About The phenomenon of hallucinations

Seeing things? Hearing voices? It’s actually more common than you might think, particularly for people over the age of 60. Lack of sleep, migraines, life events, vision or hearing loss and neurodegenerative disorders can all play a role in the experience of hallucinations. But what happens in our brains when we hallucinate? And what does this mean for new treatments and interventions?

Join us for Swinburne’s annual Barbara Dicker Oration, bringing our attention to the underlying mechanisms that cause hallucinations and profiling the inspiring work of Professor Iris Sommer (University Medical Centre Groningen) as she delivers The phenomenon of hallucinations.
Biography: Professor Iris Sommer is a best-selling author of two scientific books and has published over 250 academic articles on hallucinations, language, cognition and psychosis. She obtained her PhD cum laude at University Utrecht in 2004 on brain imaging in schizophrenia. In 2011, she was appointed Professor of Psychiatry at the University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands. Currently, she is Professor of Cognitive Aspects of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorder at the Department of Neuroscience at the University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands.

Her current research interest is related to the association between cognitive dysfunction and activity of the immune system. Her aim is to develop new treatments to support people with cognition deficits during their recovery from medical, psychiatric or neurological disorders.