Board

My life has been dominated by philosophy, with which I have struggled with love and hate since I went as a young and fervent Catholic to study at UCL under A.J. Ayer. The Catholicism fell to the onslaught of logical positivism, but led to a lifelong search for a spiritual understanding and practice that combines a reverence for the natural and the rational with a sense of the transcendent and the mystical dimensions of existence. I taught philosophy at McGill University in Montreal, at the University of Singapore, and finally at Kingston University where I founded a degree course in the History of Ideas. In the context of the latter I was able to develop a variety of academic interests which reached beyond the rather limited confines of standard academic philosophy, and focused my research interests on the problem of consciousness, on C.G. Jung and on Oriental philosophies, about the latter two of which I have published a number of books. I was Vice-Chair of the SMN Board from 2003 to 2006.

My interests span science, religion and psychical research (which I see as forming a bridge between them). All three activities date back to my undergraduate days at Cambridge , where I read mathematics and was later a Fellow at Trinity College , and all three fall within the remit of the SMN. My professional area of research is  cosmology - for my PhD I studied the first second of the universe under Stephen Hawking - and includes such topics as the early universe, dark matter and the anthropic principle. In 1985 I moved to London University, where I am now Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary. I have a long-standing interest in the relationship between science and religion, giving frequent talks in this area, and was recently awarded a Templeton grant to organize a series of conferences on the evidence for cosmological fine-tuning. This has led to a book, entitled  "Universe or Multiverse", which I edited.  I have been a member of the Society for Psychical Research for some 30 years, serving as its President in the period 2000-2004. My approach to the subject is mainly theoretical: I'm  particularly keen to extend physics to incorporate consciousness and associated mental and spiritual phenomena.  The SMN is unique in being broad enough to accommodate all three of my activities and I'm delighted to be currently serving on the Programming Committee. 

Director of the Scientific and Medical Network from 1986-2000. He is now Programme Director and continues to edit the Review. He is author  and editor of eleven books, most recently 'Radical Prince: the Practical Vision of the Prince of Wales' and 'Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality'. He is also editor of 'Omnipedia - Thinking for Tomorrow' and Chair of Wrekin Trust as well as of the University for Spirit Forum. He was educated at Eton and the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge. After a spell in merchant banking, he spent a number of years teaching modern languages and philosophy at Winchester College.

I developed an extensive business background through many years' work with a major corporation in the USA, where I also trained in various complementary therapies. Since moving to Britain in 1984 I have been involved with a variety of activities, which included authoring or co-authoring six published works, running a column in an NHS Newsletter on Complementary Medicine and occasionally lecturing to NHS medical staff on these topics. Other activities have involved conference organisation and co-founding an International Training Program in Essential Oils at a major university in the States.

Currently, in addition to my role as Network Manager for SMN, I am a Research Fellow of the International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL) group based in Princeton, New Jersey, representing complementary medicine matters. I am a trustee of The Dragon Project Trust, and an advisor to Environic Foundation International (based in Washington, DC).

In everyday life I'm a senior producer in the BBC Radio Science Unit, where I've worked for 20 years. I joined the Beeb with a Geology degree from University College London, where I spent more time than I should staging student plays and operas. Most of my broadcasting has been for World Service, but I do a lot on Radio 4 too. It's mostly conventional science news and features, but I try where I can to include deeper aspects of cosmology, the nature of consciousness, spirituality and the interface between science and religion. For example, I made three features on science and religion based around the Templeton- sponsored 'Science and the Spiritual Quest' conference last October. I am an active member of 'The Study Society' where I learnt meditation and study the non-dualistic or Advaita system of philosophy. I also enjoy the countryside and its wildlife, archaeology and pottering around my large garden in Kent.

After graduating in chemistry from Liverpool University in 1966, Chris spent a number of years working in industry and commerce. Following this, and some time spent travelling in Asia, he settled in Australia for a time where he studied medicine at the University of New South Wales. He returned to Britain in 1986 and is now a doctor in general practice. He has a longstanding interest in Transpersonal Psychology and has studied under psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, one of the pioneers of the field. He also helps organise public lectures on environmental issues in the Manchester area. His other interests include the interface between science and religion and that between psychotherapy and spiritual practice. He has been a member of the Network since 1993.

Marilyn Monk is a research scientist in the field of developmental biology working at the University of Edinburgh until 1974 and for 30 years at the Institute of Child Health at University College London until she retired in 2004. She is Professor Emeritus in Molecular Embryology at the University of London. Her work interests include the mechanisms of replication and repair of DNA, cell signalling and intercellular communication, regulation of gene expression in development, deprogramming and formation of totipotent stem cells and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Clinically, her work has led to developments in assisted reproduction and early diagnosis of genetic disease, and the isolation and identification of new embryo/cancer genes towards prevention, treatment or cure of cancer. In addition to her scientific career, she has a longstanding interest in philosophy, psychology, religion and spirituality and is qualified as a Psychosynthesis Counsellor and Alexander Technique Teacher.

Born in England and brought up in Ireland. Educated at Trinity College Dublin and the Kings Inns. Spent two decades working in business before realising an earlier ambition in being called to the Irish bar in 1987. Currently a practising barrister based in the Law Library in Dublin. Jacqueline runs the SMN Irish Group and since joining the Board has taken on the responsibility for co-ordinating the national and local groups in the British Isles and in the wider world -with the exception of the continent of Europe (which is the responsibility of another board member). Her reasons for joining the Network:
"I am an enthusiastic member of SMN because I have found that its academic range and its ethos exactly correspond to my personal intellectual interests and approach. I have found within it a milieu which combines intellectual rigour with openmindedness and good fellowship, almost a spiritual home."

I work as a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist in an Adolescent Unit in London . I am born in Calcutta , India where I was initially trained as an Eye surgeon before I changed my career, receiving my psychiatry training in Oxford . I have also worked at Institute of Psychiatry for research in cognitive psychopharmacology. As my professional interests span from neuropsychiatry and neurodevelopment to spiritual psychiatry, interfaces of science and religion and consciousness studies, network provides me a forum to accommodate my ideas and activities, to remain open and curious to the deeper questions of human experience and existence.

I am also a poet, playwright, classical dancer and independent filmmaker. I have published two books of poetry, written and directed musicals and theatres and performed widely. I have made several awareness films on mental health related subjects (including an award winning film on Autism etc) as well as short films. My debut feature ' Ithaca ' is in preproduction at present.

I trained as a psychiatrist. Dissatisfied with standard proofs that my version of the world was truer than my patients’, I explored anthropology and philosophy. I am doing research which contrasts the epistemological and practical approaches of psychiatrists with those of Sufi healers. For several years, I have treated and rehabilitated survivors of torture. I am fascinated by mystical philosophy, and by the art of storytelling in song, poetry, and science. My essays on culture, philosophy, and medicine have been published in leading medical journals, and widely pirated.

I am a lecturer in Psychology at Greenwich University. I have a PhD in psychology and a diploma in hypnosis. I am in charge of the website, advertising and fundraising for the Network. For me, the Network provides a forum for me where I can discuss both conventional and esoteric ideas in an atmosphere of friendliness and open-mindedness. I believe there are many different and valid ways of knowing about the universe, that include the mystical, scientific and artistic, all of which can provide a window onto Truth. I regularly attend Quaker meetings and find great spiritual sustenance in silence and prayer. Religion and science are sold to us as irreconcilable versions of reality, but there is a wonderful, growing movement which shows it needn't be that way - and the SMN is at the frontier of that movement.