, Series 1, Episode 6, 24th March 2022, discussing discussing duties to others, climate change and energy, and beers in the metaverse.

Interviewed for RTE: Ireland’s National Public Service Radio for the programme, ‘The Science of Sense’, 18 March 2022

Interviewed as expert on aphantasia and hyperphantasia for Canadian podcast ‘Imagine that’, June 2021.

Interviewed as expert on hallucination for the documentary, “The Islanders Who Saw Visions”, January 2021. Film released on BBC Reel on 17 May 2021 https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p09hgdgk/how-alicudi-s-islanders-experienced-mass-hallucinations

Appeared on ABC Illawarra Radio interviewed by Lindsay McDougall for DriveTime about virtual reality and the Mobius Project on 11 July 2019.

Appeared on the BBC World Service ‘Newshour’ programme being interviewed about my work on aphantasia and the Eye’s Mind’s conference on Extremes of Imagination on 6 April 2019.

Interviewed by Tom Metcalfe on augmented reality for NBC Mach, on 7 December 2017.

Interviewed by Harry Pettit for an article entitled, “Can you HEAR this silent GIF? Mind-bending audio illusion tricks your brain into thinking you hear a sound while watching a noiseless animation“, for the Mail Online, published 4 December 2017. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5143355/Silent-animation-hear-baffles-internet-users.html

Interviewed by Nicola Twilley for an article on "Seeing with Your Tongue", for The New Yorker, published 15 May 2017.

Interviewed by Jeff Gailus for piece entitled "We Should Count Balance As One of the Senses" for Nautilus science magazine, published on 3 March 2017.

Interviewed by Timandra Harkeness for a Blakeway Production programme for Radio 4 on sensory substitution and augmentation, to be broadcast in 2017.

Interviewed by Emma Shephard for Spring 2016 PhilonoUS, the University of Sheffield Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy.

Interviewed for a BBC Radio 4 programme ‘An Image of Sound’ for broadcast on 7 February 2015.

"", Research Professional, 15 January 2015.

Co-host of CBC's "Spark" programme about "Rewiring our Senses" (Programme No. 268) first broadcast December 7, 2014

German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel has an article on my and Dimitris Platchias' Hallucination volume.

Presented a video about the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience's demo event and my talk and slide show from the Conference on Sensory Substitution and Augmentation, 26 - 28 March 2013.

I am on Philosophy Bites Podcast speaking on Hallucination.

My piece "The Future of Dining Practices" on the Food for Thought: Thought for Food website, which in part records the Creative Dining, Cooking and Technology Workshop, held at the John Salt Restaurant in Islington, November 2012.

Interviewed about my work on perception and the senses in "A Shift in Perception", University of Toronto Magazine, by Cynthia Macdonald.

My work is discussed in "Minds on Monday: Sense and Un-sense in the Animal Kingdom", New Apps Blog, by Mohan Matthen.

Interviewed for "Philosophy gender war sparked by call for larger role for women", National Post Newspaper, by Kathryn Blaze Carlson.

Public and Knowledge Exchange Lectures:

September 2021 ‘What is Synaesthesia?’, invited talk to cast and crew of the play “When Blue was Green”, in partnerships with Beacon Arts Centre and Dundee Rep, funded by Creative Scotland.

May 2019 ‘Notes on Blindness’, talk and participation on panel discussion after VR and cinema screening of the film by the same name at the event, Making Sense: Exploring Altered Perception Through ‘Notes on Blindness’.

April 2019 ‘What Is It Like to Have Visual Imagery?’, keynote talk at the Extremes of Imagination Conference, for people with aphantasia and hyperphantasia, Eye;s Mind Project, University of Exeter

January 2019 Does Virtual Reality Consist in Veridical, Illusory or Hallucinatory Experience?’, Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture, Philosophy Department, University of Cardiff

April 2018 ‘Does Virtual Reality Consist in Veridical, Illusory or Hallucinatory Experience?’, invited talk, Stapledon Colloquium, University of Liverpool

June 2016 ‘The Philosophy and Psychology of Colour’ public lecture at the Glasgow Science Festival.

November 2015 'Illusion and Perception', public lecture in the Lunchtime Masterclass Series, at the Centre for Open Studies, University of Glasgow

November 2015 'Illusion and Perception', keynote lecture at the Hutchesons' Annual Approaching Philosophy Conference for school children

June 2015 'Vision, Perception and Illusion', public lecture at the Glasgow Science Festival on on the 8th of June

March 2015 'The Waterfall Illusion', public lecture at the Glagsow Science Cafe, Research Club, Ashton Lane, Glasgow

December 2014 ‘Philosophy of Hallucination and Perception, talk to Eye Surgeons at King’s College Hospital, London

October 2014 ‘Philosophy of Hallucination and Perception’, public lecture with over 100 registered participants, lunchtime master class series, Centre for Open Studies, University of Glasgow

June 2014 ‘Philosophical Views of Hallucination and Perception’, public lecture at the Out of Our Heads art exhibition on hallucination at Shoreditch Town Hall, London

May 2014 ‘Individuating the Senses’, keynote speaker, The Human Senses: Inspire Gatherings, School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent

April 2014 Speaker at Conversations in Mind/Brain/Behaviour, interfaculty event, Harvard University, debating with Professor Robert Stickgold (Harvard)

July 2013 ‘How Many Colours Are in the Rainbow? Lessons from the Variability of Perception‘, Public Lecture, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

Consultancy:

I am the Principal Academic Consultant for the Twist Museum of Illusion, January 2022 – present. I developed a strategy for displaying different types of illusion, suggested individual illusion to include, explained and wrote about the nature of illusions for the designers, and wrote the text that is displayed beside each illusion in the musuem explaining the nature of the illusions and the philosophy and science behind them.

I was a consultant during the development of the play ‘When Blue Was Green’ by Melanie Bell, in partnership with Beacon Arts Centre and Dundee Rep, with funding support by Creative Scotland. I gave a talk to the cast and crew on multisensory perception and synaesthesia and answered their questions in August 2021.

I was a consultant for and research collaborator with Cupboard Games, a small independent computer games firm from 2017 - 2019. I shared my knowledge on perception, the sensory modalities, and sensory substitution and augmentation to help them design games such as ‘Umwelt’. Cupboard Games and the University signed a memorandum of understanding in September 2017 to facilitate our connection.

Biography

Research interests

Publications

Grants

2024	Received £750,000 jointly from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for a research project on Sensory Engineering (SENSOR) January 2024 – December 2027. PIs are Derek Brown and Sascha Benjamin Fink, I am a Co-I, along with Jack Lyons.
2021	Received £20,000 from the Royal Society of Edinburgh for a Network Grant for the project: Augmented Reality: Ethics, Perception, Metaphysics from November 2021 – November 2023. I am the PI, and Ben Colburn, Neil McDonnell and Derek Brown, colleagues at Glasgow, are the Co-Is.
2021	Awarded £59,935 Leverhulme Fellowship for Project, “A New Theory of Illusion and Hallucination and Its Implications”, to run from September 2021 – December 2023.
2021	I am a member of The Assemble+ Collective (now Collective Act) awarded approximately £8 million pounds for the Dreamachine Project - part of the Unboxed Festival in 2022.
2020	I am a member of the "Assemble" team awarded £100,000 to participate in the Festival UK 2022 R&D Project between November 2020 and February 2021.
2018	Awarded £4,163.46 from the University of Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund to put the Extreme Imagination Exhibition online.
2018	Awarded £716,743 towards Project Mobius, a £911,713 project, working with local VR company Sublime to produce 10 VR University teaching apps and an underlying platform that gathers data about use. It will also allow for the creation of two high-capacity VR teaching labs. The grant is from Innovate UK (for October 2018 – 2021).
2018	Awarded a grant from the College of Arts to take part in the British Council Spark Festival of Ideas in Hong Kong, January 2019, where Neil McDonnell and I showcased our VR work.
2018	Awarded further grant to develop the Illusions Index quiz by the University of Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund (£3,706)
2018	Awarded a grant from the College of Arts PG Engagement fund towards equipment for public events (£650)
2018	Awarded a grant of £3,312 from the College of Arts for Teaching Buy-Out for 2018-19 to carry out impact case work
2017	Awarded £2,000 from the University of Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund for travel and accommodation for three people to run a research stall at the Cheltenham Science festival
2017	Awarded College of Arts three-year strategic support grant to run the Philosophy, Psychology, Neuroscience seminars (£2,500 in each of the three years)
2017	Awarded School of Humanities Research grant for giving a talk at the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology in San Antonio Texas, 2018 (£1,600)
2017	I have been awarded as CoI, with Pi Adam Zeman at Exeter, a grant of £80,000 from the AHRC for follow-on funding for our The Eye's Mind Project.
2017	I have been awarded grants of £2,500 from the School of Humanaites, £2,500 from the College of Arts, and £2,00 from the Glasgow Knowledge Exhcange Fund, University of Glasgow to fund a postdoc to work on the Illusions Index, August - September 2017.
2016	Neil McDonnell and I have been awarded a grant of £6,670 from the Templeton Foundation via the The New Directions in the Study of Mind Project at the University of Cambridge for a project on Virtual and Augmented Reality, which will run from April - June 2017.
2016	Neil McDonnell and I have been awarded a grant of £15,000 from the University of Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund for a project on Virtual and Augmented Reality, which will run from January - March 2017.
2016	Keith Wilson and I have been awarded a grant of £9,824 from the Templeton Foundation via the The New Directions in the Study of Mind Project at the University of Cambridge for a project on Synchronising the Senses, which will run from June - August 2017.
2015	Stephan Leuenberger and I have been awarded a grant of £58,609.94 from the Templeton Foundation via the The New Directions in the Study of Mind Project at the University of Cambridge for a project on Sense-Data: Phenomenology and Metaphysics, which will run from July 2016 - July 2017.
2014	The Royal Society of Edinburgh have awarded the project “Understanding the Senses: Past and Present” a Humanities Network Award of £19,986.20. Elizabeth Robertson (English, Glasgow) is the PI and myself and Annette Kern-Stahler (English, Bern) are a Co-Is. The project will run from March 2015 – 2016.
2014	The John Templeton Foundation, via the Emergence Project at the University of Durham have awarded £50,000 to the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience's Project on Emergence. The project starts in October 2014 and lasts for one year. Stephan Leuenberger and I are PIs.
2014	The Arts and Humanities Research Council have awarded a grant of £80,000 to the project The Eye's Mind on which I am co-investigator. The project starts on 1 January 2015 and lasts for one year. The PI is Professor Adam Zeman (Neuroscience, Exeter).
2013	The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have awarded a grant of 1.9 million pounds to the project Re-Thinking the Senses on which I am co-investigator.
2013	Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to attend the Primary and Secondary Qualities Workshop in Dubrovnik (£350)
2012/13	British Academy conference grant (£12,000), Chancellor's Fund of the Univeristy of Glasgow grant (£6,000) and a contribution from the Network for Sensory Research (£3,000) to host the Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Conference in March 2013 at the British Academy.
2012	Visiting Professorship award from the Institute of Philosophy, University of London, for 2012-13 (£6,000).
2012	Visiting academic: Dr Derek Brown (Brandon University, Canada), Autumn 2012, visits the Centre and Professor Macpherson, funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh International Exchange Programme grant awarded to Professor Macpherson (£2850).
2012	Graduate Conference: The Problems of Philosophy: Then and Now, June 2012. Funding: Mind Association (£600), the Analysis Trust (£400), the Bertrand Russell Society (£637), John Hopkins University Press (£400), The Scots Philosophical Association (£2,000), and the College of Arts Graduate School of the University of Glasgow (£1,000).
2011	Awarded an AHRC Fellowship for 2012-13 to work on a project entitled Perception, Imagination and the Structure of Consciousness: £68,375.  Abstract: I will investigate the nature of perception and perceptual experience. The research focuses around two main questions. First, whether perceptual experiences, involved in seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting the world, can be affected by cognitive states such as beliefs, desires and expectations. This question is whether 'cognitive penetration' can occur and if it occurs I will examine in what conditions it does so. The existence of cognitive penetration is highly disputed. My distinctive and original contribution will be to argue that cognitive penetration can take place, however, I will claim that one needs more substantial argument to show this than is usually given. The second question is: What is the nature of perceptual experience, such that it can be so influenced by beliefs, desires and expectations? I will explore mechanisms by which cognition may affect experience. I will argue that one mechanism that can explain many cases of cognitive penetration involves perceptual imagination affecting perceptual experience. I will also argue that imagination's influence on experience can account for many features of perceptual experience that have resisted explanation, in particular, types of experience of absence. Thus my research will cast light on the nature of perceptual experience. Insight will be gained about the nature of the structure of experience and its representational and conscious aspects. The implications of the existence of cognitive penetration for epistemology and ethics will also be made vivid.
2011	Co-applicant on a Partnership Development Grant for the Network for Sensory Research, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: $199,400 (Canadian Dollars). The Network is a research partnership between the Departments of Philosophy at Toronto (Principal Investigator: Mohan Matthen), Harvard (Co-Investigator: Susanna Siegel), MIT (Co-Investigator: Alex Byrne), the Centre for the Study of the Senses of the Institute of Philosophy (Co-Investigator: Barry Smith), and the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience at the University of Glasgow (Co-Investigator: Fiona Macpherson). Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by the partner institutions, this will be a philosophy-led, interdisciplinary, international network of researchers to study how the brain/mind integrates information from the senses.
2011	Conference: ‘Perceptual Imagination and Perceptual Memory’, 6 - 9 September 2011. Organised jointly with Fabian Dorsch (Fribourg). Funding: £3,000 Mind Association; £2,000 Scots Philosophical Association; £1,410, Department of Philosophy, University of Fribourg; £600 Strategic Research Fund, College of Arts, University of Glasgow.
2011	Conference: ‘Graduate Conference on the Metaphysics of Mind’, June 2011. Funding: £3,000 Mind Association; £1,000 Scots Philosophical Association; £750 Graduate School, College of Arts, University of Glasgow.
2011	Workshop: ‘Cognitive and Cross-Modal Effects on Vision’, 26 and 27 March 2011. Organised with Athanassios Raftopoulos (University of Cyprus) and the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Funding: £800 Mind Association; £2,000 The Scots Philosophical Association; £750 British Society for the Philosophy of Science.
2010	Conference: ‘Mind, Science and Everything!’, Graduate Conference, 25 – 26 June 2010. Funding: £700 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Graduate School; £437 British Society for the Philosophy of Science; £225 Mind Association; £250 Aristotelian Society. Orgnaised with Neil McDonnell and Umut Baysan.
2010	British Academy Overseas Conference Grant to present a paper on the senses at the American Philosophical Association Conference in San Francisco (£500)
2010	Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to present a paper on the senses at the American Philosophical Association Conference in San Francisco (£500)
2010	Conference: ‘Phenomenal Presence: What is Phenomenally Given in Experience?’, 7 – 9 June 2010, University of Fribourg. Organised this jointly with Martine Nida-Rümelin, Fabrice Theler and Fabian Dorsch of the University of Fribourg. Funding: £1908 University of Fribourg; £8904 Pro*Doc Graduate School ‘Mind and Reality’ Universities of Fribourg, Geneva and Lausanne.
2009	Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to reply to a paper at the Department of Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest (£300)
2009	Seminar Series: Philosophy of Mind and Psychology (September 2009 – present), jointly organized with the Department of Psychology. Funding: £400 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund; £400 Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow.
2009	Conference: ‘Varieties of Experience Graduate Conference’, July 2009. Funding: £500 Scots Philosophical Club; £500 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund. Organised with Stuart Critchfield and Robert Cowan.
2008	Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to reply to a paper at a workshop ‘The Role of Thought in Consciousness’, Harvard University (£490)
2008	University of Glasgow Chancellor’s Fund to give a paper at the SPAWN Conference on Perception at Syracuse University and to visit academics in Boston (£1,500)
2008	Carnegie Trust Grant for research expenses for visit to the Centre for Consciousness, Australian National University (£2,500)
2008	Conference: 'Hallucination on Crete', 11 – 14 September 2008, Crete. Organised jointly with the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies, and the Mind and Brain Graduate Programme, University of Crete. Funding: 8,000 Euros Greek Government and the University of Crete; £1,000 Scots Philosophical Club; £500 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund.
2007	Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to present a paper at the 'Self-Knowledge and Agency Conference, Centre for Philosophy, Jawharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India (£700)
2007	British Academy Overseas Conference Grant to present a paper at the 'Self-Knowledge and Agency’ Conference, Centre for Philosophy, Jawharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India (£600)
2007	Workshop: ‘Perception and Introspection’, 16 November 2007. Funding: £1,900 in total from The Aristotelian Society, The Analysis Trust, the Scots Philosophical Club and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund.
2006	Conference: 'The Admissible Contents of Experience', 20 – 22 March 2006. Funding: £9,500 in total from the Philosophical Quarterly, The British Academy, The Mind Association, The Analysis Trust, and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund.
2006	Workshop: 'Art and the Senses', on 7 October 2006, jointly with Professor Robert Hopkins, at the University of Sheffield. Funding: approximately £500 from the British Association for Aesthetics and the Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield.
2005	Conference: ‘Graduate Conference on Philosophy of Perception’ 8 October 2005. Funding: £2000, AHRC; £400 Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow. Organised with Dimitris Platichias.
2005	Conference: 'Disjunctivism: Perception, Action, Knowledge' 4 – 5 June 2005. Funding: £2,500 in total from The Mind Association, The Royal Institute of Philosophy, The Analysis Trust, Blackwell's on behalf of the Philosophical Quarterly, and the Scots Philosophical Club.
2004	Conference: 'Individuating the Senses' 4 – 5 December 2004. Funding: £5,000 in total from The British Academy, The Mind Association, The Analysis Trust, The Scots Philosophical Club, Blackwell's on behalf of Analysis, and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund.
2004	Seminar series on 'Disjunctivism', Autumn 2004. Funding: £950 in total from the Scots Philosophical Club and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund.
1999	Royal Institute of Philosophy Jacobsen Fellowship (funding tuition fees and living expenses for one year of the PhD)
1999	British Federation of Women Graduates Grant (for additional living expenses for one year of the PhD)
1998	Kennedy Scholarship to attend Harvard University for one year as a Visiting Fellow in Philosophy (covered tuition fees, living expenses, medical insurance and travel costs)
1997	Royal Institute of Philosophy bursary (for additional living expenses for one year of the PhD)
1995	Major Scottish Studentship from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (funding three years of PhD tuition fees and living expenses)
1995	Stirling/St. Andrews Graduate Philosophy Programme 'top-up' award (for additional living expenses for three years of the PhD)
1994	One year postgraduate scholarship from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (funding tuition fees and living expenses for the MLitt)
1994	Stirling/St. Andrews Graduate Philosophy Programme 'top-up' award (for additional living expenses for the one year MLitt)
1993	Edward Caird Medal for Moral Philosophy from the University of Glasgow
1993	MacLagan Prize for Moral Philosophy from the University of Glasgow
1992	Thomas Holt Prize for Logic from the University of Glasgow

Supervision

I am happy to supervise Masters and PhD students and take on postdocs in philosophy of mind, psychology and perception and related areas. I also welcome applications from students studying elsewhere who would like to spend time as a visiting research student working with me and/or at the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience. Please see the philosophy postgraduate webpages for details of postgraduate degrees that we offer and funding or for how to apply to be a visiting student.

Current Graduate Students

Husselman, Tammy-Ann
Multi-user Virtual Reality (VR) Environments: Immersion and Perceptual Experience during Learning for neurodivergent students

Harber, Jacob
What is the difference between the conscious nature of mental imagery, perception, and other sensory states (such as dreaming and hallucinating)?
Husselman, Tammy-Ann
Multi-User Virtual Reality (VR) Environments: Immersion and Perceptual Experience during Learning for Neurodivergent Students

Previous Graduate Students:

2019 - 2021 Steven Broadrick, PhD Topic: What can the predictive brain hypothesis tell us about colour perception?
2018 - 2019 Adriana Alcaraz Sanchez, MPhil Topic: Conscious States During Dreamless Sleep: A Philosophical and Psychological Account
2013 - 2019 Sheena McAnulla, PhD Topic: Panpsychism
2017 - 2019 Joquim Gianotto, PhD Topic: The Dual Nature of Properties
2014 - 2016 Katherine Meadowcroft, PhD Topic: Pain and Introspection
2014 - 2016 Rashida Ahmed, PhD Topic: The Senses
2010 - 2014 Umut Baysan PhD Topic: Multiple Realizability
2008 - 2014 (part-time) Andrew MacGregor, PhD Topic: Relationalist Theories of Perception
2008 - 2013 Akiko Frischhut (Joint with the University of Geneva), PhD Topic: The Metaphysics of the Phenomenal Present
2006 - 2011 Stuart Crutchfield, PhD Topic: Phenomenal Unity
2008 - 2011 I was an "expert reader" for Alex Spaulding who is doing a practice-led PhD at the Glasgow School of Art. Her project is entitled, "Slipping Outside of Yourself: The Evaluation and Analysis of Aural Ineffable Immersive Contemporary Installation Art".
2008 - 2011 David Uings, MLitt by Research, Glasgow, Thesis: The Divided Mind
2008-2009 Sheena McAnulla, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: Panpsychism
2005-2007 Dimitris Platchias, Ph.D, Glasgow, Thesis: Phenomenal Consciousness, Experience and Higher-Order Thoughts
2006-2007 Akiko Frushhut, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: The Specious Present
2006-2007 Katherine Hook, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: Colour Inversion: A Problem for Externalist Representationalism?
2006-2007 Elisa Oddone, MLitt, Glasgow,Thesis: Representationalism and the Argument From Transparency
2006-2007 Gerd Watzenig, MLitt, Glasgow,Thesis: Time Travel Troubles
2006-2007 Niall Duncan, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: A Consideration of the Knowledge Argument
2001-2002 David Wall, MLitt, St. Andrews, Thesis: Representation, Information and Experience

Visiting Graduate Students:

October 2022 - December 2022 Antoine Bonzon (Friburg University, Switzerland)
October 2020 - October 2022 Fabien Dezeque (Oxford Brookes)
October 2019 – January 2020 Lidoly Chavez Guerra (University of McGill)
November 2019 – January 2020 Ines Hipolito (University of Wollongong)
February - March 2019 Veronica Valle (University of Macau)
January – May 2017 Andrea Togni (University of Turin)
February - June 2016 Geraldine Carranante (Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris)
November - December 2015 Marta Benenti (University of Turin)
September – December 2014 Mika Suojanen (University of Turku)
Feb 2012 - Aug 2013, December 2013, and May 2014 Ariel Cecchi (University of Geneva) PhD Topic: The Epistemology of Perception
May 2014 Daniel Gregory (Australian National University)
November 2013 Paweł Zięba (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)
October 2013 Błażej Skrzypulec (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)
May - August 2013 Mette Hansen (University of Bergen)
May - August 2013 Morten Nag Opsal (University of Bergen)
October - December 2012 Oscar Ralsmark (University of Lund)
October 2012 Mette Hansen (University of Bergen)
November 2011 Błażej Skrzypulec (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)

Postdoctoral Supervision:

September 2017 – Sept 2022 Dr Neil McDonnell on a University of Glasgow Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith Research Fellowship to work on virtual and augmented reality.
June – August 2017 Dr Keith Wilson funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation via the University of Cambridge on the Synchronising the Senses Project
January – June 2017 Dr Neil McDonnell funded by a grant from the University of Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund and the John Templeton Foundation via the University of Cambridge on the Virtual and Augmented Reality Project
July 2016 – September 2017 Dr Umut Baysan funded by the John Templeton Foundation via the University of Cambridge on the Sense-Data: Phenomenology and Metaphysics Project
May 2014 – June 2017 Dr Keith Wilson funded by the AHRC on the ReThinking the Senses Project
October 214 – October 2015 Dr Neil McDonnell funded by the John Templeton Foundation via the University of Durham on the Glasgow Emergence Project
October 214 – October 2015 Dr Umut Baysan funded by the John Templeton Foundation via the University of Durham on the Glasgow Emergence Project

Teaching

Fiona Macpherson, Professor of Philosophy - a woman with dark hair and eyes

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