Hello, good day, and a warm welcome to the highly nonlinear and massively interconnected conglomeration of rhizomatic neural nodes which might be said (or then again which might only be shown) to constitute my bodiless organs of my internalized cyborg foetus as they extend their clammy and rapacious hapsis ever onward through the dank, dark interstices of the fractal Outerweb. Venture deeper... If you dare...
From 1999 to 2011 I spent 12 years working as a Senior Lecturer in Applied Maths in the Maths and Stats Team of the School of CEIS at Northumbria University in Newcastle UK. In this job I taught broadly across all levels of the Mathematics and Statistics and Mathematics with Business Management BSc (Hons) Degree Programmes, and in "Service" provision within Engineering and the Built Environment. I had a particular teaching emphasis in Computational Maths, Further Computational Maths, Further Differential Equations, Applied Modelling, Dynamical Systems (and Chaos), Research Projects, and Advanced Mathematical Modelling. I also developed personal research interests in Language, Mathematical Models of Mind, Quantum Theory, and Creativity. Full details of all publications can be found [here for science] and [here for language / philosophy / creativity]. My full academic CV can be found here. I am still very active in education and learning as Principal of Study Help UK.
I'm constantly on the search for new ideas and ways of thinking and I hope to convey the depth and breadth of my interests, enthusiasms and activities in what is presented below. In summary I would say that I cherish and try and nurture "Creativity" in myself and others (as seen in the magical hypnotic lectures Part 1 and Part 2). I have a particularly strong analytic bent (as seen in the work done on the maths and science side of my career to date); I have over time also been opening very much to the fluidity and flux of ideas engendered in language, philosophy, and psychotherapy.
My ongoing personal mission is to find, extend, and forge as many links between as many fields and ideas as possible – whether through art, equations, linguistics, magic, music, or philosophy – to name but a few overlapping and integrating fields of interest. I personally love the vibrancy and constant excitement and engagement provided within a learning-and-teaching environment. I am very much a "people person," whilst at the same time appreciating "my own space," both of which complementary sides I feel I can balance well within my current environment – I truly want to share my adventures, experiences, and explorations with others.
To this end, I would really love to hear from anyone who finds this stuff interesting in any way, who has ideas to share, who would like to get to know me further, or who would like to collaborate on joint projects, either academic or personal.
My first degree was the BA (Hons) / MA in Natural Sciences at Trinity College in Cambridge University after which I was a postgrad in the Chemistry Department in Cambridge (from 1991 – 1993) and a member of Trinity Hall where I was awarded a CertPgSt, funded by the De Beers Group and working with Dr (now Professor) Paul Davies. I then went on to do my PhD in Theoretical Chemistry with Professor Peter Knowles at Birmingham University (Peter is now Head of School at Cardiff University).
After gaining my PhD in 1996, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with Professor Paul Madden at the University of Oxford (Paul is now Provost of The Queen's College). I graduated MA (Oxon) in 1997 at Christ Church and was a member of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and specifically the Department of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. I have also been a Post-doc at the Universities of Exeter (with Professor Patrick Fowler, now at Sheffield) and Sussex (with Professor Malcolm Heggie). The Sussex position was funded by a European Union "Interregnum Fellowship" which involved working with Université de Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens, France.
My initial studies were very wide-ranging due to the nature of the Cambridge Tripos system. After the initial award of the DHI Powell Memorial Scholarship from University College Wales at Swansea in 1988 on the topic of "Linguistic Subcreation: A Developmental Approach," As a Junior Scholar, I was later also awarded a Projects Fund Scholarship (1989) and then the First Yeomanship (1990) of Trinity College Cambridge for the development of Aleolinguistics, which I have been expanding on since then. I've recently used this in developing aspects of language analysis in a Mathematical Modelling setting in my teaching at Northumbria (see, for example, Scenario 1 and Scenario 2). This work is being further developed through my involvement with Newcastle Philosophy Society – a draft is to be found here. Psychologically (and creatively mixing the metaphors) of Korzybski and Watts), we may ask whether Aleolinguistics offers a "Salient Cuisine for Subcreative Cartography"?
I have been elected Chartered Chemist, Physicist, Mathematician, and Scientist, and a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, a European Physicist and a European Chemist. My fascination with language study and linguistics has led to my acceptance as a member of the British Comparative Literature Association, the Classical Association, the Royal Society of Literature, the Linguistics Association of Great Britain, the International Association of Applied Linguistics and the Philological Society. Whilst at Cambridge, I was a Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and I am currently a member of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
The conjunction of these diverse interests has resulted in my undergoing training in the field of psychotherapy, and I hold the Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma, and am a member of the National Council of Psychotherapists, the National Council for Hypnotherapy, and the General Hypnotherapy Register. And whilst I agree with Heller's tongue-in-cheek statement that "There's No Such Thing As Hypnosis," I nevertheless do believe along with Gilligan, that we induce "altered states of consciousness" in ourselves and others constantly, and that we can learn to harness these with great flair and creativity. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and of the Royal Society for Public Health, and a member of the Scientific and Medical Network. I am a Master Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming (licensed by Dr Richard Bandler's Society of Neuro-linguistic Programming), and have contributed a chapter "Neurolinguistic Programming Offers a Fast Cure for Phobias" to the book "Perspectives on Diseases and Disorders: Phobia" (edited by T Metcalf and G Metcalf; Detroit MI: Gale Cengage, 2008; ISBN 9780737740271). For more information on training in hypno-psycho-therapy and/ or NLP in Newcastle I suggest you contact my long-standing friend and mentor Mr Joe McAnelly of Advantage GB Ltd.
I am actively involved in research regarding Creativity in language, philosophy, psychotherapy, and mathematical modelling. I have published about twenty scientific and mathematical research papers in international peer-reviewed journals since 1995 and have contributed posters at several conferences. Details are available [here]. I have published about 70 articles on language, philosophy, therapy, and creativity since 2004: for details clcik [here]. I am Chief Editor of the online journal "Bifrons Creativity" (co-founded by Dr Paul Attinello of ICMuS in the School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University, by Dr Fin McMorran of the Institute for Design, Culture and the Arts at Teeside University and by Dr Ali Pickard who is Head of Information and Communication Management in the School of CEIS at Northumbria University). With my sister, Rachel (a fine artist), I contributed the leading article, "Eternity in Ephemerality: An Enduring Enigma" to the "art" edition of "Ashé!" The Journal of Experimental Spirituality, Volume 6, Issue 2, pp 123 - 144 (edited by S Davisson; Hulls Cove ME: Rebel Satori, 2007; ISSN 1558 - 4690). I am also editor of the Newcastle Philosophy Society journal "Engage Newcastle," and have been a Trustee of the Society. On the basis of these activities I have been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.
I am currently developing the field of "Psycho-chaotic Semiotics" which unites the mathematics of chaos and complexity with the semiotic study of human meaning-making into a overarching theory of human psychological creativity which enables us all to become "essendi incantatores" – "šamánes faciendi" – "lingwiz'ds of is" – "techneglossists" – and "knackers" of reality. An important part of this lies in helping other people develop their own individualized "Pragmagic," often to the extent that they choose to have their own semiotically-laden "magical sigils" embossed onto their skin. I presented a lecture on this as part of the "Ludological Studies" (or should that really be "Paidialogy" or "Ludognarity"?) Module on the Computer Games Design and Production Programme at Northumbria recently. I’ve just published a series of 12 monographs on language, chaos, magic, and the mind-brain in the “Enflame Newcastle” Series under the NewPhilSoc imprint of Newcastle Philosophy Society. Work discussing these ideas in the context of Lacanian Psychoanalysis is currently being considered for publication by the "European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis," published by the British Association of Medical Hypnosis. I currently practice hypno-psychotherapy as Principal of New Creative Therapy.
From 2003 – 2005, I was Director of "Alowvelkí Consulting Ltd" (currently not listed in the register of Companies House) which provided services in Creativity (through the media of Language, Science, Education, and Psychotherapy).
When I’m not doing any of the activities mentioned above, I spend my time on weight training, comix, clubbing, languages, designing, and magic. I love Doctor Who, although I am a dyed-in-the-wool Bakerite. I very much enjoy reading, and learning new stuff, and despite the fact that I've been devoting lots of time to academic literature recently, I love to make time for fiction – particularly Iain (M) Banks, China Miéville, Umberto Eco and Angela Carter. Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality" has proved highly entertaining and enlightening, as has been Gore Vidal's "Creation: A Novel." And then I've been ploughing through Lacan's "Ecrits" with lots of help from the expert pens of Bruce Fink and Dylan Evans. I am just staring on more Wittgensteiniania, by attacking McGinn's "Elucidating the Tractatus," and Potter's "Wittgenstein's Notes on Logic."
Some time ago, in Newcastle, so far, far away, I discovered "chanting" (with Chris Headland and Seaton Sluice Shamanic Sounds!) and realized that I can sing reasonably well after all. I used to play the french horn in orchestras as a kid, and the recorder in ensembles: the latter I am hoping to get back into soon as I really enjoyed it! Have a listen to some trax by Thomas Truax and his hornicator if you can – he's so weirdly Wowtown (currently "Following continuous snowfall since November, Wowtown is completely buried under 52 feet of snow. Thanks to the concerted efforts of Groundhog Al and his pals, an extensive network of tunnels and chimneys has kept residents connected, warm and breathing. Local shops and the Tailspin Tavern are all open for business, and the annual Christmas Eve concert at the Moody Museum featuring Octopus Pianist Balls Jordan will go ahead as planned.")
As a former polyversity fink I have been made to undergo regular random "Redisorganisation Therapy" presumably (and perversely) reverse-socially-engineered to prevent the insidious onset of managerialized institutional creep through so-called "mass dysmorphophobia."
I am actively seeking co-conspirators in any of the fields mentioned above (and several that ... shall we say ... are not mentioned at all?). Any comments, queries, proposals of civil (or uncivil, what the heck!) partnership, offers of work, and so on: please feel free to get in touch here. However as Dante's Virgil might declaim to the Malebolgean Devils of "marvellous darkness" – "Be none of you outrageous!" – So, for any rants, flames, spam, phishing et al., then please head here!
All hail the Indolent Idolaters of the Thrice-great Urthian Imperium!