Anil Kumar Seth (born 11 June 1972) is a British

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. A proponent of

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materia ...

explanations of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

, he is currently amongst the most cited scholars on the topics of

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

and

cognitive science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

globally. Seth holds an BA ( promoted to an MA per tradition) in natural science from

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, and a PhD in computer science from the

. Seth has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters, and is the editor-in-chief of the journal ''Neuroscience of Consciousness''. He is a regular contributor to ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and writes the blog NeuroBanter. He is related to the Indian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...

Early life and education

Seth was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and grew up in

Letcombe Regis Letcombe Regis is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire. The village is on Letcombe Brook at the foot of the Berkshir ...

, a village in rural South Oxfordshire. His father, Bhola Seth, obtained a BSc from

Allahabad University The University of Allahabad is a Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). It is the 4th oldest mode ...

in 1945, before migrating from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to the United Kingdom to study engineering at Cardiff. Bhola Seth subsequently obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Mechanical Engineering at Sheffield, was a research scientist at the Esso Research Centre in Abingdon, and won the veterans' world doubles title in badminton in 1976. His mother, Ann Delaney, came from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. Seth went to school at King Alfred's Academy in

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire, it has been a ...

. He has degrees in

Natural Sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

(BA/MA,

, 1994), Knowledge-Based Systems (M.Sc., Sussex, 1996) and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (D.Phil./Ph.D., Sussex, 2001). He was a postdoctoral and associate fellow at

The Neurosciences Institute The Neurosciences Institute (NSI) was a small, nonprofit scientific research organization that investigated basic issues in neuroscience. Active mainly between 1981 and 2012, NSI sponsored theoretical, computational, and experimental work on cons ...

in San Diego, California (2001–2006).

Career

Since 2010 Seth has been co-director (with Hugo Critchley) of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science, and editor-in-chief of ''Neuroscience of Consciousness''. He was conference chair of the 16th meeting of the

Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

and continuing member 'at large' and is on the steering group and advisory board of the Human Mind Project. He was president of the Psychology Section of the

British Science Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

in 2017.

Publications

Seth has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters, and is the editor-in-chief of the journal, ''Neuroscience of Consciousness.'' He is a regular contributor to ''

'', ''

'' and the

, and writes the blog NeuroBanter. He also consulted for the popular science book, ''Eye Benders'', which won the 2014 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize. An introductory essay on

has been published on

Aeon The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...

�
"The Real Problem"
– a 2016 Editor's Pick. Seth was included in the 2019 Highly Cited Researchers List that was published by

Clarivate Analytics Clarivate Plc is a British-American publicly traded analytics company that operates a collection of subscription-based services, in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics; business and market intelligence, and competitive profiling ...

Books

* '' Being You: A New Science of Consciousness'' (Faber and Faber, 2021) – author * ''Brain Twisters'' (Ivy Press, 2015) – consultant * ''30 Second Brain'' (Ivy Press, 2014) – editor and co-author * ''Eye Benders'' (Ivy Press, 2013) – consultant * ''Modelling Natural Action Selection'' (Cambridge University Press, 2011) – editor and co-author

Popularisation of science

Seth appeared in the 2018

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

documentary ''The Most Unknown'' on scientific research directed by

Ian Cheney Ian Cheney is an American documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and producer. Early life and education Cheney grew up in Massachusetts and Maine, attended The Mountain School, a semester school for high school juniors, and graduated from Mil ...

References

External links

*
Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science

David Edelman and Anil Seth (2009). "Animal consciousness: a synthetic approach". Trends in Neurosciences

"Criteria for consciousness in humans and other mammals". PubMed

Anil Seth's TEDTalk "Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality" Recorded April 2017

Anil Seth's Royal Institute talk "The Neuroscience of Consciousness" Recorded February 2017

Anil Seth Finds Consciousness in Life's Push Against Entropy
(Interview in Quanta Magazine'' 2021) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seth, Anil 1972 births Academics of the University of Sussex Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Sussex English neuroscientists English people of Indian descent People from Vale of White Horse (district) Scientists from Oxford Living people Place of birth missing (living people)