PhenoLab - who we are

The PhenoLab was set up in 2019 as a free of charge series of seminars and lectures organised and held by Prof. Dr. Francesca Brencio, Director of the PhenoLab.
Originally born with the support of Dr. Prisca Bauer (Systemic Research and Psychotherapy Section at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine at the Freiburg Medical Centre - Germany), from October 2021 the PhenoLab activities have proceeded autonomously under the sole responsibility of Prof. Brencio.

From the Academic Year 2023-2024 the PhenoLab will offer a variety of activities, some free of charge (Academic Lecture and Encountering Health Professionals), some paid courses. 

From 2024, the PhenoLab organises an International Summer School in Umbria, in June.

From 2022 to 2024 the PhenoLab has been Network Partner with Wellcome Trust Grant “Renewing Phenomenological Psychopathology”, University of Birmingham (UK)

From November 2024 the PhenoLab has been officially recognised as an Organisational Partner at The Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice in Health and Social Care at the St Catherine's College at the University of Oxford: PhenoLab - The Collaborating Centre for Values-based practice in Health and Social Care

We welcome new partners who wish to get involved in the activities promoted by PhenoLab, both at an individual level or acting on behalf of an organisation, within or outside academia or mental health organisations.

If you are interested in what we are doing and would like to find out more about our activities please feel free to get in touch by email at phenolab2019@gmail.com

Francesca Brencio
Dr. PhD Francesca Brencio is Teaching Fellow at School of Psychology of the University of Birmingham (UK) with a full-time teaching position. She is the founder and Director of the Pheno-Lab, A Theoretical Laboratory on Philosophy and Mental Health.
She studied Philosophy at University of Perugia (Italy), Theology at the Theological Institute in Assisi associated to Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis (Vatican City), and awarded a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Human Sciences from the University of Perugia (Italy). She was a post-doctoral researcher at the Western Sydney University (Australia) and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany).

In November 2020 she awarded the title of Associate Professor according to the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR) respectively for the fields of Theorethical Philosophy and History of Philosophy. In March 2021 she received The Seal of Excellence, awarded by the European Commission in the frame of EU Programme for Research and Innovation 2014-2020. From September 2023 to July 2024 she was among the leading researchers of Co-production Scheme on OCD, entitled “Stuck on the puzzle. A philosophical inquiry on OCD”, as part of the broad international project entitled Renewing Phenomenological Psychopathology, funded by Wellcome Trust Grant at the University of Birmingham (UK). 
She was Visiting Professor in the USA for the Winter Semester 2017 at the Hillsdale College (Michigan), Wisconsin University, and The SUNY in Buffalo. From 2018 to 2024 she was Associate Researcher in Philosophy at the Research Group “HUM018: Filosofía Aplicada: Sujeto, Sufrimiento, Sociedad” at the University of Seville (Spain).
Executive Committee Member of The Royal College of Psychiatrists Special Interest Group in Philosophy, since 2018 she actively collaborates with The Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice at St. Catherine's College at the University of Oxford (UK). Since January 2022 she is member of the Philosophy of Psychiatry Educators Network as part of the International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry.
Her fields of investigation are phenomenology, hermeneutics, phenomenological psychopathology, philosophy of psychiatry, qualitative research and Heidegger Studies.
She has published over 100 scientific papers in prestigious international journals, both in philosophy and psychiatry. She has authored and edited the following books: F. Brencio (2024), (ed.) Phenomenology, Neuroscience and Clinical Practice. Transdisciplinary Experiences, Springer Nature, Cham; F. Brencio, R. De Biase (2024) (eds.), Metaphors in action. Humanities, medicine and the digital world, Springer-Nature, Cham (forthcoming); S. Ferrarello, F. Brencio, V. Bizzari, M. Englander (2023), “Phenomenological Psychopathology: Who, What and How? An analysis of key figures, advancements and challenges”, Special Issue of Frontiers in Psychology. 

She is among the contributors of The APA Handbook of Humanistic and Existential Psychology (American Philosophical Association Press – in press), Storia della Fenomenologia Clinica (UTET, Torino 2020), The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenological Psychopathology (Oxford University Press, Oxford 2019).

She also works as Certified APPA Philosophical Counselor. 

For a detailed list of her publications, please visit https://bham.academia.edu/FrancescaBrencio   

Valeria Bizzari 

Dr. PhD. Valeria Bizzari currently works at the Husserl Archives of the KU in Leuven. 

Her research interests involve phenomenology, philosophy of emotions and phenomenological psychopathology. 

Thanks to DAAD and Thyssen fellowships, from February 2018 to September 2020, she worked at the Clinic for General Psychiatry, Universität Heidelberg, with a project on neurodivergence, under the supervision of Professor Thomas Fuchs.
She spent visiting research periods at the Center for Subjectivity Research in Copenhagen, the Oxford Empathy Programme at University of Oxford, the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wien, the Center PERSONA at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan and Macquarie University in Sidney, Australia.

For a detailed list of her publications, please visit https://trismegistos.academia.edu/ValeriaBizzari?nbs=user

Dr. Enise Incesoy

I am a clinician scientist at the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience and Dementia (IKND) and the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), while also serving as a psychiatric resident at the University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Magdeburg. My current research explores changes in awareness across the Alzheimer’s continuum, applying both subjective and objective methods, including first- and second-person perspectives, metacognition-confidence ratings, and neuroimaging. In addition to my research, I actively see patients at the memory clinic and the Early Diagnostic and Therapy Centre for Psychosis (FeTZ), where I also hold responsibilities as a study doctor. My academic interests lie in (micro-)phenomenology, particularly in examining the processes of remembering, recalling, and forgetting in elderly individuals, as well as investigating subtle, self-experienced disturbances in patients at high risk for psychosis through a methodical study of subjective experience. Currently, I am collaborating with Dr. Dzwiza-Ohlsen from the University of Cologne's Philosophy Department to establish a multidisciplinary network for dementia research in Germany. Our goal is to develop an embodied and enactive understanding of dementia, bridging the gap between neuroscience and philosophy.

Dr. Zumrut Duygu Sen
I am a neuroscientist and psychiatrist and currently part of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Clinics of Jena. 

After earning my PhD in neurobiology, I started my postdoctoral work, which has centered on brain effects of ketamine in both healthy individuals and patients with major depressive disorder. 

I am particularly interested in the phenomenology and brain correlates of ketamine-induced bodily experiences. I conduct phenomenological interviews to explore the bodily experiences of patients during ketamine infusion.