Psychology in extremes
Learn about the psychology of human performance and health in extreme environments
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What is In Extremis?
In Extremis is an online school for psychology in extreme environments.
The courses we offer have been developed using the most up-to-date scientific research and provide a unique insight into what we know about the psychology of human behaviour, performance and health in the most extreme places on Earth and beyond.
Our bitesized evidence-based courses focus on topics that are important for human safety, performance and health in extremes, such as personnel selection, training and preparation, extreme stressors, mental health and wellbeing, resilience, sleep, coping and performance optimisation, decision making, team dynamics, leadership, transitions and more.
Our featured courses are available below. The full course catalogue will be available soon.
Who is In Extremis for?
If you have a general interest in humans in extremes, are travelling to an extreme environment for work or pleasure, or conducting research on human life at the limits, our courses might be for you.
Please get in touch with us if you would like to discuss any of our offerings.
My background
I am currently an Associate Professor in Security, Behaviour and Emerging Technology at Coventry University, Head of Human Performance at Vollebak and Founder and Director of Stirland Research Ltd. Prior to my current roles, I was a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and before that a Senior Research Scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). My research is focused on human performance and health in extreme and high-risk environments. I've worked with the UK Ministry of Defence, European Space Agency, NASA and various other organisations that deploy people to extreme and high-risk environments. Whilst at the University of Manchester, I set up and ran the successful 'From Antarctica to Outer Space: Surviving and Thriving in Extremes' online course and have been involved in the development of several other online resilience and human programmes for defence and security organisations, including leading an exploratory team on digital mental performance training for NATO. Over the years, I have published numerous scientific papers, book chapters and reports on the psychology of extreme environments and have a keen interest in translating that work to be accessible for people that live, work and play in those settings.
Testimonials
"I’d like to thank you for a well thought out, well presented learning experience that I feel will be of great value to my future expeditions and to my day to day activities as a professional diver." Phil S, Director. Dark Water Exploration Ltd
"I like the style you present in the modules. It provides great information and it’s helping me with some aspects of psychology in relation to expedition/austere environments. Its outside my comfort zone, and that is great for me!" Jeremy W, Expeditioner
"Anyway, thanks again for the awesome course and allowing me to try to talk about some things. I'm even more pumped for the next trip so I can put things into practice!" Katey D, Zoologist, and remote fieldworker