Our mandate
Why we exist
Our mandate is also to publicize the findings from reincarnation research (whether funded by us or not) through popular outlets, mass media and social media, so as to bring them into the public discourse.
We want to increase the pace of discovery through research and the level of public awareness due to the importance of the topic. The fact that there is much empirical evidence that reincarnation truly happens, and happens in the ways that it does, needs to be part of the public discourse and become common knowledge in our society and worldwide.
Our work
What we do
Fund research
Grants reincarnation researchers don’t have to compete for against other parapsychology topics.
Build capacity
Our own projects, such as the Published Reincarnation Cases Database (PRCDb).
Share findings
Evidence-based information for academia, the public, and families affected by past-life memories.
Since 2015
ICRR history
Our aim is to supplement existing grantors and programs by providing grants for which reincarnation researchers will not have to compete with parapsychologists writing on other topics, allowing more reincarnation research to be done sooner than can be done currently. Our mandate is also to disseminate the results of research we conduct or fund, as well as evidence-based reincarnation information generally, both to academia and the public, and to provide resources and support to individuals and families affected by reincarnation phenomena.
1960 · Where it began
Ian Stevenson published his first reincarnation research in 1960, in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, and began his fieldwork in India and Ceylon the following year. Historically, academic reincarnation researchers have sought institutional funding from general parapsychological grantors such as the Society for Psychical Research, the Parapsychological Foundation, the parapsychological sector of the BIAL Foundation, and some others. Due to his prodigious work, Ian Stevenson was able to secure funding from the inventor of the Xerox copying process, Chester Carlson, whose endowment enabled Stevenson to set up and lead a department within the University of Virginia medical school. The Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), as it is now called, continues through its own funding program to conduct reincarnation and consciousness research.
2015 · The idea
The idea of ICRR was first raised by KM Wehrstein on James G. Matlock’s Facebook group Signs of Reincarnation in 2015, and discussed intermittently there. Robert Giacalone was interested right from 2015.
2021 · A Steering Committee
We were inspired to start in late 2021 by several signs that we felt indicated that the time had come, including burgeoning public interest, two studies suggesting past-life memory in children is much more common than thought, and an essay contest by the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies that sent an inspiring jolt of both money and energy into the field. Robert Giacalone joined the Steering Committee at its founding in 2021, drawing on experience gained from his stellar academic career to keep us on the scientific straight and narrow. The name “International Centre for Reincarnation Research” was chosen after a democratic consult with members of the Signs of Reincarnation Facebook group.
2022 · Incorporated
We were incorporated as a non-profit in Canada on March 28, 2022, and the Steering Committee became the Board of Directors. Benjamin Bagley, who created our preliminary website as well as this one and also designed our beautiful logo, was on the Committee then. Gabriela Gomes and Will (his public name) have since left the Board but were helpful in setting up our infrastructure, particularly Will with our Facebook presence. Psychologist Melanie Oborne began the work of contacting therapists for our reincarnation-friendly therapists directory. Our Science Council and Supporting Researchers mostly joined those bodies in 2022.
2023 · Growing
Alexei Medvedev joined the Board in August 2023. Climate scientist Michael Smith has been very helpful in growing ICRR-affiliated Facebook groups, which have a collective membership of more than 100,000.
2025 · Our first major project
Work began on our first major project, the Published Reincarnation Cases Database, on January 2, 2025, after ICRR-affiliated researchers were awarded a BIAL Foundation grant in 2024, which ICRR administers as the host organization. See details here.
Next · What’s next
In the next few years we are looking to open an American office (we are based in Canada) and gain charitable status in Canada and the USA while continuing to expand our membership, donor and volunteer bases. Let us know which of these crucial groups you are interested in becoming part of, if you are!
- 1960Where it beganIan Stevenson publishes his first reincarnation research; his fieldwork begins a year later.
- 2015The ideaKM Wehrstein first raises the idea in the Signs of Reincarnation group.
- 2021A Steering CommitteeICRR is founded and the name chosen with the Signs of Reincarnation community.
- 2022IncorporatedA non-profit in Canada from 28 March; the Board, Science Council and Supporting Researchers form.
- 2023GrowingNew Board members, and affiliated groups pass 100,000 members.
- 2025Our first major projectWith a BIAL Foundation grant to ICRR-affiliated researchers, administered by ICRR, work begins on the Published Reincarnation Cases Database on 2 January.
- NextWhat’s nextAn American office, and charitable status in Canada and the USA.
Partners and funders
Organizations behind the research
Reincarnation research relies on a small number of institutions that carry it out and fund it.
Division of Perceptual Studies
Part of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Founded by Ian Stevenson in 1967, DOPS continues his research on children who remember previous lives.
BIAL Foundation
The largest institutional funder of parapsychological research, operating since 1994. Its grant to ICRR-affiliated researchers, administered by ICRR, funds the PRCDb.
Society for Psychical Research
Founded in London in 1882. Its Yew-Kwang Ng Fund for Survival Research supports research into the survival of consciousness after death.
Our bylaws
Our current bylaws are viewable online.
Get involved
Become an ICRR member
$55 a year (or $5 a month) gives you unlimited access to members’ content, early access and discounts on courses and conferences.