Speakers

Dr. Katrin Preller (PhD) received her M.Sc. (Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology) from University of Konstanz, Germany. She joined the University of Zurich where she investigated the neurobiological long-term effects of cocaine, MDMA, and heroin use. After completing her PhD, she investigated the effects of psychedelics on self-perception and social cognition at the Neuropsychopharmacology and Brain Imaging Lab. She received a SNSF PostDoc mobility fellowship and worked at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, London, and Yale University, New Haven. Subsequently, she was appointed as Junior Group Leader at the University of Zurich, and holds a position as Visiting Assistant Professor at Yale University.

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David E. Nichols (PhD) is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Purdue University College of Pharmacy and was the Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology, where he taught and did research for 38 years. He is also Director of Molecular Pharmacology at Eleusis Therapeutics.

In 2004 he was named the Irvine H. Page Lecturer by the International Society for Serotonin Research, received the first Purdue Provost’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor award in 2006 and was named a Distinguished Alumnus by the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in 2012. He began studying psychedelics as a graduate student in 1969.  

His lab synthesised DMT for Dr. Rick Strassman, the MDMA for MAPS Phase I and II clinical trials, and the psilocybin used for human clinical studies conducted at Johns Hopkins University. In 1993 he founded the Heffter Research Institute (HRI), which funded the first groundbreaking Phase I and II studies of psilocybin for the treatment of depression, and pilot studies for treating alcohol use disorder, and tobacco addiction.

He is considered the world’s leading expert on the chemistry of psychedelics.

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Kim Kuypers (PhD), appointed as Associate Professor at Maastricht University, at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

My main topics of interest are MDMA and psychedelics, and their effects on (social) cognition, creativity, hormones, and underlying brain mechanisms.

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Rick Doblin, PhD, is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on the regulation of the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana and his Master’s thesis on a survey of oncologists about smoked marijuana vs. the oral THC pill in nausea control for cancer patients.

Rick studied with Dr. Stanislav Grof and was among the first to be certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner. His professional goal is to help develop legal contexts for the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana, primarily as prescription medicines but also for personal growth for otherwise healthy people, and eventually to become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist. 

His undergraduate thesis at New College of Florida was a 25-year follow-up to the classic Good Friday Experiment, which evaluated the potential of psychedelic drugs to catalyse religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment. 

He founded MAPS in 1986, and currently resides in Boston with his wife and three children.

Amanda Feilding is the Founder and Executive Director of the Beckley Foundation. She has been called the ‘hidden hand’ behind the Renaissance of Psychedelic Science, and her contribution to the advancement of psychedelic research and global drug policy has been pivotal and widely acknowledged.  

Featured on the Guardian’s list of the Bravest Men and Women in the History of Science, Amanda has personally co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed scientific publications on psychoactive substances, many with ground-breaking results. By establishing key Research Programmes at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, she has propelled the field forward over the last 20+ years, conducting landmark studies, such as the world’s first psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression study, the world’s first LSD, MDMA and DMT brain imaging studies, plus the initiation and collaboration with Johns Hopkins on the first study using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to overcome nicotine addiction. 

Since its inception in 1998, the Beckley Foundation has been at the forefront of exploratory research into psychedelics and cannabis, and evidence-based global drug policies. Through a series of pivotal international seminars at the House of Lords (starting in 2000) with leading figures from around the world in different fields, from science to politics, plus over 60 much-cited books, reports and papers, and numerous meetings with thought-leaders, academics, and policy-makers at the UN and governments around the world, Amanda has ensured that the Beckley Foundation has been at the forefront of global drug policy reform, particularly in the field of cannabis and the psychedelics. 

Through her work with the Beckley Foundation, Amanda is bridging the gap between science and policy, creating a positive feedback loop, with the aim of building and harnessing our knowledge of the benefits of currently prohibited compounds to optimise human health, wellbeing and potential.

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David Nutt is a psychiatrist and the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology in the Division of Brain Science, Dept of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London. 

His research area is psychopharmacology – the study of the effects of drugs on the brain, from the perspectives of both how drug treatments in psychiatry and neurology work, and why people use and become addicted to some drugs such as alcohol. To study the effects of drugs in the brain, he uses state-of-the-art techniques such as brain imaging with PET and fMRI plus EEG and MEG. 

This research output has led to over 500 original research papers and a similar number of reviews and book chapters, eight government reports on drugs and 35 books, including one for the general public, Drugs without the hot air, that won the Transmission Prize in 2014.   

He was previously President of the European Brain Council, the British Association of Psychopharmacology, the British Neuroscience Association and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He is currently Founding Chair of DrugScience.org.uk and holds visiting Professorships at the Open University and University of Maastricht.

David broadcasts widely to the general public, both on radio and television. In 2010, The Times Eureka science magazine voted him one of the 100 most important figures in British Science, and the only psychiatrist in the list. He was awarded the John Maddox Prize from Nature/Sense about Science for standing up for science in 2013, and a degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from the University of Bath in 2017.

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Erika Dyck is a Professor and a Canada Research Chair in the History of Health & Social Justice. Her interdisciplinary research brings social sciences and humanities perspectives to scientific and medical subjects. Her work has been published in medical, legal, economic, literary, philosophical, anthropological and historical venues.

She is the author of several books, including: Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from Clinic to Campus (Johns Hopkins, 2008; University of Manitoba Press, 2011); Facing Eugenics: Reproduction, Sterilization and the Politics of Choice (University of Toronto, 2013), which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s award for Canadian non-fiction; Managing Madness: the Weyburn Mental Hospital and the Transformation of Psychiatric Care in Canada (University of Manitoba Press, 2017), which won the Canadian Historical Association Prize for best book in Prairie History; and with Maureen Lux, Challenging Choices: Canada’s Population control in the 1970s (McGill-Queens University Press, 2020).  She is also the co-editor of Psychedelic Prophets: The Letters of Aldous Huxley and Humphry Osmond (2018); and A Culture’s Catalyst: Historical Encounters with the Native American Church in Canada and Peyote (2016). Erika is the co-editor of the Canadian Bulletin for Medical History/Bulletin canadien d’histoire de la medicine and a book series on the global history of alcohol and drugs, called Intoxicating Histories. 

Erika is also a Board Member of Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plants, and Associate Director of Chacruna Canada.

Roland Griffiths (PhD) is a Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness, and Director of the Centre for Psychedelic and Consciousness research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, U.S. His research has focused on the behavioural pharmacology of mood-altering drugs including caffeine, sedative hypnotics, and for the last 20 years, psilocybin. His landmark study: Psilocybin can occasion mystical experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance, had a significant impact on subsequent investigations into the effects of psilocybin, as well as on raising awareness around psychedelic research.

Gitte Moos Knudsen (MD, DMSc) is one of the leading figures in the neurosciences, assisting various European Union nations to prioritize research and grants. In addition, her research into the brain and its chemistry during depression, Alzheimer's disease, and states induced by drugs such as GHB and ecstasy (MDMA) is at the forefront of world knowledge, and she is a noted scholar in these areas, publishing many papers on each topic.

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Paul Stamets (ScD) is a speaker, author, mycologist, medical researcher and entrepreneur, considered an intellectual and industry leader in fungi: habitat, medicinal use, and production. Stamets lectures extensively to deepen the understanding and respect for the organisms that literally exist under every footstep taken on this path of life. His presentations cover a range of mushroom species and research showing how mushrooms can help the health of people and the planet. 

His central premise is that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are cellular bridges between the two. Our close evolutionary relationship to fungi can be the basis for novel pairings in the microbiome that lead to greater sustainability and immune enhancement.

Paul Stamets is the author of six books (including Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms, Psilocybe Mushrooms & their Allies, and Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World), and has discovered and named four new species of psilocybin mushrooms.

He has received numerous awards, including: Invention Ambassador (2014-2015) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Mycologist Award (2014) from the North American Mycological Association (NAMA), and the Gordon & Tina Wasson Award (2015) from the Mycological Society of America (MSA).

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Dr. Friederike Holze received her MSc in Pharmacy from the University of Basel in 2016. During her Master’s she worked in the Psychopharmacology research lab of Prof. Matthias E. Liechti at the University Hospital Basel where she conducted a clinical study investigating the emotional and social cognitive effects of alcohol. In 2017, she rejoined the research group of Prof. Matthias Liechti where she received her PhD in 2021 and where she is currently affiliated as postdoctoral researcher. 

Her research interests lie in the pharmacology of psychoactive substances, in particular psychedelics. She conducted several Phase I studies investigating the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of LSD and established a dose-effect relationship in doses from 5-200 µg. Additionally, she described the distinct acute pharmacological effects of LSD, MDMA and d-amphetamine. In this function, she has accompanied over 200 psychedelic experiences in healthy test subjects. Furthermore, she is involved in a Phase II study investigating the potential therapeutic effects of LSD in patients suffering from anxiety disorders.

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Peter Gasser is a Medical doctor (MD) born in 1960, married, with three children. He is a physician for psychiatry and psychotherapy working in private practice in Solothurn, Switzerland. He was trained in psychodynamic methods as well as in therapy with mind altering drugs, i.e. psycholytic or psychedelic therapy. 

He has been a member of the Swiss Medical Society for Psycholytic Therapy since 1992 and its president since 1997. From 2007 to 2012 he conducted a pilot study with LSD-assisted psychotherapy, which was the first therapeutic study with LSD after the worldwide ban of the substance in the 1970s. 

A second phase II study with a larger number of participants in collaboration with the University of Basel, followed from 2017 to 2021. Its results will be published in 2022. 

Since 2014, Peter Gasser holds a number of individual treatment permissions called "compassionate use" or "limited medical use" for treatment with MDMA and LSD. These permissions are issued by the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health. He also works as a supervisor and trainer for psychedelic therapy.

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Dr. Janis Phelps (PhD) received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut. She has been a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies for the past 21 years. She is the former dean of the School of Consciousness and Transformation at CIIS. She is now the Director of the CIIS Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research. As the Center's founder, she developed the first academically accredited, professional certificate training program for legal psychedelic-assisted therapy and research.

The Center also provides harm reduction workshops, webinars on psychedelic research and public educational programs. A licensed clinical psychologist and LMFT, she has held faculty positions in the East-West Psychology and Clinical Psychology doctoral programs. Her theoretical orientations include transpersonal and wellness therapy models; Buddhism and Eastern disciplines; and phenomenology/existential philosophies. Her research and scholarly writing has focused on psychedelic therapy, entheogens, and mind-body wellness. Dr. Phelps teaches graduate courses in quantitative and qualitative research methods, mindfulness, Buddhism and psychotherapy, spiritual counseling, and principles of healing. Janis serves on the board of the Holos Institute and maintains a private practice.

Mendel Kaelen is the founder and CEO of Wavepaths, a startup providing music both for and as psychedelic therapy. Prior to this, he worked as a PhD and postdoctoral neuroscientist at Imperial College London since 2012, where his research was the first to demonstrate music’s central role in psychedelic therapies. He is a thought leader on the therapeutic use of music and publishes and speaks frequently on this topic. He has been featured in Nature News, the San Francisco Chronicle, Vice Motherboard, Rolling Stone and TEDx. Mendel lives and works on planet Earth, and in his spare time likes to get into nature, and out of his mind with his musical instruments.

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Monnica Williams, PhD, is the Canada Research Chair for Mental Health Disparities at the University of Ottawa, where she conducts psychological research, mentors students, and teaches courses in multicultural psychology and psychopathology. She completed her undergraduate work at MIT and UCLA, and received her doctoral degree from the University of Virginia. 

Dr. Williams was an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry for over four years, where she worked with Dr. Edna Foa at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety before her move to the University of Louisville in 2011, where she served as the Director for the Center for Mental Health Disparities. She also worked at the University of Connecticut for four years, where she had joint appointments in the Department of Psychological Science and Psychiatry.

Dr. Williams’ research focuses on African American mental health, culture, and psychopathology, and she has published over 100 scientific articles on these topics. Current projects include the assessment of race-based trauma, unacceptable thoughts in OCD, improving cultural competence in the delivery of mental health care services, and interventions to reduce racism. This includes her work as a PI in a multisite study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. She also gives diversity training nationally for clinical psychology programs, scientific conferences, and community organisations.

Bernardo Kastrup is the executive director of Essentia Foundation. His work has been leading the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. 

He has a PhD in philosophy (ontology and philosophy of mind) and another PhD in computer engineering (reconfigurable computing, artificial intelligence). As a scientist, Bernardo has worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Philips Research Laboratories (where the 'Casimir Effect' of Quantum Field Theory was discovered). 

Formulated in detail in many academic papers and books, his ideas have been featured on Scientific American, the Institute of Art and Ideas, the Blog of the American Philosophical Association and Big Think, among others. Bernardo's most recent book is Science Ideated: The fall of matter and the contours of the next mainstream scientific worldview.

For more information, freely downloadable papers, videos, etc., please visit www.bernardokastrup.com.

Dr. Sonya Faber (PhD) is an experienced scientist and pharmaceutical professional specializing in bench-to-bedside (translational) clinical development. Having studied at top universities, she has worked in research institutes, biotech firms, and clinical operations for several leading pharmaceutical companies. Her work in protocol design, medical writing, and project management has included pre-clinical and clinical activities for Phase II and III trials across multiple indications. She is highly knowledgeable in scientific product development, particularly for neuroscience applications.

Dr. Faber has an interest in clinical pharmacology of psychoactive and psychedelic pharmaceuticals, with a specific interest in issues related to equity and access of psychedelic drugs as they are completing clinical trials establishing efficacy, clearing regulatory hurdles, and moving to market. She serves on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, which focuses on the indigenous roots and cultural issues related to these substances. She also served on the steering committee for the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association, where she played a key role in its organizational development.  

She has co-authored over 26 papers in fields ranging from psychology to genetics.

She is a partner in the Biotech consulting company Bioville Gmbh and she is currently employed by Angelini Pharma as a Medical Science Liaison in Epilepsy Research. These affiliations are not associated with her interest in social justice or her interest in the psychology of psychedelics. Her presentation reflects her own opinions and is not associated with her employment with Angelini Pharma.

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Matthias Liechti is a professor of clinical pharmacology and internal medicine at the University Hospital Basel. With his psychopharmacology research group at the Departments of Biomedicine and Clinical Research, Matthias Liechti investigates the pharmacology of psychoactive substances both in vitro and in humans. The group is known for their work on the acute effects of MDMA (ecstasy) and LSD in humans.

The team also characterizes the pharmacology of the constantly emerging novel psychoactive substances (designer drugs) using in vitro methods. In experimental clinical studies, Matthias Liechti investigates the clinical pharmacology of psychostimulants, MDMA, LSD, psilocybin and mescaline. The team also conducts Pharmaco-fMRI studies in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry. Further, the group conducts phase-2 studies with LSD in patients with cluster headaches, anxiety disorder and major depression in collaboration with the respective disease specialists.

Anna Becker studied Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Basel. As a student assistant, she helped investigating the neuro-cognitive underpinnings of judgment and decision processes in people with schizophrenia as well as dopaminergic influences on (EEG) resting-state connectivity in people with psychotic disorders.

Since 2020 she has been a PhD Candidate in the psychopharmacology research group of Prof. Matthias Liechti at the University Hospital Basel where she investigates the role of 5-HT2A receptor down-regulation and antagonism in the acute effects of psilocybin and LSD.

In this function, she has accompanied over 100 psychedelic experiences from healthy test subjects as well as people with depression. She is interested in the basic physiological processes of psychoactive substances as well as their psychotherapeutic applications. Since 2021 she started an additional training to become a psychodynamic psychotherapist.

The team also characterizes the pharmacology of the constantly emerging novel psychoactive substances (designer drugs) using in vitro methods. In experimental clinical studies, Matthias Liechti investigates the clinical pharmacology of psychostimulants, MDMA, LSD, psilocybin and mescaline. The team also conducts Pharmaco-fMRI studies in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry. Further, the group conducts phase-2 studies with LSD in patients with cluster headaches, anxiety disorder and major depression in collaboration with the respective disease specialists.

Torsten Passie (MD, PhD) studied philosophy and sociology at Leibniz University Hannover and medicine at Hannover Medical School. Medical dissertation on existential psychiatry. Education at Zürich Psychiatric University Clinic and with Prof. Hanscarl Leuner (1921-1996), the leading European authority on psychedelics and psycholytic therapy. 1997-2010 scientist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist at Hannover Medical School, where he lead the Laboratory for Consciousness and Neurocognition. Professorship thesis about “Psychophysical correlates of altered states of consciousness”. Clinical research on altered states of consciousness, including studies with breathwork, cannabis, MDMA, laughing gas, ketamine and psilocybin. Special expertise on ecstatic states, addictions, and the pharmacology of psychedelics. 2012-2015 Visiting Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA).

Torsten is also the Author of several books, such as “The Science of Microdosing Psychedelics”, “Healing with Entactogens”, and “The Pharmacology of LSD”.

Patricia Pisters is professor of film at the Department of Media Studies of the University of Amsterdam. She is board member of the Open Foundation. Her publications include The Neuro-Image: A Deleuzian Film-Philosophy of Digital Screen Culture (Stanford University Press, 2012). Her book New Blood in Contemporary Cinema: Women Directors and the Poetics of Horror has appeared with Edinburgh University Press in 2020. As film-philosopher, she writes about the role of film and media in respect to (collective) consciousness. See for articles, her blog, audio-visual material and other information also www.patriciapisters.com

Charles Raison (MD) is the Director of Clinical and Translational Research at Usona Institute. He is also the Mary Sue and Mike Shannon Chair for Healthy Minds, Children + Families and Professor, School of Human Ecology, and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Raison has an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Stanford University and a Master’s degree in English literature from the University of Denver.

Dr. Raison received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO and did his residency training in psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, where he later served as Director of Emergency Psychiatry Services. He is internationally recognized for his studies examining novel mechanisms involved in the development and treatment of major depression and other stress-related emotional and physical conditions, as well as for his work examining the physical and behavioral effects of compassion training.

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Leonie Schneider co-founded the Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network (PsyPAN) after accessing psychedelic assisted psychotherapy in clinical trials. Participating in the Psilocybin for Depression clinical trial at Imperial College (2019) and Small Pharma’s DMT for Depression trial (2022) provided Leonie with a new path to improved mental health and enabled focused professional action. She had not found long-term relief with antidepressant medication or from conventional talking therapies prior to that.

Leonie has since spoken publicly to raise awareness of the possibilities and pitfalls of psychedelic medicine and the importance of integration, including for Women in Psychedelics (Drug Science), BBC Science Focus, Scientific American and the upcoming documentary The Psychedelic Renaissance. She actively represents patient interests on Drug Science’s industry-wide Medical Psychedelics Working Group, supports the delivery of world-class psychedelic retreats in the Netherlands with Alalaho and is a circle facilitator on the ACER Integration programme.

Leonie offers a holistic overview of the clinical trial experience from a participant perspective and across different psychedelics. She aims to expand access to these treatments by advocating for the safe, intentional and integrated use of psychedelics which led to her founding PsyPAN with Ian Roullier in 2021. PsyPAN aims to pool participants’ lived experiences and, through consultancy and accreditation, help organisations create more effective treatment models, maximise positive outcomes and create a sector-wide model of best practice with participant wellbeing at its heart.

William A. Richards (Bill), a psychologist in the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in Baltimore, has been implementing research studies with psilocybin within the psychiatry department of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine since 1999. He also is associated with the Program in Psychedelic Therapies and Research at the California Institute of Integral Studies and psychedelic research and with Sunstone Therapies at the Aquilino Cancer Center in Rockville Maryland.

His graduate degrees include M.Div. (Yale), S.T.M. in the
psychology of religion (Andover-Newton) and Ph.D. (Catholic University). He studied with Abraham Maslow at Brandeis University and with Hanscarl Leuner at
Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, where his involvement with psychedelic research originated in 1963. From 1967 to 1977, he implemented projects of psychotherapy research with LSD, DPT, MDA and psilocybin at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, including protocols designed to investigate the promise of psychedelics in the treatment of alcoholism, depression, narcotic addiction and the psychological distress associated with terminal cancer, and also their use in the training of religious and mental-health professionals.

His recent research at Johns Hopkins has focused on the potential value of psilocybin in the continuing education of professional religious leaders from different world religions. His book, Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences has been released by Columbia University Press, and now translated into six
additional languages (including Dutch).

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Jennifer Warner-Schmidt, PhD, is the Director of Preclinical Research and Development at Transcend Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery, development and delivery of next-generation psychoactive medications for the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases with an emphasis on developing medicines that are accessible to the tens of millions of patients already taking psychotropic medication.

Dr. Warner-Schmidt received her BS in Systems Neuroscience from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her PhD in Neuroscience from Yale University in the laboratory of Prof. Ronald Duman where she studied the role of neurotrophins in the molecular, cellular and behavioral responses to antidepressants.

Her postdoctoral work continued to investigate underlying psychopathology and antidepressant responses at the Rockefeller University with Dr. Paul Greengard. She explored the involvement of p11, a serotonin receptor binding protein, in preclinical studies of depression and antidepressant activity. Dr. Warner-Schmidt then founded NeuroJenic Consulting, LLC, to offer preclinical strategic and writing services to laboratories in academia and industry and has been working with biotech companies for the past 6 years, most recently as the Director of R&D at Magnolia Neurosciences.

Ian Roullier is the co-founder of the Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network (PsyPAN). Ian has suffered from depression and anxiety for most of his adult life and was a participant in both the Imperial College London psilocybin for depression pilot study (2015) and the COMPASS Pathways psilocybin trial (2019). Psilocybin has proven to be the most effective treatment for his mental health to date. 

Ian's journey has featured on Oprah, the BBC and in Michael Pollan's bestseller 'How To Change Your Mind'. He has given several public talks alongside Dr. Rosalind Watts (Imperial College/ACER Psychedelic Integration), appeared on various discussion panels as an 'Expert by Experience', and taken part in a roundtable of mental health leaders led by the Chair of the NHS. Ian is part of the King's College PsiDeR trial steering committee and recently participated in the year-long Synthesis Institute Connectedness Program.

His efforts to help destigmatise and normalise psilocybin therapy led naturally to Ian founding PsyPAN with Leonie Schneider in 2021. PsyPAN aims to pool participants’ lived experiences and, through consultancy and accreditation, help organisations create more effective treatment models, maximise positive outcomes and create a sector-wide model of best practice with participant wellbeing at its heart.

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Dr. Schindler is Assistant Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine and a board-certified Neurologist and Headache Medicine specialist. Among her efforts to optimize the management of headache disorders, she has developed and executed the first controlled trials of the effects of psilocybin in headache disorders. Previously, Dr. Schindler studied the neuropharmacology of psychedelics and other serotonergic compounds in the context of receptor binding and intracellular signaling. 

Her neuropharmacology background frames her endeavor to investigate the potential for psychedelics to serve as safe and effective therapeutic agents in headache disorders. Currently, she seeks to identify the source of sustained reductions in headache burden after limited dosing of psychedelic and related compounds, considering several neurobiological systems.

Michael Mullette is an experienced drug development and commercialization expert, currently serving as Chief Operating Officer at MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC). Mullette most recently served as the Vice President and Managing Director of North America for Moderna, where he oversaw commercialization of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic.

M. Heval Özgen, MD PhD, is a psychiatrist and yogini who immigrated from Mesopotamia to the Netherlands in 2002. Fascinated by consciousness and mind since early childhood. Coming directly from a healer lineage of mystic Sufism, she travelled widely in the Middle East and India with a great interest in shamanic healing modalities. 

During her high school years in Turkey, she started to work voluntarily for marginalized and underserved groups. Currently, her research is focused on understanding the role of self-acceptance, stress and (interpersonal) trauma in transgender and gender diverse communities with a particular focus on the transcultural psychiatry. She has published extensively in research journals and has delivered many invited presentations on both research and training matters and has supervised numerous projects at the post graduate level. 

She is the research coordinator of i-psy (intercultural psychiatry department) and serves on the board of the Transcultural Psychiatry section of the Dutch Psychiatric Association (NvVP). Her main areas of interest are plant medicines, mystical/non-dual state of consciousness, self, gender identity. Her passion is learning life through her precious daughter and the group therapy treatments for marginalized groups such as Turkish speaking transgender group which she is currently running.

Joost Breeksema is the executive director and co-founder of the OPEN Foundation, where he is focused on bringing together academics, clinicians, politicians and policy makers, in order to steer the integration of psychedelics in society and healthcare in a responsible and sustainable way. With years of experience in harm reduction and drug policy research, and a MA degree in philosophy, for his PhD he presently conducts qualitative research, interviewing patients about their treatment experiences with ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA. His aim is to deepen our understanding of the potential therapeutic mechanisms involved and the role of setting, therapy, and other contextual factors in mitigating adverse effects. Underlying all his work is a deep-seated belief in the scientifically grounded, responsible and ethical integration of psychedelics that respects the multiplicity of other, non-medical approaches. He advocates for critical, collaborative, open, and transparent approaches in science and beyond.

Erwin is a psychologist and researcher at ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre and Leiden University Medical Center. As part of his PhD, he is currently working on studies investigating MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD. Before starting his PhD research, he was a research associate at Eleusis Therapeutics, where he worked on several phase 1 and 2 clinical trials with LSD and psilocybin. Since 2007, he has contributed to the organization of several international scientific conferences on psychedelic research, through the Dutch OPEN Foundation, where he currently serves as the vice-chair. He also is a lead adherence rater for European MDMA-assisted psychotherapy trials at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and an advisory board member of the International Society for Substance-assisted Psychotherapy.

Isabel Wießner received her B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Konstanz, where she investigated the effects of deep relaxation and sleep on memory and MEG brain activity. During her M.Sc. on Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Jena, Germany, she examined the effects of hypnosis on pain perception and EEG brain activity. 

For her PhD, she went to the University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, where she led Brazilian’s first double-blind placebo-controlled human study on LSD and examined its effects on consciousness, thinking, creativity, cognition, psychotic- and therapeutic-like experiences. Currently, she is working as postdoc at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil, where she is investigating the effects of ayahuasca and DMT on EEG brain activity.

Pedram Dara participated in a Phase 2 MAPS’ clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. A life-changing experience that became a catalyst for his healing journey. Since then, he has shared his story and learnings at various psychedelic conferences, webinars, and workshops. He's been on panels with Rick Doblin, Michael Mithoefer, Anne Wagner, Mathew Johnson, Bill Richards, Ben Sessa, Tijmen Bostoen, and other psychedelic researchers. Having been invited to ICPR 2020: Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research led him to join the OPEN Foundation’s team where he currently runs its operations and is one of the conference organisers for ICPR 2022. Pedram is extremely passionate about the potential of psychedelics for mental healthcare, but he is also well aware of its pitfalls. He advocates for research participant safety and wellbeing so that safe, beneficial, and accessible applications of psychedelics can be ethically and responsibly integrated into science, healthcare, and society. At ICPR 2022, he’s organising the world’s first dedicated Participant Perspective Panel at a major psychedelic conference to amplify the voice of research participants and mental health patients.

Johanna is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Exeter. Previously she completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Religious Studies at the University of Groningen. She spent a portion of her Master's degree at a Jungian Institute Fundación Vocación Humana in Buenos Aires, where she was supervised on her thesis on Carl Jung's Red Book by Dr. Bernardo Nante. Her talk is a summary of a paper in the upcoming anthology on 'Philosophy of Psychedelics' published by Bloomsbury in 2022.

Johanna is an active member of Philosophy of Psychedelics research group at University of Exeter. Her current research focuses on philosophy of science, specifically species conglomeration, the microbiome and questions of individuality. In addition, she organizes biweekly Transdisciplinary Research Colloquiums on Psychedelic Science. 

Johanna works as a Coordinator of Education and Training at Psychedelics Today where she is the lead coordinator of a twelve month Psychedelic Training Program 'Vital'.She is also at the board of a Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork that specializes in education around holotropic breathwork and transpersonal psychology.

Tijmen Bostoen, M.D., is a psychiatrist and a master of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has specialized in the pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy of PTSD and works at ARQ Centrum ’45, the National Dutch center for psychotrauma. He is Co Investigator and study therapist of the current European phase 2 multi-center MDMA assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD trial and has experience in the clinical application of ketamine assisted psychotherapy for therapy refractory PTSD. His PhD research at Leiden University Medical Center/ARQ Centrum ‘45 focuses on the clinical application of psychedelics in the treatment of PTSD.

Dr Meg Spriggs completed her PhD in psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where she investigated the application of electrophysiological (EEG) markers of neuroplasticity in understanding brain health and disease. Following this, she moved to the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, where she has been developing and leading the first study of psilocybin assisted therapy for anorexia nervosa in the UK and Europe; a study which commenced in May 2021. Alongside this, Meg has worked as co-ordinator and guide on other ongoing psilocybin trials, has continued to develop electrophysiological measures of neuroplasticity for use in psychedelic research, and has been engaging in projects exploring equitable, accessible and ethical approaches to psychedelics.

Matthew Baggott, PhD, is a neuroscientist and CEO of Tactogen, a public benefit corporation that is developing MDMA-like medicines with a goal of making transformative experiences safer, more effective, and more accessible. He studied philosophy at the University of Chicago, earned a PhD in neuroscience at UC Berkeley, and has conducted studies administering compounds such as MDMA and MDA to healthy volunteers.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent mental health condition with substantial impact on daily functioning that lacks sufficient treatment options. In Europe, lifetime PTSD prevalence ranges from 0.56% to 6.67% in the general population. MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) has proven to be both efficacious and safe among participants with severe PTSD in clinical trials that primarily focused on U.S. samples. These results warrant further investigation among diverse populations for wider dissemination. A multi-site open-label Phase 2 study in up to 40 participants to explore the safety and effectiveness of MDMA-AT in at least severe PTSD is currently ongoing in the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain. The treatment protocol consists of 3 preparatory sessions, and 2 monthly 8-hour experimental sessions using an 80 or 120 mg MDMA dose and supplemental 40 or 60 mg MDMA half-dose followed by 3 integrative sessions each. The Phase 2 study provides the opportunity for clinical supervision of new therapy teams, cross-cultural validation of an updated Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) and serves as a lead-in to a larger Phase 3 study in Europe anticipated to start in the fall of 2022. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter Phase 3 Study will investigate the efficacy and safety of MDMA-AT compared to therapy plus placebo for the treatment of at least moderate PTSD. During the session preliminary findings of the Phase-2 trial and design of the Phase-3 trial will be presented.

Corine de Boer, M.D., Ph.D. is the Chief Medical Officer at MAPS Public Benefit Corporation. She received her MD from Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands and completed residency and fellowship training in pediatrics and pediatric nephrology. Her Ph.D. was focused on peritoneal dialysis in children, and she joined the academic staff at the Radboud University after completing her training. Before moving to the United States in 2000, she worked as a Pediatrician in the largest inner-city hospital (OLVG) in Amsterdam where she was responsible for in- and outpatient care in a multi-racial patient population. For the last 20+years, she has contributed to the development of meningococcal and hepatitis vaccines during her tenure at GSK vaccines (formerly Novartis Vaccines and Chiron Corporation) and Dynavax prior to starting her own consulting company where she provided strategic advice and support for a variety of clients working on biologics, small molecule/polymer therapeutics and vaccines. She formally joined MPBC in early 2020 after assisting them previously in the development of the Pediatric Plans for MDMA-AT. The opportunity that psychedelics provide in the treatment of PTSD and other indications is an exciting scientific field where she feels honored to play a small part in.

Despite the recent surge in clinical investigations with psychedelics, few studies have been performed investigating their disposition in humans. Understanding how these compounds are distributed in and eliminated from the body, and how exposure is related to observed effects is essential in achieving optimal dosing in future clinical trials.

Parker is a PhD candidate and National Science Foundation Research Fellow at Cornell University in the Computational Connectomics lab. He is studying the effects that potent serotonergic compounds have on brain activity and connectivity and pursues the development of computational models to drive targeted brain therapies. He hopes his research can be used to better understand, diagnose, and treat mental disorders.

Lisa Luan is a PhD student at the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. She graduated from the University of Vienna with a BSc in Psychology and completed a Research Master’s in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. For her PhD, she is developing a method for the continuous infusion of DMT, and investigating the effects of DMT using high-density EEG.

Psychiatrist and PhD in cognitive sciences, working with ketamine-assisted therapy and towards proud and open cultures for mental health. Founder of Liminal Minds, the first psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic in Portugal. Clinical lead for the implementation of ketamine-assisted therapy at Hospital Beatriz Ângelo public hospital. Associate Researcher at the Centre for Philosophy of Science of the University of Lisbon (CFCUL). Psychiatrist and consultant for Manicómio, an art project that takes pride in Madness.

Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner is a Trainee Clinical Psychologist and Mindfulness Practitioner. She is a member of the Imperial Psychedelic Research Group and worked on the most recent psilocybin for depression clinical trial supporting people through treatment and providing longer term aftercare.

Maria holds a master degree in Cognitive Neuroscience and has a background in Molecular Biology. She carried out research investigating the immune system, the role of neurotransmitters in the brain, and emotional processes in people with ADHD.

Ibogaine is being researched and developed in the West for opiate use disorders with a Phase 1/2a trial currently underway. Whilst there are promising results in addiction treatments we need to consider the indigenous perspective. One hundred years of Ibogaine interest has had direct impact on the natural resource, Tabernanthe Iboga shrub, found throughout the rainforests in Gabon, Central West Africa. International demand has caused an increase in Iboga and ivory poaching leading to deforestation which has threatened the entire culture and way of life for the Gabonese people. Blessings of the Forest (BOTF), a Community Interest Company, was created in response to these issues who are working under the Nagoya protocol framework.

Doctor Kirran Ahmad has worked in the National Health Service for over ten years and is currently specialising in anaesthesia and pain management with an interest in addictions. In 2021 she joined Imperial’s Centre for Psychedelic Research where she is working across a number of exciting studies from psilocybin in chronic pain to ketamine PET imaging.

Juuso Kähönen is a philosophy doctoral student in Helsinki University. His research focused on understanding the links between self-transcendence and values, and exploring their implications for good life.

This includes tackling normative, ethical and metaethical questions around these themes.
He approaches these questions by building a philosophical framework informed by empirical research, especially by psychedelic and contemplative science.

He aims to understand the connections between various kinds of self-transcendence and evaluative changes, from experiences such as ego-dissolutions or mystical experiences and changes they induce in the immediate evaluative aspects of our experience, all the way to abstract conceptions of values and long-term shifts in existential modes.

Juuso is also a founding member in Finnish Association for Psychedelic Research, active in Finnish Psychedelic Research Network and has an interest and long background in meditative practices.

Carolina Seybert is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist that has received her PhD from the University of Ulm, Germany. After 4 years of psychotherapy research at IPU, Berlin, she joined the NPU at CCU, where she is currently a postdoctoral researcher who specialized in the implementation of psychedelic-assisted clinical trials. She is also investigating neuroplastic mechanisms, in vivo, using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Seybert’s clinical interests also relate to TMS’s therapeutic properties for neuropsychiatric disorders and to find biomarkers that may predict clinical outcome using the same technique

Kelan Thomas, PharmD, MS, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences at Touro University California College of Pharmacy and a board-certified psychiatric pharmacist with outpatient behavioral health practice sites in San Francisco and Oakland, California. He completed a chemistry/pharmacology BS at Duke University, a pharmaceutical sciences PharmD at UC San Francisco, and a clinical research MS at University of Michigan. 

He has completed postgraduate clinical pharmacy residencies at University of Michigan and University of Southern California. His research is related to psychopharmacology, adverse drug reactions and pharmacogenomics with the goal of optimizing psychiatric pharmacotherapy for behavioral health clients. In 2017 he completed the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research training program, while starting to publish psychedelic therapy scholarship and collaborations with psychedelic clinical researchers from UC San Francisco.

Roberta Murphy is an Irish psychiatrist based in London. She is currently training as medical psychotherapist in South West London and St George's NHS Trust. She is a member of the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research. She worked as a study doctor and guide on PSILODEP II, a research trial investigating the use of Psilocybin for moderate to severe depression. In this trial she took a lead on screening of participants.

She has helped to train other psychedelic trials in the UK and internationally. She has also guided on trials of healthy volunteers and psilocybin for eating disorders. Her research interests are around the role of the therapeutic relationship in psychedelic therapy. She is interested in alternative approaches to severe and enduring mental health issues, She has trained and works in Open Dialogue therapy, which offers a systemic-based approach to mental health crisis, and eco-therapy.

David Dupuis (PhD) is a INSERM research fellow. Based on fieldworks conducted in Latin America and Europe over the past decade, his work focuses on contemporary recharacterizations of psychedelic substances uses and, more broadly, on the comparative study of relationships between "hallucinations" and culture

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common, often recurrent, mental illness presenting a serious challenge to individuals, societies, and health services. SSRIs, the current first-line pharmacological treatments, show limited efficacy and undesirable side-effects, generating a significant need for more effective treatment approaches.

Michelle is an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor in private practice, based in London. She has been a member of Imperial college's psychedelic research team since 2015. Michelle was a lead guide on the Imperial College’s most recent RCT trial which is comparing psilocybin to anti-depressants as a form of treatment for depression. (Psilodep2)

Mateo is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, where he continues research begun in his Research Masters in Philosophy (also at the UvA) regarding the political potentials of psychedelics. Theoretically, he stands at the crossroads of phenomenology, posthumanism, and marxist-leaning analyses of political economy, amongst others. Central to his work is the category of "experience" in general, and in particular its conceptualizations based on embodiment. This implies situating experiences within the material and discursive contexts that produce them and inquiring into how they become mobilized and oriented towards different political ends and visions.

Dr. Ilana Berlowitz is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bern (Faculty of Medicine, Clinic for Nuclear Medicine), Switzerland. She specializes in clinical research on Indigenous and traditional uses of psychoactives in the mental health field. She has conducted extensive research in the Peruvian Amazon and collaborates with transdisciplinary partners across Latin America. 

She was awarded the Inger-Salling Prize for outstanding accomplishments in Swiss psychiatry research for her work, has raised competitive grants (Swiss National Science Foundation), and currently leads highly innovative clinical research on therapeutic applications of the tobacco plant in traditional medicine.

Maggie first graduated with MSc in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ghent, Belgium, where she worked with a clinical population in a psychiatric hospital. This experience made her aware of some of the shortcomings of the mental health system and motivated her to search for ways to overcome them. She decided to enroll in the MSc in Neuropsychology at the University of Maastricht, where she plunged into the research on the effects of illicit substances on general well-being and cognitive functioning. 

Visits at sites of Ayahuasca and psilocybin studies resulted in a journal publication and a deeper fascination with the field of psychedelic research and inspired her to stay engaged with the field after graduation. Since then she embarked on a new adventure developing mobile technologies to optimize research design and data collection across various psychedelics projects: including observational studies and clinical trials.

Dr. Marseille is a leading expert on the economics of the emerging psychedelic-assisted therapies. He is the founding Director of the UCB / UCSF Global Initiative for Psychedelic Science Economics (GIPSE), a network of health economists and health services researchers dedicated to realizing the potential of psychedelic therapies for high-priority mental health conditions. Through the application of policy-relevant economic analyses, GIPSE seeks to enhance the efficiency of service delivery, and increase access to these promising therapies. 

Current projects include consultation with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in modeling the economics of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of severe PTSD; with the Usona Institute in analyzing the cost-effectiveness of psilocybin-assisted therapy for major depression; and with John Hopkins University on the cost-effectiveness of psilocybin-assisted therapy for tobacco cessation. GIPSE is also collaborating with Phaneros on an analysis of changes in health care utilization in conjunction with trials of MDMA and psilocybin in Brazil. 

Dr. Marseille has 35 years of senior public health management and research experience and has published widely on the economics of global health diseases and conditions, with a focus on HIV/AIDS. He is the Course Director for Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Medicine and Public Health, at UCSF.

Stephanie holds a Physics degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is currently working as a doctoral fellow for the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) at the Laboratory of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience (www.cocucolab.com) at the University of Buenos Aires.

There she is investigating the effects of altered states of consciousness in the brain, experimentally as well as with semi empirical models of the brain. She is particularly interested in states elicited by serotonergic psychedelics in natural environments.

Julia Bornemann is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. With a background in neuroscience, she has been involved in several psychedelic trials at Imperial.

She now focuses her research on investigating the therapeutic potential of treating Chronic Pain conditions with psychedelic substances. Special interests include embodiment, mindfulness, compassion, movement, and public involvement in research.

David Erritzoe is Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Psychiatrist at Imperial College London and in CNWL Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. David conducts psychopharmacological research, using brain-imaging techniques such as PET and MRI. He was trained in PET imaging at Columbia University in New York and later undertook a PhD at University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. 

Since 2009 he has been involved in post-doc imaging research in the neurobiology of addictions and major depression at Imperial. As Clinical Director and Deputy Head in the Centre for Psychedelic Research, he investigates mechanisms and therapeutic potential of MDMA, ketamine and classic psychedelics [trials in depression, ocd, anorexia nervosa], and in early 2021 David set up a new NHS-based psychopharmacology & psychedelic research Clinic at St Charles Hospital in London, named the CIPPRes Clinic.

Dr. Christine Hauskeller, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Exeter, specializes in the philosophy of biomedicine and moral and political philosophy. She works with approaches from feminist and postcolonial theory and the Frankfurt School, as well as critical theory more generally. Christine has published ten books and journal special issues, and more than a hundred articles and chapters – and she has served on numerous academic and regulatory decision-making panels.

Concerned with the disciplinary limitation in which academia has engaged with psychedelics, Christine has been exploring the different ways in which contemporary philosophy can address aspects of psychedelic experience and practice, and in turn how psychedelics can inform philosophy. She co-edited with Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes the introductory book Philosophy and Psychedelics. Frameworks for Exceptional Experience, published with Bloomsbury in 2022.

James Close is a UK based clinical academic interested in the interface between physical and mental health. In 2018, he joined Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research where he and has collaborated on several projects. His current doctoral research focuses on the potential role of psychedelic drugs in pain management, and the mechanisms of psilocybin in fibromyalgia. 

James’ clinical background is in physical therapy, and he continues to practice as part of a multidisciplinary team at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Pain Management Centre. Underpinning his work is a commitment to diversifying and integrating underrepresented voices in the running of both clinical pain services and psychedelic research.

Shayla Love has a master's degree from Columbia University in science, environment, and medicine journalism.

Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Mosaic, The Boston Globe, Stat, Vice, The Kenyon Review, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, Gothamist and BKLYNR, and republished in BBC Future, The Guardian, NY Magazine, Scientific American and more.

Dr. Winston De La Haye is a Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus and a Consultant General and Addiction Psychiatrist at the University Hospital of the West Indies. He's a former Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI, Mona and former Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Jamaica.

He completed his MD at the University of Pecs in Hungary, his Postgraduate Degree in Psychiatry at the UWI, his Masters in Public Health and a Fulbright Fellowship in Substance Abuse at the Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr. De La Haye is a Member of the Medical Council of Jamaica, Past President of the Medical Association of Jamaica, Past President of the Jamaica Fulbright Alumni Association, Past President of the Jamaica Psychiatric Association.

Dr. De La Haye established the Medicinal Cannabis Unit in the Ministry of Health in July 2017, supervising the registration of 82 medicinal cannabis products in Jamaica. He is the Chairman and Founding Member.

Florence Butlen-Ducuing has a background in clinical psychiatry as well as in neurosciences. She worked at the teaching hospital and the medical school in Paris-France before joining the European Medicines Agency (EMA) where she is currently a Scientific Senior Specialist in Psychiatry and Mental Health in the Human Medicines Division.

One of her scientific and regulatory topics of interest is to try and understand better how to overcome the challenges faced by clinical trials in the field of psychiatry,  in order to foster innovation and develop better, safer and more personalized treatments for patients with mental disorders.

Vincent Verroust is a PhD candidate in the history of sciences at the Université Picardie - Jules Vernes (Amiens, France) and an associate researcher at the Paul Brousse hospital. His investigations focus on the discovery of psilocybin fungi and are based on the archives of Prof. Roger Heim (1900 - 1979), which are kept at the French National Museum of Natural History, and contain a large volume of correspondance with R. Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann. 

 For the past four years, he has been coordinating the first academic course in psychedelic studies in France. Vincent Verroust is involved in the recognition of the therapeutic value of psychedelics in France. 

He took an active part in the creation of a working group for the resumption of clinical trials with psilocybin, gathering researchers from different public hospitals, and he assists various doctors and students in their discovery of the field. He is the founder and a board member of the French Psychedelic Society, a NGO of scientific mediation aimed at the general public, health professionals, journalists and politicians, which advocates for the reasoned integration of psychedelics in the society and which brings together activists as well as patients, doctors, and researchers from different disciplines.

Judy Ashworth (MD) has over two decades experience in clinical drug development. As Vice President, Rx Strategic Services and Chief Medical Officer at Pinney Associates, Judy supports clients developing CNS-active drugs, from traditional pharmaceuticals to psychedelics and cannabinoids, for  neurologic and psychiatric indications.

Judy currently serves as acting Chief Medical Officer at Ceruvia Lifesciences, supporting the development of psilocybin in AUD, OCD and headache disorders.

An internist by training and graduate of UCLA School of Medicine, Judy began her drug development career as a clinical pharmacologist at Grünenthal GmbH in 2001, where she soon assumed project leadership of its abuse-deterrent formulations program. From 2006 to 2008, Judy was a visiting lecturer in Columbia University’s Department of Substance Abuse Research, concurrently participating in the Tufts Health Care Institute Program on Opioid Risk Management. In parallel, she fostered the development of safer pain management alternatives by establishing Grünenthal U.S.A.’s Center of Excellence for Abuse Liability. Along with her work at Pinney Associates, she is the Chief Medical Officer for Harm Reduction Therapeutics, a nonprofit devoted to saving lives from opioid overdose by making low-cost naloxone available as an OTC product.

Houman Farzin MD is a holistic physician, artist, and health technology innovator. He is a palliative care and family physician at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and a lecturer at McGill University medical school.

He has a broad range of clinical skills and has spent many years working in remote indigenous communities across North America, including the Arctic Circle. He is trained in various psychedelic therapeutic modalities including MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine. He is the Montreal site physician for the Phase 3 clinical trial of the MDMA-assisted therapy study sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). 

He is also a trainer and member of the training committee for TheraPsil, a non-profit organization dedicated to obtaining legal access to psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. Dr. Farzin has recently started the first legal treatments of physician-supervised home-based psilocybin-assisted therapy in Montreal, Canada.

Brigitte Adriaensen (PhD, 2005, KULeuven) is Professor of Hispanic Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen. She is also a Professor of Literary Studies at the Open University of the Netherlands. She was PI of the research program ‘The Politics of Irony in Contemporary Latin American Literature on Violence’, for which she was awarded a Vidi Grant by NWO (2011-16). Her publications are situated in the fields of humor studies, violence studies and ecocriticism, and she has supervised many PhD theses in those fields. 

Currently, she is developing different new projects related to humor and the law (with Andrew Bricker, Alberto Godioli and Ted Laros) and environmental humanities (with Marieke Winkler and Marjolein van Herten). She was recently awarded a NWO Vici grant for the project ‘Poison, Medicine or Magic Potion? Shifting Perspectives on Drugs in Latin America (1820-2020)’ which will be carried out from 2022-2027. In this project, she will analyse literary and ethnographic texts to explore shifting perceptions of ayahuasca, peyote and coca(ine) in the Latin American context. The team will use oral history and fieldwork methods as well to understand the changing perceptions of these psychoactive substances from an Indigenous perspective, in relation to discussions on cultural heritage and tourism.

Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is philosopher of mind and metaphysics who specialises in the thought of Spinoza, Nietzsche, and Whitehead, and in fields pertaining to altered and panpsychological states of consciousness. He is a research fellow and associate lecturer at the University of Exeter where he has co-founded the Philosophy of Psychedelics Exeter Research Group, the ambit of which includes taught modules, conferences, workshops, and publications.  Peter is the author of Noumenautics, Modes of Sentience, editor of Bloomsbury's Philosophy and Psychedelics volume, the TEDx Talker on ‘psychedelics and consciousness’, and he is inspiration to the inhuman philosopher Marvel Superhero, Karnak.

Drummond currently works as a PhD fellow at the Neurobiology Research Unit in Copenhagen and is part of the Neurograd PhD school at the University of Copenhagen. His research responsibilities are to coordinate and conduct GCP controlled clinical trials investigating the occupancy of LSD at the 5-HT2A receptor using positron emission tomography, and persisting effects of a high dose of psilocybin using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). He also performs analyses of fMRI data collected during psychedelic experiences to determine the neural correlates of these.

Drummond's previous articles have included a pilot study investigating the persisting effects of psychedelics on function brain network organisation and a quantitative and qualitative investigation of psilocybin-induced mystical-type experiences. His goal is to use clinical neuroimaging to develop and optimise psychedelic-based treatments to improve patient outcomes. He is also the secretary for the ECNP Psychedelic transnosological working group, which works to increase collaboration across the field.

Mark has been studying the sacramental drug-culture relationship for seven years, having presented his research in Tallinn, Harvard, Breaking Convention and Prague. His interests span theology, philosophy, anthropology and literature and he looks at the relationship between measurable exteriorities, immeasurable interiorities, ritual and value generation, comparativism and natural theology.

The child of a German priest and an Estonian witch, he studied at Oxford and Durham, has been a lay chaplain, humanitarian aid worker, teacher and researcher, is a published poet and is about to pursue a PhD at Exeter University in comparative drug culture. He helps to conduct ceremonies at Crossbones, which uses The Southwark Mysteries as a guidebook.

Ivar Goksøyr is a specialist in clinical psychology and founder of one of the leading mental health clinics in Oslo, Psykologvirke. He is co-founder and board member of Norwegian psychedelic science. He also serves as a therapist and team member in the Norwegian psychedelic research team at Østfold State Hospital, Psykforsk. Here, he conducts MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in clinical trials on PTSD and depression. He is a MAPS certified MDMA-therapist, is trained in psilocybin therapy and is working to enroll ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in the Norwegian public mental health care.

Johannes Reckweg is a PhD candidate at the Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University. With a background in psychology, he obtained his Master degree in Neuropsychology from the University of Maastricht, where is continued to gather experience in research. For his PhD thesis, he is investigating the cognitive mechanisms and therapeutic potential of psychedelics, with a focus on the clinical application of 5-MeO-DMT in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Jordan Sloshower, MD, MSc is a psychiatrist, researcher, and educator whose work focuses on therapeutic applications of psychedelic medicines, and in particular, how these novel treatments can be integrated with psychotherapy and other healing modalities to promote holistic healing. He is currently a faculty member in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, where he co-founded the Yale Psychedelic Science Group and serves as an investigator and therapist in several clinical trials of psilocybin-assisted therapy. 

Jordan is also a clinical investigator in MAPS’ Expanded Access Program for MDMA-assisted therapy of PTSD and serves as a lead trainer with Usona Institute’s psilocybin facilitator training program. Most recently, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association, reflecting his commitment to ethical stewardship of psychedelic medicines. Jordan’s interdisciplinary perspective is informed by prior training in medical anthropology and global health, and deep interests in ceremonial uses of plant medicines, Buddhist philosophy, and integrative approaches to wellness.

Jeffrey Guss, MD is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher and teacher with specializations in psychoanalytic therapy and psychedelic therapy. He was Co-Principal Investigator and Director of Psychedelic Therapy Training for the NYU School of Medicine’s study on psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of cancer related existential distress, published in Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2016.

He currently a Lead Trainer with Fluence, with a focus on the integration of psychedelic therapy with psychoanalysis. He is a study therapist in the NYU study on Psilocybin-Assisted treatment of Major Depressive Disorder, and published on the integration of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with psychedelic assisted therapy for MDD in Journal of Contextual and Behavioral Science. .

Dr. J. Christian Greer is a scholar of psychedelic spirituality, who currently occupies a postdoctoral position at Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions. His forthcoming book, Angelheaded Hipsters: Psychedelic Militancy in Nineteen Eighties North America (Oxford University Press), analyzes the growth, diversification, and expansion of psychedelic culture within fanzine networks of the late Cold War era.

Dr. Christian Poulie completed his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2017, during which he investigated the effects on heterobivalent ligands for the putative 5-HT2A-mGlu2 heteromeric receptor complex. During 2017 – 2018, he worked on solid supported colloidal nanoparticle catalysts for organic transformations at Lund University (Sweden). Thereafter, he returned to the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), where he is currently employed. At the moment, he is working on various CNS related and radiochemical projects.

Robert is a psychiatrist and epidemiologist and currently head of the department of Psychiatry at the University Medical Center Groningen, an academic mental health provider with substantial clinical and research facilities. His research focuses on the epidemiology, underlying mechanisms and treatment of depressive disorder. He is involved in large epidemiological studies such as NESDA, TRAILS and LIFELINES.

Amir Vudka (A.Vudka@uva.nl) is a doctor of Film and Media Culture at the Department of Media Studies of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Amir is a film programmer at theater De Nieuwe Regentes (The Hague), artistic director of Sounds of Silence festival for silent film and live music, and creative director of the upcoming Altered States festival.

Ruben is a postdoctoral fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, a lecturer at Amsterdam University College, and an honourary lecturer at The University of Queensland. Ruben seeks to uncover an empirically grounded and experientially authentic understanding of meditation, insight, and non-duality. Using a combination of methods including behaviour, neuroimaging, machine learning, and phenomenology, he is investigating some of the rarest states of consciousness available to human beings. 

Ruben’s research is deeply theoretically driven and traverses multiple levels of explanation, from neurons to psychology. He has published articles in leading journals, regularly speaks at international conferences, consults for the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, and has written on topics that range from artificial intelligence to psychedelics. Ruben has an eclectic contemplative background, including traditions such as Zen, Advaita, and Theravada.

I am a PhD candidate at the Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging in Amsterdam, in the group of prof. S. Dumoulin. I am also the founder of the Amsterdam Psychedelic Research Association (APRA), and served as Board Director from its official inception until the end of my term (2018-2022). 

My main research interests are mathematical models of neural information-encoding strategies, particularly in the visual cortex, and dynamical models of neural activity; I am deeply interested in psychedelics as a scientifically challenging but extremely valuable tool to probe brain dynamics and subjective experience. Finally, I am interested in the role played by low-level sensory (particularly visual) phenomena in influencing high-level constructs and therapeutic modes of psychedelic experiences (and viceversa).

Bill Brennan is a psychologist in New York City who serves as a member of the clinical research team at Cybin Inc. where he has codeveloped the EMBARK approach to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with Dr. Alex Belser. In the past year, he has coauthored several treatment manuals in the EMBARK approach for Cybin’s forthcoming clinical trials and an ongoing clinical trial at the University of Washington evaluating the efficacy of psilocybin in the treatment of COVID-related depression and burnout in frontline health care professionals. 

He also serves as a clinical supervisor for this trial. He conducted his dissertation work on the topic of ethical relationship and boundary-setting in psychedelic work and has written, spoken, and consulted on various other topics in psychedelic-assisted therapy. 

An essay of his entitled “The Revolution Will Not Be Psychologized: Psychedelics’ Potential for Systemic Change” was recently included in the edited volume Psychedelic Justice: Toward a Diverse and Equitable Psychedelic Culture. He has spent several years studying a somatically-oriented, liberatory group therapy approach called Somaterapia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prior to this, he worked in community psychology settings in NYC and in neuroscience research at New York University, Columbia, and the University of Washington.

Balazs has a physics degree from Imperial College London and earned a PhD in computational neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh. After graduating, he spent a few years as a biomedical software engineer at the Icahn Institute of Genetics in New York to create tools for whole cell modeling. He became involved with psychedelics science in 2016, when he collaborated with the Global Drug Survey to show that neuroimaging studies consistently overestimate the potential harm of recreational MDMA use.

He invented 'self-blinding', a novel methodology that enables self-experimenters to incorporate placebo control into their experimentation without clinical supervision. Using this methodology, Balazs designed and lead the self-blinding microdose study, the largest placebo-controlled study on psychedelics microdosing to-date. Balazs currently researches the intersection of placebo effect and psychedelic medicine, while also continuing to setup new citizen science initiatives using his self-blinding methodology.

Brian teaches Psychedelic Studies in the Department of Plant Pathology and is an Affiliate Scholar of the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education (CPDRE) in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University. Trained as an evolutionary ecologist, he specialized in phytochemistry, ethnobotany, and ecophysiology. He is the Politics and Ecology Editor at Psymposia, a 501c3 watchdog of the emerging psychedelics industry, and the co-organizer of the interdisciplinary psychedelics conference, Psychedemia. His research has examined how psychedelic experiences interact with ideology and the socio-political context of the so-called psychedelic renaissance. It has been featured in VICE, translated into French and Italian, and covered internationally. 

A former US Borlaug Global Food Security Fellow, Brian did his field work in Southern Mexico, the US midwestern prairie, and the Ecuadorian Amazon. For more than a decade, Brian worked on agroecology and climate change. Along the way, he has taught several original university courses on cannabis and psychedelics. 

Hypothesis: Counterexamples abound of those with psychedelic experience expressing views explicitly opposed to egalitarianism and liberal politics.

Findings: This talk is an intervention in this discourse, highlighting the numerous contemporary and historical cases where the use of psychedelics failed to reduce authoritarian tendencies in users, even preceding or facilitating their adoption of them. We demonstrate that psychedelics can catalyze change in political or religious belief—but not in a consistent directional sense on the axes of authoritarianism-egalitarianism or conservatism-liberalism.

Conclusions: We propose that many experiences—including psychedelics—can challenge and radically shift a person’s worldview, and that extrapharmacological factors influence the character of change in ideology or political belief—if any. We draw from both present and historical accounts to show that psychedelics are non-specific amplifiers of consciousness and thus “politically pluripotent.” Contrary to the results of recent studies, we show that conservative, hierarchy-based ideologies can incorporate psychedelic experiences of interconnection, as expressed by thought leaders like Jordan Peterson, corporadelic actors, and members of several neo-Nazi organizations.

Patrick Everitt is an independent researcher of western esotericism and philosophy from Ireland. He completed a BA in Arts (Philosophy, Greek & Roman Civilization) at Maynooth University, where he wrote his philosophy dissertation on the system of magical and mystical attainment described in the Oratio (1486) by Renaissance philosopher Pico della Mirandola (1463 – 1494). He later completed the MA in Religious Studies (Western Esotericism) at the University of Amsterdam, where he wrote his Master's thesis investigating the role of the psychedelic peyote cactus in the life and work of the English occultist Aleister Crowley (1875 – 1947). 

His primary research interests are: the religious philosophy of Aleister Crowley; the psychedelic philosophies of Timothy Leary (1920 – 1996), Robert Anton Wilson (1932 – 2007), and Terence McKenna (1946 – 2000); and, the ritualistic use of psychedelics by occultists to attain mystical experiences and unite with higher forms of consciousness. He has presented on his research at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelics Research, the Irish Network for the Study of Esotericism and Paganism, Breaking Convention, the O.Z.O.R.A. Festival, Altered Conference, Beyond Psychedelics, and the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism's (ESSWE) bi-annual conference.

Sander Bos is a Dutch multimedia artist. He studied fine-art in the Netherlands and graduated in 2014. Having ambitions to become an oil painter, he began experimenting with digital media as well. Now his endeavors vary from painting with oils and acrylics to 3D animation, 3D printing and creating Virtual Reality environments.

These new technologies led to immersive and hypnotic art pieces which aim to bring the viewer into an altered state. He sees the artist as a mediator between the visible and the invisible realities. By making these dimensions visible, the viewer can gain a new perspective on reality.

In his art he reflects on the psychedelic experience and is searching for a new form of visionary aesthetics by leveraging technologies of today.

Artist statement:

"Through art we are planting seeds of consciousness exploration and playful curiosity, reclaiming our endless creative force and dissolving perceptual limitations which guide the creative journey."

I am a psychologist and neuroscientist, with a specialism in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) methods and applications. My initial training was at the University of Cambridge, with post-doctoral positions at Royal Holloway and University College London. For the last ten years I've been working for a private company, and managing to combine commercial (mostly for pharmaceutical companies) and academic work with colleagues and collaborators at Imperial, UCL, and other institutions. My current work is focussed on the brain effects of cannabis, psychedelics, and sex hormones, plus some work on fMRI acquisition and analysis methods.

Eddie Jacobs is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities. Having entered the psychedelic space in January 2018 as Science Officer at the Beckley Foundation, his interests lie in how scientific and ethical dimensions of medical advances impact upon the practical realities of ensuring positive change. Since then, he has provided evidence for UK Parliamentary Committees on Medical Cannabis, as well as the Human Rights Implications of COVID-19 responses.

Aidan is a philosopher at the University of Amsterdam and the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy.

He completed his Ph.D. in philosophy in 2009 at the Australian National University and has bachelor's degrees in mathematics and philosophy from the University of Queensland.

His academic research is at the intersection of psychology and philosophy and focuses on wisdom, uncertainty, and collective decision making. He has published research articles in many top journals in philosophy, and his forthcoming book will be published by Oxford University Press in 2022.

Alongside his academic work, Aidan has operated as a risk management and decision making consultant for over ten years. He has worked on projects across a wide range of domains, including biosecurity intelligence, geopolitical forecasting, institutional investing, and environmental decision making.

André van der Braak is Professor of Comparative Philosophy of Religion at the Faculty of Religion and Theology of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2004 on a study on Nietzsche and Zen. He published a.o. Nietzsche and Zen: Self-Overcoming without a Self (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011); Religion and Social Cohesion: Western, Chinese and Intercultural Perspectives (co-edited with Wei Dedong and Caifang Zhu; Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2015); and Reimagining Zen in a Secular Age: Charles Taylor and Zen Buddhism in the West (Leiden: Brill, 2020).

He published several articles on ayahuasca and is currently working on a manuscript entitled Liquid Divinity: Epistemological and Ontological Explorations of Ayahuasca Religiosity in the West(to be published by Lexington Books in late 2022 or early 2023).

Dr. Daan F. Oostveen is a philosopher and a scholar of religion working at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University. He graduated from Ghent University with M.A. degrees in both Philosophy and Comparative Literature. His PhD was awarded by the Faculty of Theology and Religion of VU Amsterdam, with a doctoral dissertation on multiple religious belonging.

For his doctoral research, he spent a year as a research fellow at the People’s University of China in Beijing to study contemporary Chinese religious diversity in 2018. He is a founding member of the New European Humanities in the 21st Century Network (neh21.net), which works on connecting innovative research on the humanities in Europe for the World Humanities Report. He is also editor-in-chief to Wiley's Future Humanities academic journal. His research interests include the new humanities, comparative religion, and posthumanism.

Theoretical Background: Cooptation of psychedelic experience by the medicalized industrial clinical framework threatens to foreclose indigenous and traditional contexts for entheogenic ceremonies. Using Doyle’s ecodelic framework, in the broadest sense of the terms “set and setting,” permits thinking critically about optimizing therapeutic psychedelic experiences through social design of the built environment.