If you have had a near-death experience (NDE), NDE-like experience or related experience, please consider participating in the on-going research studies below. All of these studies have been reviewed and approved by the IANDS Academic & Research Committee.

1. Did Your Near-Death Experience Affect Your Work Life?
2. The Relationship between Inner Change and Outer Change
  • Objectives:  The purpose of this study is to make a contribution into this gap by exploring the relationship between inner change (i.e., transformative experiences) and outer change toward sustainability (i.e., how we engage with the larger world). Sustainability is being defined as  conditions which support the flourishing of all life-forms, including the earth.
  • Researcher: Elizabeth Halliday, Master of Science programme in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology at Alef Trust, UK.
  • Type of study: Online survey.
  • Study ends: August 30, 2024
  • Further information and contact information
3. Terminal Lucidity in Children and Adults
  • Objectives:  Terminal Lucidity (TL) is an unexpected surge of mental clarity usually reported in the last minutes, hours, or days before a person’s death. TL remains little understood. Although it is often reported in those of older age who have dementia, anecdotal evidence suggests TL is also very common in children who are terminally ill. More research is needed to better understand TL in children and to provide important details regarding the end-of-life stage of children, what the child's and parents/caregivers' needs might be, and how medical personnel can best respond to meet those needs.
  • Researcher: Dr. Natasha Tassell-Matamua, Associate Professor at Massey University, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
  • Type of study: You are invited to complete an online questionnaire, which will take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete. The questionnaire will ask you questions about the TL episode you witnessed, the circumstances of the passing of the adult or child who had the TL episode, as well as the psychological impact of witnessing TL on your spiritual and religious beliefs, attitudes towards life and death, and nondual awareness.
  • Further information and contact information

 4. NDErs in the UK: how has your NDE impacted your wellbeing?

  • Objectives:  This project seeks NDEr participants in the UK to understand how they make sense of their NDE and how this impacts their wellbeing—more specifically, NDErs who would not consider themselves to be traditionally religious. This could be those who would say they are not formally religious but still believe that there is something ‘out there’ or beyond the physical world.
  • Researcher: Dr. Alex Fry, Lecturer and wellbeing researcher at Bournemouth University.
  • Type of study: You will be asked to take part in a one-to-one informal interview with Alex that will last between 75-90 minutes. It will feel more like a conversation.
  • Further information and contact information
5. Physicians who have had a near-death experience
  • Objectives:  We are recruiting physicians who have had a near-death experience (NDE) for an online study. The purpose of the study is to learn about physicians’ attitudes towards NDEs. Because of the impact of NDEs on experiencers’ lives, patients sometimes talk about these experiences with their physicians. This research aims to improve these interactions. We are interested in your participation even if you have not had patients who have reported an NDE.
  • Researchers: Marieta Pehlivanova, Ph.D., and Bruce Greyson, M.D., of the Department of Psychiatry and  Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
  • Type of study: Participation in the study will take about 15 minutes of your time and will consist of an anonymous online questionnaire. You are eligible to participate if you are a physician in any specialty and have had a near-death experience.
  • Further information and contact information
6. The sense of space, feelings of motion, emotions, and sensations in NDEs
  • Objectives: The study focuses on the type of spaces, feelings of motion, emotions, and sensations you experienced during your NDE. This research project has been reviewed by the Bar Ilan University Institutional Review Board Israel. To be eligible to participate in our study you must be fluent in English, be at least 18 years old, and have no mental disabilities or need for a guardian.
  • Researcher: Dr. France Lerner, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District, Israel
  • Type of study: Premininary questionnaire (30 minutes); Online study questionnaire (up to 2 hours). To participate in this study, you will need: 
    1. Internet access.
    2.  Gmail account (or, if you do not have one, create an account at http://www.gmail.com/).
    3. A pen (blue ink ballpoint 0.5).
    4. A printer with a scanner (or use a free cellular scanning App to scan your documents with your phone).
    5. An indoor place where you feel physically and psychologically at ease.
  • Further information and link to preliminary questionnaire
7. The Social Self: Differences between Individuals with and without an NDE
  • Objectives: A student from King’s University College is carrying out psychological research to better understand the differences in the social self of individuals who have had near death experiences compared to those who have not.There are no requirements for this study. It is open to both individuals who have had a near death experience and those who have not. The study requires participation in an online self-report survey. You will be asked to state your level of agreement on scales measuring authenticity, self-monitoring and mindfulness.
  • Researchers: Meglyn Murphy, King’s University College at Western University, London Ontario, Canada 
  • Type of study: Questionnaire            Time required: 40 minutes
  • Further information and link to questionnaire
8. DMT Field Research project - NDE special interest
  • Objectives: A field research study exploring the psychological, perceptual and mental effects of the psychedelic agent DMT (N,N-dimethyltriptamine) among those with past DMT experience.
  • Researcher: David Luke, PhD of the University of Greenwich in England.
  • Type of study: Interview and a series of questionnaires.            Time required: 60 minutes +
  • Further information and link to questionnaire

Study Details

1. Did Your Near-Death Experience Affect Your Work Life?

Near-death experiences are unusual experiences that sometime occur in people who have been physically or psychologically close to death as a result of, for example, cardiac arrest or an accident. You are invited to voluntarily participate in a study exploring how near-death experiences (NDE) affect people’s work lives, such as their career paths, work goals, and work relationships. Participation involves a single, one-hour interview conducted over Zoom, scheduled at your convenience. If your NDE had an effect, or didn’t have an effect, on your work life, we would love to hear about it. Rest assured that your identity will never be shared in any publications that come out of this research. All participants will have the opportunity to be entered into a draw for an Amazon gift card valued at $150.00. Odds of winning are approximately 1 in 15.

If you have any questions, or would like to schedule a time to participate, please contact research associate, Akierah Binns at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The lead researcher on this study is Dr. Jamie Gruman, a business professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Gruman can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This project has been reviewed by the Research Ethics Board for compliance with federal guidelines for research involving human participants (REB# 24-01-009).

2. The Relationship between Inner Change and Outer Change

Call for people who have had a transformative life-experience

My research focuses upon the process of personal transformation and the impact our transformation has on the wider world. The research study aims to address a gap in the current research literature, helping us understand the relationships between internal changes following a transformative life-experience, and external changes toward sustainability.

For the purposes of this study, a transformative life-experience is defined as one which has strong meaning for you, and has resulted in significant change in your beliefs, values, lifestyle, and/or worldview. These life-changing experiences are diverse in nature, and can occur across the full range of human experiences – with the birth of a baby, or the loss of a loved one, sensing divinity while enjoying a sunset, a paranormal encounter, a spiritual awakening, or perhaps a psychedelic exploration into altered states of consciousness. The term sustainability is being used here to describe conditions which support flourishing for all life-forms, including the Earth.

In phase one of this project, I am looking for people who have had a transformative life-experience to participate in an online survey. If you have not had such an experience yourself, but know of others in your personal or professional circles who have experienced this type of transformation – please share this information and invitation with them. I sincerely appreciate your assistance in expanding the participation in this survey.  

While there are no intended benefits to this research process, participation in this survey may provide a helpful opportunity to reflect on your experiences, and the findings may contribute to a greater understanding of how to support people after a life-changing experience. Participating in and/or sharing this survey may also contribute to the de-stigmatization of these types of experiences, which is beneficial to all who have had them, or will have them in the future. 

The survey itemizes a large variety of practices and asks whether you did or did not use that practice to support the accommodation or integration of your life-changing experience. While the list of questions is long, each one is quite simple in form – and it takes about 20-25 minutes to complete the entire form. 

Link to more information and the survey.

Should you have questions about this project, please feel free to contact Beth at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Francesca Hector at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 3. Terminal Lucidity in Children and Adults

Call for people who have observed TL in a child or adult

Unusually enhanced mental clarity characterised by spontaneous and often animated changes in verbal and/or non-verbal behaviour, have been reported for more than 250 years. Since these unexpected surges of mental clarity have predominantly been reported from the last minutes, hours, or days before a person’s death, they have come to be termed Terminal Lucidity (TL). Until today, however, TL remains little understood. Although it is often reported in those of older age who have dementia, anecdotal evidence suggests TL is also very common in children who are terminally ill.

More research is needed to better understand TL in children, as this will provide important details regarding the end-of-life stage of children who are terminally unwell, what their and their parents/caregivers needs might be around this time, and how medical personnel can respond in appropriate ways to meet those needs. This study aims to address the need for more information about TL in children and adults.

To participate in this project, you will need to:

  1. Have witnessed a TL episode in an adult or a child at some stage in your life.
  2. Be proficient in the English language.
  3. Have access to the internet to complete the online questionnaire.
  4. Be over the age of 18 years.

If you agree to take part in this research, you are invited to complete an online questionnaire, which will take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete. The questionnaire will ask you questions about the TL episode you witnessed, the circumstances of the passing of the adult or child who had the TL episode, as well as the psychological impact of witnessing TL on your spiritual and religious beliefs, attitudes towards life and death, and nondual awareness. There is a separate link for the online questionnaire related to TL in adults vs. children.

Link to the Adult TL Questionnaire   Link to Children’s TL Questionnaire

If you have any questions about the research, please feel free to contact:
  Associate Professor Natasha Tassell-Matamua, PhD
  Centre for Indigenous Psychologies, School of Psychology
  Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand   
  Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you for your support of this research.

4. NDErs in the UK: how has your NDE impacted your wellbeing?

Call for near-death experiencers in the UK

Dr. Alex Fry, Lecturer and wellbeing researcher at Bournemouth University, invites NDErs in the UK to participate in this study which seeks to understand how they make sense of their NDE and how this impacts their wellbeing. More specifically we are seeking NDErs who would not consider themselves to be traditionally religious. This could be those who would say they are not formally religious but still believe that there is something ‘out there’ or beyond the physical world. It can also be those who do not believe that there is anything beyond the physical world. Such people can be called ‘spiritual but not religious', ‘agnostic’, ‘atheist’ or a number of other labels, but they are not religious in the traditional sense of the word; they do not subscribe to a traditional understanding of God/gods as found in the major world religions. Participants need to be UK-based. 

You will be asked to take part in a one-to-one informal interview with Alex that will last between 75-90 minutes. It will feel more like a conversation. The conversation will take place online using either Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or similar. Alex would like to talk about your religious upbringing (if any), the major cultural references you had growing up (e.g., music tastes, political movements etc), the nature of your NDE, how you have sought to make sense of the NDE, your experience of wellbeing in the process, and your thoughts about what happens when we die. 

More details of this study can be found here. To participate, email Alex at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you for your support of this research.

5. Physicians who have had a near-death experience

Call for research with physicians who have had a near-death experience

Marieta Pehlivanova, Ph.D., and Bruce Greyson, M.D., of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine are recruiting physicians who have had a near-death experience (NDE) for an online study. The purpose of the study is to learn about physicians’ attitudes towards NDEs. Because of the impact of NDEs on experiencers’ lives, patients sometimes talk about these experiences with their physicians. This research aims to improve these interactions. We are interested in your participation even if you have not had patients who have reported an NDE.

Participation in the study will take about 15 minutes of your time and will consist of an anonymous online questionnaire. You are eligible to participate if you are a physician in any specialty and have had a near-death experience.

This research project has been approved by University of Virginia’s Institutional Review Board for the Social Sciences (protocol #5305). If you complete the questionnaire, you have the option to enter a raffle for one of  several $100 Amazon gift cards.

If you meet the inclusion criteria and are interested in participating in this study, please contact the investigators at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Thank you for your support of this research.

6. The sense of space, feelings of motion, emotions, and sensations in NDEs

Call for research participants who have had a near-death experience

Dr. France Lerner is recruiting individuals who have had a near-death experience (NDE) for an online study.  NDEs are personal and transformative experiences that sometimes happen when one is close to death or under the threat of death. To participate in this study, you will need:

  1. Internet access.
  2. A Gmail account (or, if you do not have one, create an account at http://www.gmail.com/).
  3. A pen (blue ink ballpoint 0.5).
  4. A printer with a scanner (or use a free cellular scanning App to scan your documents with your phone).
  5. An indoor place where you feel physically and psychologically at ease.

Your participation in the study will take up to 30 minutes for the preliminary questionnaire and up to 2 hours for the online study questionnaire.

The study focuses on the type of spaces, feelings of motion, emotions, and sensations you experienced during your NDE. This research project has been reviewed by the Bar Ilan University Institutional Review Board Israel.

To be eligible to participate in our study you must be fluent in English, be at least 18 years old, and have no mental disabilities or need for a guardian.

If you would like to participate in this research study, please follow this link to the online preliminary questionnaire:
https://forms.gle/DHwK4mYmBT8Jkd1N7

Thank you for your support of this important research.

7. The Social Self: Differences between Individuals with and without an NDE

Announcing a New Research Participation Opportunity

 A student from King’s University College is carrying out psychological research to better understand the differences in the social self of individuals who have had near death experiences compared to those who have not.There are no requirements for this study. It is open to both individuals who have had a near death experience and those who have not. The study requires participation in an online self-report survey. You will be asked to state your level of agreement on scales measuring authenticity, self-monitoring and mindfulness.

The study should take no longer than 40 minutes to complete. All participants are free to withdraw from the study at any time; this study is completely voluntary. To access this study, please go to the following link:

https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_38Wn0Hf7y9JmnbM

Thank you for your support of this important research.

8. DMT Field Research project - NDE special interest

Dr. David Luke of the University of Greenwich in England is recruiting volunteers to take part in a field research study exploring the psychological, perceptual and mental effects of the psychedelic agent DMT (N,N-dimethyltriptamine) among those with past DMT experience. The study has ethical approval from the University of Greenwich Research Ethics Committee.

We are specifically interested in participants who have had separate past DMT and Near-death experiences. The study will involve being interviewed for approximately an hour, and completing a series of questionnaires. If you live within Sussex, Surrey, Kent or the Greater London area in the UK and want to know more, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (note double "d" in email address). Alternatively, if you are based elsewhere in the world, we would still be very interested to hear from you if you may like to be interviewed.

You may use an anonymous email account. Note that confidentiality and anonymity will be strictly adhered to.

Thank you for your support of this important research.