Master's in Consciousness and Embodiment

University College Dublin (UCD) is a world-renowned university located in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1854, it is one of the oldest and largest universities in the country, with a current student population of over 34,000. UCD offers undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs across a broad range of disciplines, including arts, humanities, business, law, engineering, medicine, and science. The university is particularly well-known for its programs in agriculture, veterinary science, and architecture, and is also a leader in research in areas such as nanotechnology, information technology, and food science. The campus itself is situated on 350 acres in the south suburbs of Dublin, providing a picturesque and spacious setting for students and staff. Facilities on campus include state-of-the-art lecture theaters, research labs, libraries, sports facilities, and accommodation options for students.

Until quite recently, the experience of embodiment and the role that the body plays in shaping the mind had been neglected. Descartes’s view of the body as a machine assigned its study to physics and mechanics rather than to philosophy. Outside of the phenomenological circle, and the work of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty in particular, the explosion of interest in philosophy of mind and cognitive science in the 1980s and 90s, focused primarily on consciousness rather than the bodily aspects of cognition. In the last decade a new appreciation of the role of the body and its physical and social surroundings has sharpened our traditional understanding of the key issues of perception, the emotions, and attention. Moreover, the relationship between consciousness and embodiment has brought into focus the intersecting roles of agency, rationality and society in an understanding of the embodied mind.