Dr. Kelsey Perrykkad is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies (M3CS) at Monash University. In this role, Dr. Perrykkad investigates the relations between the self and wellbeing.

Dr. Perrykkad has an interdisciplinary background, working between fields including cognitive science (including psychology and neuroscience), philosophy, psychiatry, and education. Her work uses both theoretical and empirical methods to answer questions about:

• the relations between mental health and cognitive processes
• the nature of the self
• how our brains deal with environmental uncertainty
• how we act in the world and process the consequences of our actions

Her PhD, entitled "Self in Autism: A Predictive Perspective" was conferred in mid-2021 by the Monash Philosophy Department in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies. This work applied the predictive processing framework to understanding self-cognition in autism spectrum conditions. Dr. Perrykkad has a stream of ongoing research looking at differences in self as a cross-diagnostic feature in neurodiverse conditions including autism, borderline personality disorder, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, and anorexia nervosa.

Dr. Perrykkad is also interested in cases of transformative experiences, where the self is transformed. One such example is matrescence, or the process of becoming a mother (and equally, becoming a parent). This research interest has been fostered through previous work with the Centre for Women's and Children's Mental Health at Monash, working on the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study (MPEWS), a large longitudinal project about perinatal depression. Additionally, Dr. Perrykkad works closely with the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab run by Associate Professor Sharna Jamadar at Monash Biomedical Imaging to investigate the self and cognition in the perinatal period.

Dr. Perrykkad previously worked at the Queensland Brain Institute as a Senior Research Assistant and EEG lab manager. There, she studied the sense of agency, the intersection between education and neuroscience in real classrooms and neural correlates of motor preparation in naturalistic movements. She also worked for the Autism Cooperative Research Center as a Senior Research Officer under the Classroom Acoustics Project, which tested the efficacy of sound field systems for improving the classroom environment for autistic and allistic children. She has also worked as a research assistant at Occidental College, where she helped develop novel pedagogical methods and worked on a project about the ethical, social and legal implications of the human genome project.

Previously, Dr. Perrykkad has lectured and coordinated the "Critical Thinking: How to analyse arguments and improve your reasoning skills" unit at Monash University, winning a Dean's Sessional Teaching Commendation for her work in 2020. She has also been on the teaching staff for the "Philosophy of Mind" and "Time, Self and Mind" units, and guest lectured in the "Neural basis of Consciousness" unit. She also supervises PhD, masters, honours and scholarly project students.