Humans, perhaps uniquely amongst animals, understand that their life will inevitably come to an end. Death is probably the only experience that is universal. It is also singular, for it is an experience that marks an irreversible transition. Near-death experiences, however, leave a profound mark on the people who lived it. Such experiences raise many questions: Should we think of death as an instant, or as a process? How can we - or how should we - prepare for death? What do we know about the biological processes that lead to and that occur during dying? How do different cultures approach death? And should our experience of death change the way in which we think about reality? Such questions, despite the universal character of death, have thus far largely remained outside the scope of scientific enquiry – an omission that the 15th “Behind and Beyond the Brain” Symposium of the Bial Foundation will aim to address by gathering prominent neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers to engage them in a profoundly interdisciplinary dialogue over the course of a rich program extending over three days.

Opening

The Symposium will open on April 8th with an evening lecture by the eminent neuroscientist Christof Koch (Seattle, US), who will appeal to extraordinary experiences such as near-death experiences to question physicalism - the perspective that consciousness can be fully reduced to material particles and their interactions. Contra such views, Koch defends idealism and panpsychism, both of which he describes as compatible with naturalism and the scientific method.

First Session

The first session, dedicated to “End-of-life processes”, will take place on the morning of April 9th. Moderated by Helané Wahbeh (Novato, US), it is dedicated to approaching the many processes that take place as death nears, and will feature lectures by Michael Rera (Paris, FR), Sam Parnia (New York, USA), and Marjorie Woollacott (Eugene, US). Rera will focus on the biology of dying. Parnia will explore the possibility that life and death are perhaps best viewed as points on a continuum. Woollacott’s lecture will be dedicated to the striking phenomenon of terminal lucidity. The session will close with a keynote lecture by Michael Nahm (Freiburg, DE), who will overview the unusual phenomena associated with end-of-life experiences.

Second Session

The second session, titled “End-of-life moments”, taking place on the morning of April 10th, is focused on near-death experiences (NDEs). Moderated by Etzel Cardeña (Lund, SE), it will open with a lecture by Janice Holden (Denton, US) who will focus on how to approach the anomalous experiences reported by NDE experiencers. Charlotte Martial (Liège, BE) will follow up by offering a neuroscientific perspective on NDEs. Bárbara Gomes (Coimbra, PT) will ask what matters most to people in their last moments of life. Finally, the keynote lecture by Jim Tucker (Charlottesville, US) will examine intriguing reports of past-life memories by children and ask how we should think about them.

Third Session

The third session, taking place on the morning of April 11th, is focused on “End-of-life beliefs and impacts” and will be moderated by Veena Kumari (London, UK). It aims to document how the cultural context in which death takes place shapes its experience. Mira Menzfeld (Zurich, CH) will develop an ethnographic approach to the perception and experience of death across cultures. Allan Kellehear (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) will show how an anthropological approach to the experience of death can help understand the conditions in which dying can be sufficiently meaningful. Marieta Pehlivanova (Charlottesville, US) will overview what features most near-death experiences share. The morning will close with a keynote lecture by Fanny Charasse (Brussels, BE), who will focus on the shamanic and psychological accounts of the near-death experiences reported by people undergoing Ayahuasca rituals.

Blitz oral session

In addition to organizing its biannual symposium, the Bial Foundation also supports fundamental research relevant to the study of the mind. On the afternoon of April 9th, the recipients of Bial Foundation grants will have an opportunity to present their work in a blitz oral session during which they will give a 2-minute overview of their research poster, exhibited throughout the symposium. This exciting session will be moderated by Mário Simões (Lisbon, PT).

Workshops

The symposium will further be greatly enhanced by an outstanding set of four participatory workshops taking place in parallel on the afternoon of April 10th. In Workshop 1, Rainer Goebel (Maastricht, NL) and Stefan Schmidt (Freiburg, DE) will interact with guest Yesche Regel (Bonn, DE) around how the Buddhist tradition conceives of death and how its practices help people prepare for it. Workshop 2, moderated by Chris Roe (Northampton, UK) will feature Etzel Cardeña and Marieta Pehlivanova, who will offer an in depth-exploration of near-death experiences. Workshop 3, steered by Rui Costa (Seattle, US) and featuring Julia Verne (London, UK), will be dedicated to the personal and societal dimensions of palliative care. Finally, Workshop 4, moderated by Miguel Castelo-Branco (Coimbra, PT), will see Bárbara Gomes offer an intimate, interactive session during which participants will be able to (anonymously) share what they value most of the end of life and compare their choices with those of other cultures. The workshops will be followed by an informal cheese-and-wine gathering so that participants can share their respective experiences as the day closes.

Final roundtable

The symposium will conclude on the afternoon of April 11th with a final roundtable moderated by Axel Cleeremans (Brussels, BE) and featuring Etzel Cardeña, Janice Holden, Christof Koch, Charlotte Martial, Sam Parnia and Marieta Pehlivanova. This final event will be an opportunity to further reflect upon and share the core findings from the symposium, and to offer a final opportunity for the audience to interact with representative speakers.

With its 15th Symposium, the Bial Foundation hopes to engage speakers and the audience around a deep, interdisciplinary reflection about what is undoubtedly one of the core experiences of human life: the realization that it will end.