Staff profile

My interests lie in the phenomenological, epistemic and sociopolitical character of extreme experiences, and how these are made sense of across different 'consciousness cultures'. Currently, I am writing a monograph tracing the renewed scientific and therapeutic interest in psychedelic experiences in the global North, exploring implications for thoeries of psychopathology and approaches to mental health care. Weaving together scientific, medical, spiritual and aesthetic registers, this research is situated in the context of medicalisation and the ongoing 'war on drugs'.

I have trained and taught in a range of disciplines including anthropology, psychology, sociology, socio-legal studies, epidemiology and science and technology studies, and have collaborated with anthropologists, human geographers, sociologists, psychopharmacologists, mental health service users and survivors, Mad Pride organisations and healthcare professionals. These experiences inform my interest in the epistemological, methodological and ethical challenges that arise in attempts to conduct meaningful interdisciplinary and participatory research.

I am a member of Hearing the Voice, a Wellcome Trust-funded project based in Durham University's Institute for Medical Humanities.

Book review

• Noorani, T. (2020). 'Collaborative and Indigenous Mental Health Therapy: Tātaihono – Stories of Māori Healing and Psychiatry': Book Review
• Noorani, T., & Langlitz, N. (2016). An Anthropologist in Psychedelia: Interview with Nicolas Langlitz

Chapter in book

• Noorani, T. Conspiration in the Archive: Sense-making and the research interview methodology. In B. Alderson-Day, A. Woods, & C. Fernyhough (Eds.), Voices in Psychosis. Oxford University Press
• Noorani, T. (2017). The Psychonaut's Journey: Race, Closure and Hope. In P. Bresnihan, L. Dawney, & C. Blencowe (Eds.), Problems of Hope. ARN Press
• Noorani, T., & Liebert, R. (2016). Launching More-than-human Investigations. In J. Brigstocke, & T. Noorani (Eds.), Listening with Non-human Others. ARN Press
• Noorani, T. (2016). Psychedelic Nonwriting. In J. Brigstocke, & T. Noorani (Eds.), Listening With Non-human Others. ARN Press
• Noorani, T. (2013). Participating with Objects. In T. Noorani, C. Blencowe, & J. Brigstocke (Eds.), Problems of Participation: Reflections on Authority, Democracy and the Struggle for Common Life. ARN Press

Edited book

• Brigstocke, J., & Noorani, T. (Eds.). (2016). Listening With Non-human Others. ARN Press
• Noorani, T., Blencowe, C., & Brigstocke, J. (Eds.). (2013). Problems of Participation: Reflections on democracy, authority, and the struggle for common life. ARN Press

Journal Article

• Noorani, T., Bedi, G., & Muthukumaraswamy, S. (2023). Dark loops: contagion effects, consistency and chemosocial matrices in psychedelic-assisted therapy trials. Psychological Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291723001289
• Noorani, T. (2021). Methodology or Muse? A Response to the Commentaries. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, 28(3), 227-231. https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2021.0035
• Noorani, T. (2021). Containment Matters: Set and Setting in Contemporary Psychedelic Psychiatry. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, 28(3), 201-216. https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2021.0032
• Laver, C., McGrath, L., Liebert, R. J., Noorani, T., Barnes, N., Chase, M., …Wakeling, B. (2021). ‘You don't take things too seriously or un‐seriously’: Beyond recovery to liminal and liminoid possibility in a community arts and mental health project. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 32(4), 653-664. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2583
• Noorani, T. (2021). Digital Psychedelia: Hidden Experience and the Challenge of Paranoia
• Noorani, T., & Martell, J. (2021). New Frontiers or a Bursting Bubble? Psychedelic Therapy Beyond the Dichotomy. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, Article 727050. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.727050
• Leptourgos, P., Fortier-Davy, M., Carhart-Harris, R., Corlett, P. R., Dupuis, D., Halberstadt, A. L., …Jardri, R. (2020). Hallucinations Under Psychedelics and in the Schizophrenia Spectrum: An Interdisciplinary and Multiscale Comparison. Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, 46(6), 1396-1408. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa117
• Mazanderani, F., Noorani, T., Dudhwala, F., & Kamwendo, Z. T. (2020). Knowledge, evidence, expertise? The epistemics of experience in contemporary healthcare. Evidence and Policy, 16(2), 267-284. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426420x15808912561112
• Noorani, T., & Alderson-Day, B. (2020). Spotlight commentary: REBUS and the anarchic brain. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2020(1), Article niaa007. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niaa007
• Noorani, T., Karlsson, M., & Borkman, T. (2019). Deep experiential knowledge: reflections from mutual aid groups for evidence-based practice. Evidence and Policy, 15(2), 217-234. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426419x15468575283765
• Noorani, T. (2019). Sciencing the mystical: the trickery of the psychedelic trip report. New Writing, 16(4), 440-443. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790726.2019.1566375
• Noorani, T., Garcia-Romeu, A., Swift, T. C., Griffiths, R. R., & Johnson, M. W. (2018). Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation: Qualitative analysis of participant accounts. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 32(7), 756-769. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881118780612
• Blencowe, C., Brigstocke, J., & Noorani, T. (2018). Engines of alternative objectivity: Re-articulating the nature and value of participatory mental health organisations with the Hearing Voices Movement and Stepping Out Theatre Company. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 22(3), 205-222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459315590246
• Noorani, T., Charlesworth, A., Kite, A., & McDermont, M. (2017). Participatory Research and the Medicalization of Research Ethics Processes. Social and Legal Studies, 26(3), 378-400. https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663916677561
• Noorani, T. (2017). Conducting Qualitative Research With Psychedelic Psychopharmacologists: Challenges of Co-Production in an Era of Interdisciplinarity. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526404862
• Brigstocke, J., & Noorani, T. (2016). Posthuman Attunements: Aesthetics, Authority and the Arts of Creative Listening. Geohumanities, 2(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566x.2016.1167618
• Garcia-Romeu, A. P., Noorani, T., Griffiths, R. R., & Johnson, M. W. (2015). Long-term follow-up of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation: Abstinence outcomes and qualitative analysis of participant accounts. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 156, Article e78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.07.1130
• Blencowe, C., Brigstocke, J., & Noorani, T. (2015). Theorising participatory practice and alienation in health research: A materialist approach. Social Theory & Health, 13(3-4), 397-417. https://doi.org/10.1057/sth.2015.23
• Noorani, T. (2013). Service user involvement, authority and the ‘expert-by-experience’ in mental health. Journal of Political Power, 6(1), 49-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379x.2013.774979
• Meer, N., & Noorani, T. (2008). A Sociological Comparison of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Muslim Sentiment in Britain. Sociological Review, 56(2), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954x.2008.00784.x

Manual

• Noorani, T., & Brigstocke, J. (2018). More-Than-Human Participatory Research

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Steinhardt, J., & Noorani, T. (2020). The Psychedelic Revival. [Cultural Anthropology Hot Spots Fieldsites]
• Noorani, T. (2017). Psychedelic Pedagogy (radio interview). [Radio]

Other (Print)

• Noorani, T. (2018). The Changing Shape of Self-help/Mutual Aid
• Noorani, T. (2017). Self-help and Mutual Aid: Greetings from the New Chair and Looking Ahead
• Noorani, T. (2016). Patterning a World of Mushrooms
• Noorani, T. (2016). Psychedelic Expereinces, Hope and Troubles of Inclusivity

Report

• Blencowe, C., Brigstocke, J., & Noorani, T. (2013). Authority, Knowledge & Performance in Participatory Practice: Connected Communities Discussion Paper. [No known commissioning body]
• Blencowe, C., Brigstocke, J., Dawney, L., Amaral, A., Kirwan, S., Millner, N., & Noorani, T. (2011). Immanent Authority and the Making of Community: Connected Communities Discussion Paper. [No known commissioning body]