Brian Les Lancaster, PhD

Alef Trust Founding Director

Brian Les Lancaster is Emeritus Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University; Associated Distinguished Professor of Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies; and Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Jewish Studies at Manchester University.

Les is currently a Board member of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and has previously been Chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society and President of the International Transpersonal Association.

Les is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Sacred Science Circle. At Liverpool John Moores University he was Programme Leader of an award-winning online MSc in Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology, about which a UK government agency wrote:

“This highly innovative programme is a tribute to the university. It has gained widespread recognition in the UK and abroad as an innovative, substantive and well-run programme.”

In addition to numerous articles and chapters in colleagues’ books, Les’ published works include Mind Brain and Human Potential, winner of a Scientific and Medical Network Best Book Award, The Essence of Kabbalah, and Approaches to Consciousness: The Marriage of Science and Mysticism, about which Chief Rabbi, Professor Jonathan Sacks commented:

“With formidable erudition and the widest of perspectives, Brian Lancaster has written a challenging and potentially ground-breaking book on the relationship between scientific and mystical ideas of human consciousness. A humane scholar in the great tradition of William James, his work deserves to be read and discussed widely.”