The history
The PhenoLab was set up in 2019 as a series of seminars and lectures organised and held by Prof. Dr. Francesca Brencio, Director of the lab. Originally born with the support of Systemic Research and Psychotherapy Section at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine at the Freiburg Medical Centre (Germany), from October 2021 the PhenoLab activities have proceeded autonomously under the sole responsibility of Prof. Brencio.
Both an empirical circumstance (the COVID-19 pandemic) and the growing interest in the field of phenomenology and mental health have allowed us to bring people from different regions of the world together, in a space which is unique for its openness and transdisciplinary.
Currently, the PhenoLab network has 482 participants from across the globe. This is surely a sign of great hope for us: building bridges among philosophers and mental health workers can help to develop different skills and tools to care for people, not merely to treat a disease.
“A growing community shaped by dialogue and openness.”
“Transforming education into tools for human-centered care”
Learning for Person-Centered Care
Through academic lectures, clinical phenomenology courses, and an international summer school, the PhenoLab aims to develop person-centred approaches to mental health care.
The central mission of the lab is to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue between phenomenology and mental health sciences, cultivating a transformative knowledge where philosophy and medicine mutually illuminate each other.
Moving beyond the limitations of traditional diagnostic categories, we embrace a more nuanced understanding of psychological experience through the phenomenological method.
This opens new ways for practitioners to engage with the full complexity of mental health experiences, psychopathological conditions, and human suffering broadly conceived.
This approach invites clinicians to engage with patients’ subjective experiences not merely as symptoms to be categorized, but as rich, nuanced expressions of existential meaning-making that illuminate the intricate ways individuals experience and construct their psychological reality.
“Beyond rigid diagnoses, towards a deeper understanding of human experience”
Staff Members
The Phenolab team brings together scholars, researchers, and clinicians from diverse backgrounds in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and psychiatry.
With extensive international experience, our staff is united by a shared mission: to develop person-centered approaches to mental health and foster dialogue between phenomenology and clinical practice.
A team of international experts dedicated to mental health
Francesca Brencio
Founder and Director of the Pheno-Lab, A Theoretical Laboratory on Philosophy and Mental Health
Valeria Bizzarri
Research Fellow at the Husserl Archives, KU Leuven, specializing in phenomenology and psychopathology
Dr. Enise Incesoy
Clinician Scientist at IKND and DZNE, focusing on dementia, psychosis, and phenomenological approaches
Dr. Zumrut Duygu Sen
Neuroscientist and Psychiatrist at the University Clinics of Jena, researching ketamine and depression