Active Projects
Understanding Experiences of Mood Disturbances in Depression
Duration: 2026 to 2030 (48 months)
Funders & schemes: Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF), Project 2
Team: Anthony Vincent Fernandez (PI), Martin Vestergaard Kristiansen (collaborator), Julian Kiverstein (collaborator), George Denfield (collaborator), Evan Kyzar (collaborator)
Description: People diagnosed with depression report a wide variety of mood disturbances — from sadness and emptiness to anxiety and emotional numbness — that current symptom concepts don't fully capture. This project combines in-depth interviews with tools from philosophy and emotion theory to produce a more precise conceptual taxonomy of mood disturbances in depression. These concepts will be shared with researchers in psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience to guide studies into causes and interventions.
What is Eco-anxiety? Capturing Feelings of the Climate Crisis
Duration: 2026 to 2029 (36 months)
Funders & schemes: SDU Climate Cluster, PhD Half-funded; co-funded by Department of Psychology and Department of Culture and Language, University of Southern Denmark
Team: Tahura Farbin (PhD fellow), Anthony Vincent Fernandez (supervisor), Bryan Yazell (co-supervisor), K. Kaya Roessler (co-supervisor), Anita Wohlmann (co-supervisor)
Description: People experience a wide range of emotions in response to the climate crisis — from anxiety and grief to despair and numbness — that current concepts of "eco-anxiety" lump together rather than distinguish. This project combines analysis of climate-themed short stories with in-depth interviews, drawing on tools from philosophy of emotion and literary studies, to produce a nuanced mapping of climate emotions. The framework will inform psychometric tools and research on how specific emotions shape environmental action.
The Neurophenomenology of Freediving: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Mind, Brain, and Breath in Life Style Sports
Duration: 2023 to 2029 (72 months)
Funders & schemes: Ministry of Culture Denmark, Co-financing of PhD projects; Women Divers Hall of Fame, Laurel Clark Sea to Space Physiology Research Grants; European Commission, EU Erasmus+ Traineeship Mobility Programme
Team: Suraiya Luecke (PhD fellow), Anthony Vincent Fernandez (supervisor), Simon Høffding (co-supervisor), Søren Harnow Klausen (co-supervisor), Susanne Ravn (co-supervisor)
Description: Practitioners of freediving (underwater breath-hold diving) have reported profound benefits to mental health and wellbeing as a result of their practice. This project combines participant observation, phenomenological interviews, and biological measurements to investigate how freediving affects practitioners’ bodies and lived experiences, with a focus on analyzing changes to interoception, selfhood, and wellbeing. These mixed-method findings will lead to a more nuanced understanding of the pathways that could be targeted in novel breath-based, movement-based, and water-based therapeutic interventions.
Note: This grant was originally awarded to Simon Høffding, who was primary supervisor of the PhD project until taking up his current position at Autonomous University of Madrid.
Co-creation of Evidence-based Clinical Tools for Identifying and Alleviating Pain-related Suffering
Duration: 2026 to 2027 (16 months)
Funders & schemes: Foundation for Chiropractic Research and Postgraduate Education (Fonden til fremme af kiropraktisk forskning og postgraduat uddannelse)
Team: Peter Stilwell (PI), Anthony Vincent Fernandez (co-I), Jan Hartvigsen (co-I), Alice Kongsted (co-I), Sophie Lykkegaard Ravn (co-I)
Description: A core goal of health care is to alleviate suffering, yet this goal remains largely unmet among people living with chronic pain. This project will use qualitative methods with key stakeholders to support the development of new clinical tools. These tools are expected to help clinicians collaborate with their patients to better assess and address pain-related suffering involving disruption to one’s sense of self or self-identity.
Therapeutic Atmospheres
Duration: 2025 to 2027 (24 months)
Funders & schemes: European Commission, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship
Team: Enara García (PI), Anthony Vincent Fernandez (supervisor), Sarah Bro Trasmundi (co-supervisor)
Description: The physical environment of therapy — the layout, lighting, sound, and furniture of a consultation room — affects therapeutic outcomes, yet how these atmospheres are experienced and how they shape psychotherapy remains poorly understood. This project combines phenomenological interviews with analysis of video-recorded sessions to examine how affective atmospheres support therapeutic alliances and moments of change. The findings will refine concepts from phenomenological psychiatry and situated affectivity, informing the design of therapeutic spaces that foster better mental health outcomes.
Completed Projects
Phenomenological Analysis of Ipseity and the Nature of Suffering
Duration: 2024 to 2026 (24 months)
Funders & schemes: European Commission, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship
Team: Peter Stilwell (PI), Anthony Vincent Fernandez (supervisor), Sophie Lykkegaard Ravn (co-supervisor)
Description: People living with chronic pain often experience disruption to their sense of self, yet little research examines how this can be resolved through clinical interventions and self-management strategies. This project used theory-driven interviews to develop a new framework that characterizes how aspects of self can be restored, revised, or reinvented. The findings will inform clinical recommendations for targeting selfhood to alleviate pain-related suffering.
Understanding Experiences of Mood Disturbances in Depression: A Pilot Study
Duration: 2025 to 2026 (12 months)
Funders & schemes: EPICUR, the European University Alliance, co-funded by the European Union
Team: Anthony Vincent Fernandez (PI), Julian Kiverstein (co-PI), Martin Vestergaard Kristiansen (postdoc)
Description: People diagnosed with depression report a wide variety of mood disturbances — from sadness and emptiness to anxiety and emotional numbness — that current symptom concepts don't fully capture. This pilot project combines in-depth interviews with tools from philosophy and emotion theory to develop initial conceptual descriptions of these affective states. The findings will refine the methodology and inform future research on the phenomenology of depression.