Kevin Harrington

Kevin received his PhD in Astrophysics at the International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and the University of Bonn, Germany. He previously received a B.Sc in Astronomy and B.Sc in Psychological Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts (UMass), Amherst. He is a board certified Psychosynthesis life coach, trained in Amherst, MA at The Synthesis Center. He is also an internationally recognized Board Certified Coach, as approved by the Center for Credentialing and Education. Together, these mark some of the highest levels of credentialing a coach can have internationally. While at UMass, he established a non-denominational meditation group and guided weekly meditations for 5 years, for more than 3000 students/faculty overall. Currently, he is a postdoctoral research fellow at the European Southern Observatory and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array telescope observatory in Santiago, Chile.

He is deeply interested in the development of human beings’ potential to pursue their goals and dreams with courage. purpose and joy. Kevin believes that one of the next frontiers in coaching includes avenues within science/research environments. He enjoys traveling and playing percussion, and has experience performing with notable artists such as Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets,  Massamba Diop of Baaba Maal’s Band and Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers.

Kevin believes in the ability for education to transcend the current status quo, uplifting humanity to a shared vision and understanding of the reality of our interconnected world. He firmly believes an alternative approach to education is in alignment with the changing times of today. Therefore, he hopes to support the design and functionality of the Nomadic School project through individual and organizational coaching, as well as curriculum and workshop development.

Latest work:

• He is actively conducting research in galaxy evolution, and have published 15 papers (four as lead author) in the prestigious journals of Monthly Notices for the Royal Astronomical Society, The Astrophysical Journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics. I have more than 2300 hr of first-hand observing experience with radio telescopes, with more than 1000 hr of approved telescope time.
• 2017: He presented a theoretical and practical 10 hr workshop on Psychosynthesis and Life Coaching, “Coaching in the Sciences”, for about 40 PhD students in astrophysics, revolving around what it means to be a leader, what one’s values are and other group based discussions and personal reflection.
• 2018: He led a half-day coaching workshop, “Effective mental strategies”, for about 35 PhD students. I then asked them to focus and develop such things as designing their weeks in an ideal setting to set priority to their work and life harmoniously–again followed by an action request to apply their ideal week to their life.
• 2019: He led another one day workshop for 40 students which I called,  “Effective Coaching Techniques to Aid in Completing a PhD”, which included a set of deep questioning and reflection exercises. I provided prompts such as “Who must you become to finish your PhD?” and “What sequence of events will allow you to overcome the challenges that confront you?”.
• Invited author for the first Psychosynthesis textbook, The Call of Self, edited by Dr. Dorothy Firman, with a foreword by Dr. Patrick Williams. The title was “Psychosynthesis Life Coaching in the Sciences.”