P F Scholarly Incentive Awards

The Parapsychology Foundation has long been aware that practical aid for scholars, scientists and students engaged in parapsychological research is, for the most part, unavailable from universities and other foundations. The Foundation’s commitment to those working with dedication in the field remains firm.

Below you will find information about previous recipients of this funding.

• The General Scholarly Incentive Award Program
• The Travel Scholarly Incentive Award

The General Scholarly Incentive Award was conceived of as support to students and researchers who are finishing degree programs or research projects and require some additional help.

2009
In 2009 the Foundation received a number of excellent applications for the Bolton Fellowship. Two Fellowships were awarded (click on the “Bolton” button above) and two other applicants were awarded General Scholarly Incentive Awards in recognition of their outstanding work in scientific parapsychology, Dr. David Luke and Dr. Yung-Jong Shiah (also known as Dr. Yun-Chung Hsia).

Dr. David Luke (pictured on the left), who also received a General Scholarly Incentive Award in 2006 (scroll down for information on that award), will use the current award to research the role of psychoactive substances in the production of psi. Experiments are currently on-going into the influence of the use of two psychoactive sacramentals, ayahuasca and San Pedro cactus on performance on a precogniton task

Dr. Yung-Jong Shiah (pictured on the left) is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan. His main area of research is body, mind and spirit in terms of belief and psychology, altered states of consciousness and anomalistic psychology as seen from both conventional and unconventional perspectives. (For more information, click here for Dr. Shiah’s website.) The Incentive Award will help with the establishment of his laboratory and with upcoming research. Dr. Shiah also received a Garrett Scholarship in 2006 when he was still a post-graduate student. For more information, click on the “Garrett” button above, then on “Previous Winners” and scroll down.

2006
In 2006 University of Northampton Ph.D. student David Luke received a General Scholarly Incentive award to help fund PhD research into beliefs about luck, psi and the paranormal, and their relationship with psi in a precognition task, based on Stanford’s “psi-mediated instrumental response” (PMIR) model.

Earlier in 2006 the General Scholarly Incentive Award was also given to Fabio da Silva to help underwrite the completion of his masters degree at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. Da Silva also received the Travel Scholarly Incentive Award in 2003.

2004
In 2004 the General Scholarly Incentive Award was given to Devin Terhune to help underwrite the completion of his masters degree in psychology at Liverpool John Moores University in England. Terhune was also the first recipient of the Charles T. and Judith A. Tart Student Incentive Award for Parapsychological Research in 2002, and began his doctoral studies in 2006 at Lund University under the supervision of PF grant recipient, Dr. Etzel Cardeña.

The Travel Scholarly Incentive Award was conceived of as a way to partially fund scholars, researchers and students who wished to attend conferences in the field or make research trips.

2008
The most recent recipient, Dr. William Roll of the University of West Georgia, received this award to fund his participation in the conference called Utrecht II: Charting the Future of Parapsychology held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in October of 2008.

2007
In 2007, Prof. Peter Mulacz of the Austrian Society for Parapsychology at the University of Vienna received this award. Prof. Mulacz is also the PF International Affiliate for Austria. The incentive award will help fund his participation in the Parapsychological Association convention held in Halifax, Nova Scotia in August of 2007. (To read his convention report, click here.)

2006
In 2006 this award was granted to Dr. Alexander Moreira-Almeida, a psychiatrist from Brazil. Although it was intended that Dr. Moreira-Almeida would attend the 2006 Parapsychological Association Convention in Stockholm, Sweden, last minute travel visa problems prevented that. Instead Dr. Moreira-Almeida attended the Parapsychological Association convention in Halifax in August of 2007.

2005
In 2005, Gerd Hövelmann, the PF International Affiliate in Germany, received this award and attended the 2005 Parapsychological Association Convention in Petaluma, California. (To read his convention report, click here.)

2003
In 2003, the award was given to Fabio da Silva, a researcher and teacher from Curitiba, Brazil, who attended the Parapsychological Association Convention in Vancouver, British Columbia that year.

2001
In 2001, the award was given to Dr. Hideyuki Kokubo, a researcher at the Bio-Emission Laboratory of the National Institute of Radiological Science in Japan and Director of the Japanese Society for Parapsychology. Dr. Kokubo used his award to travel to the Parapsychological Association Convention in New York City that year.