Congratulations to Gerhard Mayer, who has been selected to receive the PA’s 2021 Outstanding Contribution Award. This award goes to a PA professional or associate member to recognize sustained research or service contributions that have advanced the discipline of parapsychology.

Gerhard Mayer is well known for his novel contributions to anomalistics and his role as chief editor of the Journal of Anomalistics / Zeitschrift für Anomalistik.
 
He has a multidisciplinary background, having studied art history, philosophy, sociology, and psychology at the University of Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany. He has been working as a research fellow at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) in Freiburg/Germany since 1996. His research interests include sleep paralysis, astrology, magical practices, neoshamanism, and the biographical importance & integration of extraordinary experiences as well as methods of anomalistic research. He is also the acting director of the Gesellschaft für Anomalistik, a German sister organization of the Society for Scientific Exploration.
 
Gerhard Mayer received his Ph.D. in psychology in 2000, writing his thesis on how individuals cope and integrate with nonrational content depicted in films and the differences between horror movie fans and other young people. Since then, he has been involved in numerous scientific publications and authored multiple books.

For more information about the PA's annual career awards, please visit: http://www.parapsych.org/section/27/awards.aspx