Paul Mason holds a Bachelor of Biomedical Science, Honours in Science and a Graduate Certificate in Arts (Anthropology). His core research interest is the study of the relationship between brains and culture. Currently, he is performing a cross-cultural study of challenge-dancing in Indonesia and Brazil (Pencak Silat and Capoeira respectively). Having studied Martial Arts, Dance and Music from an early age, the study of Pencak Silat and Capoeira has been a natural progression of Paul’s academic and personal interests. He has performed ethnographic fieldwork in Australian Contemporary Dance, Brazilian Capoeira and Indonesia Pencak Silat. His laboratory experience ranges from molecular and cellular neurobiology through to Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging.

Since commencing his PhD, Paul has lived in four different countries, learnt three different languages and mastered two different martial arts. He is currently preparing his thesis in the Department of Anthropology at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. His teaching has been in the Departments of Anthropology, Psychology and Music having taught “Human Evolution”, “Biology for Psychology”, “Ethics for the Social Sciences” and currently “Dance, Screen and Media”. He is currently working on course materials for new courses on Choreomusicology and Neuroanthropology.

Paul has presented his research at conferences in Australia, France and Malaysia. In 2006, he presented his research in neuroanthropology at the Language, Culture, Mind Conference in Paris and hosted a conference in St. Etienne, France, on the Metamorphosis of Industrial Metropoles. In 2007, he presented at the International Conference on South East Asia, at Universiti Malaya. In 2008, Paul was the co-organiser of the Music and Movements in Indonesian Culture Conference, Workshops and Performance in Sydney, Australia. In 2009, he presented his research on neuroanthropology as well as his research into coastal festivals at the Annual meeting of the Australian Anthropological Society. This year, Paul has been invited to present a paper on Modes of Musicality & Choreographic Cognition at the ICTM conference in June. He has also been invited to be the director of a conference about local, departmental and regional public institutions in July.

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