Organizational Structure

The General Assembly consists of members of the registered association who come from various scientific and economic disciplines. The General Assembly elects the Executive Board and monitors its work.

The Board of Directors of the non-profit registered association consists of the chairman (currently Prof. em. Dr. Dieter Vaitl) and two other board members (currently PD Dr. Jürgen Kornmeier and Dipl.-Psych. Eberhard Bauer). The Board of Directors is elected by the General Assembly. It manages the association and administers the association’s assets.

The Institute’s management is appointed by the Executive Board. It manages the business of the Institute. The Director of the Institute is PD Dr. Jürgen Kornmeier, his deputy is Dipl.-Psych. Eberhard Bauer.

The IGPP office assists the institute management and is also responsible for editing, data protection and social media.

In close cooperation with the Freiburg University Library, the IGPP maintains an interdisciplinary and extensive research library on topics relating to parapsychology, the frontier areas of psychology and anomalistics. It currently comprises around 69,000 volumes and is one of the largest collections of books on these topics in Europe. To the Library Website.

The IGPP maintains an archive for the long-term preservation, indexing and utilization of documents and materials that are important for the cultural and scientific history of the frontier areas of psychology in general and for the history of the Institute in particular. The IGPP archive contains bequests, materials from the Institute’s work and collections from the areas mentioned. To the Archive Website.

Since its foundation in 1950 by Prof. Hans Bender (1907-1991), the IGPP has offered a free information and counseling service. People seeking advice and help in connection with exceptional experiences can receive professional advice. In addition, professionals from the fields of psychology, psychotherapy, medicine, education, pastoral care and social work, as well as interested members of the public, can obtain general information on the Institute’s topics. To the Information and Counseling Service.

The IGPP is engaged in interdisciplinary research into previously insufficiently understood phenomena and anomalies at the frontiers of our knowledge. One aim of this research is to integrate the knowledge gained into a broad scientific and epistemological framework and thus contribute to a better understanding of the mind-matter problem and the still unsolved mystery of human consciousness.

The IGPP has an ethics committee with representatives from psychology, medicine, biology, mathematics and law as well as the IGPP’s data protection officer. The task of the Ethics Committee is to review and evaluate research projects and studies at the IGPP with regard to ethical and legal aspects. The aim is to ensure that ethical standards are adhered to and that the dignity, rights, safety and well-being of the people involved are protected. Further information can be found in the Rules of Procedure and the Regulations of the  IGPP Ethics Committee. The current Chairman of the Ethics Committee is Dr. Ulrich Ott, the Deputy Chairman is Dr. Dr. habil. Marc Wittmann. Contact the Ethics Committee: