Scope
The Ph.D. program in Consciousness Studies (CSt) is a vibrant, inter-disciplinary program involving a variety of fields of science, including physics, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, psychology, quantum physics, cognitive philosophy, chemistry, biology and mathematics.
The Program
The multi-disciplinary Ph.D. program offers a unique opportunity to specialize in the expanding field of consciousness studies. Comparable in content to interdisciplinary cognitive science degree programs now developing in many Western universities, the program covers the wide range of work to be found in this important new field, including the latest experimental findings, theoretical models and research paradigms.
Duration
One year after admission, the Ph.D. candidate will be required to appear for a qualifying examination. Upon successfully taking it, the student can expect to take a minimum of two years to complete the full dissertation.
Ph.D. program requires full-time residence at the Bhaktivedanta Institute in Mumbai. The programs cannot be done by correspondence or online, at present.
The Movers
The Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS), is an all-India Institute for higher education and is a deemed University since 1964. One of India’s top technical schools, BITS has acquired the reputation of a highly purposive, innovative university, often setting the pace for workable reforms in higher education suitable and relevant to the national context. The Institute operates three tiers of education, namely, the Integrated First Degree Programs, Higher Degree Programs and Doctoral Programs. An important aspect of education at BITS is its institutionalized linkages with the world of work. The Institute attaches great importance to the University-Industry Linkage and gives a mutually reinforcing thrust to it through various avenues — Practice School, M.E. (Collab.) and off-campus Distance Learning and Collaborative Programs. In response to the requirements of the manpower training and development in industries, the Institute has been running the Distance Learning Programs in the area of Science & Technology since 1988.
The Bhaktivedanta Institute, Mumbai (B.I.) is a research and educational Institute, with centers in Mumbai and San Francisco. The Institute promotes consciousness-related research and study within mainstream scientific disciplines. It organized the First International Conference on the Study of Consciousness within Science in 1990 in San Francisco. Fourteen invited speakers, including three Nobel Laureates, presented papers in the two-day conference. A monthly colloquium on Consciousness and Science, that we started in the San Francisco Bay Area after the conference ran for over a decade. The institute’s in-house research spans a number of areas including foundations of quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence, origins of life, philosophy of science, and East/West comparative philosophy. As part of its program to interact with academics from leading universities and research establishments, the institute offers short / long-term research fellowships. The institute also has a bio-feedback laboratory at its campus in Mumbai and three research projects leading to dissertations have utilized the equipment.
