About Me

Dr. Sherwood completed a BSc in Psychology at the University of Portsmouth in 1992 followed by an MSc in Occupational Psychology at the University of Sheffield in 1993. In the summer of 1994 he completed the Summer Study Program (SSP) at the Rhine Research Center and gained a PhD in Psychology, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), from the University of Edinburgh in 2001. He was presented with the Gertrude Schmeidler Outstanding Student Award at the Parapsychological Association Convention in 2000. He has been working full-time as a lecturer in Psychology at University College Northampton since 1998. In December 2002 he completed a Postgraduate Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education (PGCTHE).

Research and teaching interests
Simon became interested in parapsychology following a childhood sleep-related experience involving what he thought at the time was an apparition of a huge black dog-like creature. In recent years he has been collecting other accounts of this phenomenon from around the world via his Black Dog website.
This led to the development of my interest in anomalous sleep-related experiences, particularly those that occur in the hypnagogic/hypnopompic (HG/HP) states, that is the borderland states surrounding sleep. As part of his PhD research, he discovered that people who report a greater number of normal childhood HG/HP experiences tend to report a greater number of non-UFO-related anomalous experiences throughout their lifetime. He has also looked into the similarities between normal HG/HP experiences and psychomanteum and out-of-body experiences. During his time at Edinburgh he became involved with some experimental investigations of dream ESP with colleagues there. Simon has continued this dream ESP research with colleagues at UCN. As part of a Perrott-Warrick project at UCN, along with Dr Chris Roe and Nicola Holt, he is currently carrying out ganzfeld ESP research using an automated free-response testing system designed by Dr Paul Stevens.

Simon currently co-ordinates a final year undergraduate psychology module entitled "Parapsychology and Anomalous Experiences" that he teaches along with Dr Roe. He also supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate research into parapsychology and related topic areas.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Parapsychology
Sherwood, S. J. (in press). Black Dog apparitions. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.

Sherwood, S. J., & Roe, C. A. (in press). A review of dream ESP studies conducted since the Maimonides dream ESP programme. Journal of Consciousness Studies.

Sherwood, S. J. (2002). Relationship between the hypnagogic/hypnopompic states and reports of anomalous experiences. Journal of Parapsychology, 66, 127-150.

Sherwood, S. (2002). Apparitions of Black Dogs. The Paranormal Review, 22, 3-6.

Roe C. A., Sherwood, S. J., Luke, D. P., & Farrell, L. M. (2002). An investigation of dream clairvoyance using consensus judging and dynamic targets. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 66, 225-238.

Sherwood, S. J., Roe, C. A., Simmonds, C. A., & Biles, C. (2002). An exploratory investigation of dream precognition using consensus judging and static targets. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 66, 22-28.

Roe, C. A., & Sherwood, S. J. (2001, September). Revisiting the role of the sender using a ganzfeld psi task. Paper presented at the 25th International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Cambridge, England.

Roe, C. A., Sherwood, S. J., Luke, D. P., & Farrell, L. M. (2001, September). An investigation of dream clairvoyance using consensus judging and dynamic targets. Paper presented at the 25th International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Cambridge, England.

Sherwood, S. J. (2001). WWW survey of the content, sensory modalities and interpretation of hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 44th Annual Convention, 301-319.

Roe, C. A., & Sherwood, S. J. (2001). Revisiting the role of the sender using a ganzfeld psi task. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 44th Annual Convention, 415-418.

Sherwood, S. J. (2000). Modelling childhood antecedents of anomalous experiences and beliefs: Fantasy proneness, hypnagogic/hypnopompic and sleep experiences. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.

Sherwood, S. J. (2000). A comparison of the features of the psychomanteum and hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences. International Journal of Parapsychology, XI, 97-121.

Sherwood, S. J. (2000). Black Dogs and English men. Exceptional Human Experience, 16(2), 226-230.

Sherwood, S. J., Dalton, K., Steinkamp, F., & Watt, C. (2000). Dream clairvoyance study II using dynamic video-clips: Investigation of consensus voting judging procedures and target emotionality. Dreaming, 10, 221-236.

Sherwood, S. J. (2000). A comparison of the features of the psychomanteum and hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 43rd Annual Convention, 262-275.

Sherwood, S. J. (2000, March). Entering the twilight zone: Anomalous experiences reported between wakefulness and sleep. Lecture given to the Society for Psychical Research, London.

Sherwood, S. J. (1999). Relationship between childhood hypnagogic/hypnopompic and sleep experiences, childhood fantasy proneness, and anomalous experiences and beliefs: An exploratory WWW survey. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 93(2), 167-197.

Dalton, K., Steinkamp, F., Sherwood, S. J. (1999). A dream GESP experiment using dynamic targets and consensus vote. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 93(2), 145-166.

Sherwood, S. J., Roe, C. A., Simmonds, C. A., & Biles, C. (1999, September). An exploratory investigation of dream precognition using consensus judging and static targets. Paper presented at the 23rd International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Durham, England.

Sherwood, S. J., Dalton, K., Steinkamp, F., & Watt, C. (1998, September). Dream GESP study II using dynamic video-clips: investigation of consensus voting judging procedures and target emotionality. Paper presented at the 22nd International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, York, England.

Sherwood, S. J., Dalton, K., Steinkamp, F., & Watt, C. (1998). Dream GESP study II using dynamic video-clips: investigation of consensus voting judging procedures and target emotionality. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 41st Annual Convention, 226-241.

Sherwood, S. J. (1998). Relationship between the hypnagogic/hypnopompic states and reports of anomalous experiences. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 41st Annual Convention, 210-225.

Sherwood, S. (1998). Experiences during the twilight zone. The Paranormal Review, 5, 3-6.

Sherwood, S. J. (1997). Relationship between childhood hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences, childhood fantasy proneness and anomalous experiences and beliefs: An exploratory WWW survey. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 40th Annual Convention held in conjunction with The Society for Psychical Research, 370-386.

Sherwood, S. (1996, Fall & Winter). 20th SPR International Conference. PA News, 2, 7-9.

Dalton, K., Steinkamp, F., & Sherwood, S. J. (1996). A dream GESP experiment using dynamic targets and consensus vote. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 39th Annual Convention, 57-72.

Dalton, K., Steinkamp, F., & Sherwood, S. J. (1996, August/September). A dream GESP experiment using dynamic targets and consensus vote. Paper presented at the 20th International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Cirencester, England.

Sherwood, S. J. (1996). [Book Review: Seeing through statistics]. European Journal of Parapsychology, 12, 96-99.

Sherwood, S. (1996, October). Sleep paralysis [Letter]. Fortean Times, 91, 53.

Sherwood, S. J. (1995, October/December). The 38th Annual PA Convention. PA News, 1-5.

Sherwood, S. (1995). The Institute for Parapsychology Summer Study Program. The Psi Researcher, 15, 13.

The Barnum effect
Sherwood, S. J. (1992, March). The “Barnum effect” and differences between believers and sceptics of astrology. Paper presented at Regional Undergraduate/Postgraduate Psychology Conference, University of Reading, England.

Sherwood, S. (1992). The “Barnum effect” and the differences between believers and sceptics of astrology. Unpublished bachelor’s thesis, The University of Portsmouth, England.