The term 'Near-Death Experience' (NDE), coined by Raymond Moody in his book Life After Life, is fifty years old this year and Dr Mark Fox's talk charts and critiques many of the developments within the study of such experiences that have occurred during that time: what we have learned, what we have yet to learn, and where future research might take us. Drawing on a variety of NDE testimonies Mark also reflects on his own developing understanding of them during this time, including the ways he has come to view them from the perspective of his Christian faith.
 
Mark is a researcher, writer and speaker with an interest in a wide range of Fortean phenomena including those at the interface of parapsychology, spirituality and religion. His first book, Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience, published by Routledge in 2003, examined Near-Death Experiences from the perspectives of theology, philosophy and neuroscience, and his subsequent research has included the exploration of testimonies to encounters with unusual lights, feelings of transcendent love, after-death communications and aspects of UFO encounters. This research has in turn given rise to books such as Lightforms and The Fifth Love and his most recent book, Cold Inn, a novel, explores a range of such issues in both fictional and actual settings.
 
Much of Mark’s research has been made possible as a result of his long-standing engagement with material from within the archive of the Religious Experience Research Centre at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David's and he was until recently a Trustee of the (related) Alister Hardy Society.
 
He is currently a trustee of the Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies and a regular contributor to a range of publications including De Numine, Fortean Times, Psychical Studies and The Christian Parapsychologist.