Phd in PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

email: antonino.raffone@uniroma1.it
phone: 0649917787
building: Via dei Marsi 78
room: 216

Academic formation and degrees

BSc and MSc in “Psychology” (with laude), 1990-1995, Sapienza University of Rome.
Specialization in “Cognitive Psychology and Neural Networks”, 1996, Sapienza University of Rome.
Award from the Sapienza University of Rome to spend a year abroad for (research) specialization activities (at the Cognitive Psychology Unit of Leiden University, Netherlands), 1997-98.
“European Diploma in Cognitive and Brain Sciences” (EDCBS) for selected European Ph.D. students, 1999-2001.
Ph.D. in “Psychology and Cognitive Sciences”, 1998-2002, Sapienza University of Rome.

Academic positions

1999-2000: Teaching Assistant, Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome.

2001-2005: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Sunderland (United Kingdom).

2003-2011: Visiting Researcher at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan.

July 2005- June 2009: Senior Researcher with the “Re-entry of the Brains” award of the Italian University and Research State Ministry – at the Department of Psychology of Sapienza University of Rome.

November 2009 – present: Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology of Sapienza University of Rome.

December 2016 – Visiting Professor, funded by the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN), India, on “The science of consciousness and meditation”.

Main current research interests

Psychophysics and electroencephalography of perceptual awareness and related functions;
Neuroimaging of meditation states and traits;
Interactions between emotion, attention and working memory;
Mindfulness, compassion, cognitive processes and wellbeing;
Cognitive neurocomputational modelling of consciousness, attention and working memory.

Current academic teaching and management roles

- Module leader in “Psychology of consciousness” and “General psychology” (Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome).

- Vice-Director of ECONA – Interuniversity Center for Research on Cognitive Processing in Natural and Artificial Systems – at Sapienza University of Rome, with the involvement of 12 Italian universities.

- Director of the Master in “Mindfulness: practice, clinical applications and neuroscience” at Sapienza University of Rome.

- Director of the post-graduate Advanced Formation Course on “Compassion: practices, applications and neuroscience” at Sapienza University of Rome.


International management roles

- 2014-present: Co-Founder and Chair of “Consciousness, Mindfulness, Compassion – CMC – International Association”.

- 2016-present: Member of the Advisory Board of the Mind & Life Europe.


Funded research projects

- 2002-2004: Coordinator of the Unit of the University of Sunderland (UK) in the HEARTS (Health Early Alarm Recognition and Telemonitoring System) project funded by the European Union (FP5) (Project cost: 2,306,002; EU funding: 1,204,000) (http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/63294_en.html).
- 2003-2005: Coordinator at the University of Sunderland in a collaborative international computational modelling project with the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (Japan) – with funding of a Ph.D. position at the University of Sunderland from the RIKEN.
- 2008-2011: Coordinator at the University Sapienza of Rome in a collaborative international computational modelling project with the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (Japan) on multimodal binding, conscious access, attentional blink and visuo-spatial working memory, with funding of a post-doc position and of a Ph.D. student position at the Sapienza University from the RIKEN.
- 2015-2018: Coordinator (PI) of the project “Aware Mind-Brain: bridging insights on the mechanisms and neural substrates of human awareness and meditation” funded by BIAL Foundation (Portugal) (135,000 euros).
- 2017-2020: Coordinator (PI) of the University project (at Sapienza University of Rome) on “Neurocognitive and molecular effects of mind-body practices: an integrated approach” (31,000 euros).

On 2010, 2014 and 2017 Prof. Raffone applied and received funding from Sapienza University of Rome (9,000 euros for each call) to invite international visiting professors: Prof. Henk Barendregt (Netherlands), Prof. Narayanan Srinivasan (India) and Prof. Tracy Alloway (USA).


Supervision of post-doc researchers and Ph.D students

Since 2003, supervision of 3 post-doc researchers (1 in UK and 2 in Italy) and 16 Ph.D. students (2 in UK and 14 in Italy).

Editorial activities

- Advisory Board of “Cognitive Processing”.
- Advisory Board of “Mindfulness”.
- Review Editor of “Frontiers in Cognition”.
- Review Editor of “Frontiers in Cognitive Science”.
- Former Associate Editor of the “International Journal of Mind, Brain and Cognition”.
- Editor of the Springer Book Series on “Awareness, emotion and empathy” (with H.P. Barendregt, F.M. Giommi and N. Srinivasan).

Guest editor work

- For “Cognitive Processing” (2010), Guest Editor of the Special Issue on “Neuroscience of meditation and consciousness (with N. Srinivasan).
- For “Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B” (2014), for the Theme Issue on “Understanding perceptual awareness and its neural basis” (with. N. Srinivasan and C. van Leeuwen).
- For “Mindfulness” (2017), for the Special Issue on “Mindfulness and cognition” (with N. Srinivasan).
- For “Mindfulness” (in progress), for the Special Issue on “Mindfulness and Buddhist psychology” (with F.M. Giommi).
- Invited editor of the “Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience of Meditation and Mindfulness” (with N. Srinivasan), for Springer.

Reviewing activities for many international journals in psychology, neuroscience and cognitive science, including:

Acta Psychologica, Biological Psychology, BMC Neuroscience, Brain Research Bulletin, Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Processing, Connection Science, Consciousness and Cognition, Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Journal of Mental Health, Memory & Cognition, Mindfulness, Journal of Neurophysiology, NeuroImage, Philosophical Psychology, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Psychological Research, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Theory and Psychology.

Organization of international conferences and workshops

- Chief organizer of the Lorentz Workshop on “Models of consciousness and clinical implications” (with H.P. Barendregt, F.M. Giommi, W.A. Phillips), Leiden, Netherlands, April 2-5, 2013.
- Chief organizer of the First International Conference on Mindfulness (ICM-1), Rome, May 8-13, 2013 (with F. Giommi, A.N.A. Singh, N.N. Singh).
- Chief organizer of the International Conference on Space and Situated Cognition (ICSC) Rome, September 7-11, 2015 (with M. Olivetti Belardinelli, T. Huenefeldt).
- Chief organizer of the Second International Conference on Mindfulness (ICM-2), Rome, May 11-15, 2016 (with F. Giommi, A.N.A. Singh, N.N. Singh).
- Chief organizer (with S.M. Aglioti) of the Summer School on “Empathy and Compassion”, sponsored by Sapienza University of Rome, June 2017.

Keynote speaker:
at the Tenth International Conference on Emotions and Organizational Life, Rome, July 4-5, 2016;
at the 6th International Conference on Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Hangzhou. China, 3-4 November 2018.


Involvement in contemplative practices and studies
Dr. Raffone started to study and practice Buddhist meditation in 2004 in England with Prof. Peter Harvey, and then became a dedicated Soto Zen Buddhist practitioner (with Ven. Dario Doshin Girolami), tradition in which he received a lay ordination in Rome in 2009. He also assists Prof. Henk Barendregt in insight (Vipassana) meditation retreats. He is active in promoting practice of mindfulness, meditation and compassion in several contexts, including spiritual centers, prisons and the Ministry of Justice of Italy, and related research, as well as in promoting dialogues between scientists, contemplatives of different time-honored traditions, clinicians and philosophers. He is also organizer of outreach activities of the Arco Zen Center of Rome, affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center, where he also joins retreats and intensive practice and study periods.