Founder and President of MAPS

Talk: Interview by Zoe Wilder “The Long Arc of Transformation”

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Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the Founder and President 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.

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 catalyze religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment.

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. He founded MAPS in 1986, and currently resides in Boston with his wife and puppy, with three empty rooms from his children who have all graduated college and begun their life journeys.

Learn more about Rick by listening to his Origin Story, watching opening speech from PS2023, watching his TED Talk, and watching his SSDP talk about lessons for political activism from a series of his psychedelic experiences.

LinkedIn • Instagram • MAPS

Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry Head of Carhart-Harris Lab, University of California San Francisco

Talk: “How Psychedelics Work” short presentation, follwed by a conversation with David Coveney, Executive Editor at Design Week Magazine

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Speaking ahead of his forthcoming book, How Psychedelics Work (January 2027).

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Dr Carhart-Harris obtained a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol in 2009 before moving to Imperial College London. There, Prof he and colleagues completed multimodal human functional neuroimaging studies with LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and DMT, and clinical trials of psilocybin therapy for various disorders, including trials in depression, anorexia and fibromyalgia syndrome.

Dr Carhart-Harris founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London in April 2019 and set up the Carhart-Harris Lab at University of California San Francisco in 2023, where he moved in 2021, becoming the Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professorship in Neurology and Psychiatry at University of California.

He spoke at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2019, was listed among the top 31 medical scientists by The Times newspaper in 2020, TIME magazine’s ‘100 Next’ in 2021 and Vox Magazine’s ‘Future 50’ in 2023. His research program at UCSF focuses on the action of psychedelics and psychedelic-therapy.

He has published widely, including in top-tier scientific and medical journals and will soon release his first book, entitled: How Psychedelics Work. 

LinkedIn • Instagram • X • YouTube • Carhart-Harris Lab

Director and Executive Editor at Design Week

Talk: “How Psychedelics Work” in conversation with Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD

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David is the Executive Editor of Design Week, having led its relaunch and digital transformation after acquiring the title through his Liverpool-based software studio, Standfirst. With nearly forty years in the technology and design sector, David’s career has been defined by the intersection of digital innovation, ethics, and clear communication.

Beyond the design world, David is a committed advocate for a more equal and liberal society. This drive led him into the political arena, most recently as a Parliamentary Candidate for Widnes and Halewood. While he jokes about the "failed" nature of the bid, his political work is a serious extension of his belief that systems - whether governmental or digital - should serve to protect and empower individuals rather than constrain them.

It is this same lens of system design that David brings to the Psychedelics Awards. He believes that institutional inertia and outdated social dogmas have created a bottleneck in medical progress. By dismantling the regulatory friction and moralistic caution that currently surround psychedelics, David believes we can finally clear a path for transformative treatments that have been unfairly sidelined for too long.

LinkedIn • Instagram • Design Week Magazine

Founder of COOL HUNTING • Creative Director, Editor, Photographer

Topic: tba

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As the co-founder of COOL HUNTING, Josh Rubin has spent decades uncovering signals beneath the noise—ideas that resonate, illuminate and carry the pulse of what's next. Known for his discerning eye and unflinching standards, Josh approaches storytelling as both craft and communion, bridging the tangible and the ineffable.

His work—whether visual, editorial or energetic—is rooted in alignment: between beauty and function, legacy and emergence, intellect and intuition, self and collective. A Reiki master, he moves through the world attuned to patterns, symbols and resonance, always guided by the belief that excellence is a form of presence.

At COOL HUNTING Studio Josh works on product design collaborations, hosts travel experiences and consults on trends and futuring. He hosts the Design Tangents podcast alongside his husband and COOL HUNTING co-founder, Evan Orensten. And he writes about bridging the material and the spiritual, including the new series Reflect, Refract, Resonate.

LinkedIn • CoolHunting • JoshRubin.comrrresonate.com

Founder Zoe Wilder Public Relations & Liquid Culture Records

Talk: Interview with Rick Doblin, PhD “The Long Arc of Transformation”

Named “Cannabis Empressaria” by Forbes, “35 Most Influential Women in Cannabis” by Entrepreneur Magazine and recipient of the 2024 Green Market Report Award for Public Relations, Zoe Wilder is a public relations professional specializing in lifestyle, culture and wellness. 

For over 20 years, Zoe has worked with hundreds of clients across a variety of industries to develop and execute inventive promotional content and campaigns that capture the attention of tastemakers and influencers from around the globe. Zoe holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the College of William & Mary and a Master of Social Work from Fordham University. 

Her team comprises over 50 years of forward thinking and purpose driven public relations expertise working with A-list celebrities, New York Times bestsellers, award winning film, television, radio, music, and consumer products, critically acclaimed podcasts, top brands and business leaders, and publishing oversight for several of the world’s leading peer-reviewed medical journals. 

A founding member of DoubleBlind Magazine, a media company covering the expansion of psychedelics around the globe, she also launched Liquid Culture, a revolutionary record label and artist collective redefining the intersection of music, visual art, and cultural innovation. Beyond that, she’s an ambassador for the Last Prisoner Project and Success Centers; a strategic advisor at Psychedelics Design; and a member of the Association For Electronic Music.

LinkedIn • Instagram • Zoe Wilder Public Relations • Liquid Culture Records

Founder and President of MAPS

Talk: Interview by Zoe Wilder “The Long Arc of Transformation”

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the Founder and President 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.

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 catalyze religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment.

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. He founded MAPS in 1986, and currently resides in Boston with his wife and puppy, with three empty rooms from his children who have all graduated college and begun their life journeys.

Learn more about Rick by listening to his Origin Story, watching opening speech from PS2023, watching his TED Talk, and watching his SSDP talk about lessons for political activism from a series of his psychedelic experiences.

LinkedIn • Instagram • MAPS

Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry Head of Carhart-Harris Lab, University of California San Francisco

Talk: “How Psychedelics Work” short presentation, follwed by a conversation with David Coveney, Executive Editor at Design Week Magazine

Speaking ahead of his forthcoming book, How Psychedelics Work (January 2027).

Dr Carhart-Harris obtained a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol in 2009 before moving to Imperial College London. There, Prof he and colleagues completed multimodal human functional neuroimaging studies with LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and DMT, and clinical trials of psilocybin therapy for various disorders, including trials in depression, anorexia and fibromyalgia syndrome.

Dr Carhart-Harris founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London in April 2019 and set up the Carhart-Harris Lab at University of California San Francisco in 2023, where he moved in 2021, becoming the Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professorship in Neurology and Psychiatry at University of California.

He spoke at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2019, was listed among the top 31 medical scientists by The Times newspaper in 2020, TIME magazine’s ‘100 Next’ in 2021 and Vox Magazine’s ‘Future 50’ in 2023. His research program at UCSF focuses on the action of psychedelics and psychedelic-therapy.

He has published widely, including in top-tier scientific and medical journals and will soon release his first book, entitled: How Psychedelics Work. 

LinkedIn • Instagram • X • YouTube • Carhart-Harris Lab

Executive Editor at Design Week

Talk: “How Psychedelics Work” in conversation with Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD

David is the Executive Editor of Design Week, having led its relaunch and digital transformation after acquiring the title through his Liverpool-based software studio, Standfirst. With nearly forty years in the technology and design sector, David’s career has been defined by the intersection of digital innovation, ethics, and clear communication.

Beyond the design world, David is a committed advocate for a more equal and liberal society. This drive led him into the political arena, most recently as a Parliamentary Candidate for Widnes and Halewood. While he jokes about the "failed" nature of the bid, his political work is a serious extension of his belief that systems - whether governmental or digital - should serve to protect and empower individuals rather than constrain them.

It is this same lens of system design that David brings to the Psychedelics Awards. He believes that institutional inertia and outdated social dogmas have created a bottleneck in medical progress. By dismantling the regulatory friction and moralistic caution that currently surround psychedelics, David believes we can finally clear a path for transformative treatments that have been unfairly sidelined for too long.

LinkedIn • Instagram • Design Week Magazine

Founder of Sporesight

Talk: tbc

Jess Jorgensen is the Founder of Sporesight - a regenerative design consultancy and Social Enterprise working at the intersection of fungi, nature, culture and futures.

A foresight strategist with two decades leading global insight programmes, Jess has helped 100+ organisations - from global brands to grassroots initiatives - to embed cultural consciousness into strategic innovation. She now advises leaders on shaping regenerative futures by tuning into nature's intelligence, underpinned by an ongoing world research tour exploring fungi x futures.

She speaks internationally on 'how to think like fungi', and serves as Board Vice Chair for refugee-led nonprofit HODARI Foundation.

LinkedIn • Sporesight

Author & Psychedelic Scholar

Talk: tbc

Jahan Khamsehzadeh, PhD earned his doctorate in the Philosophy, Cosmology, Consciousness program at CIIS. His research was on psilocybin mushrooms and it was published at the book “The Psilocybin Connection: Psychedelics, the Transformation of Consciousness, and Evolution of the Planet—An Integral Approach” by North Atlantic Books in 2022.

He has undergone numerous trainings, including graduating from the Hakomi Somatic Psychotherapy Comprehensive program and has been a part of eight psychedelic therapy training—ranging from the roles of student to teacher. He works as a minister with the Congregation of Sacred Practices where he mentors and supervisors other ministers.

Psychedelics have been a passion of his for 25 years. He has worked with many organizations in the field, has held about 700 professional ceremonies, and been a guest on about a 100 podcasts.

Website

Postdoctoral Neuroscientist, University of California, Scientific Advisor and Content Creator The Psychedelic Scientist

Talk: tbc

Dr. Manesh Girn is a postdoctoral neuroscientist specializing in psychedelic drugs at the University of California, San Francisco. Working closely with psychedelic research pioneer Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, he conducts research on the neural mechanisms underlying the psychedelic experience and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

He has been lead or co-author of over 20 peer-reviewed publications to date on topics including psychedelics, the default mode network, abstract cognitive processes, and brain network organization.

Manesh also runs a popular digital platform on Instagram and YouTube called "The Psychedelic Scientist”, where he disseminates the latest findings and developments in psychedelic science in a layperson friendly manner.

LinkedIn • Carhart-Harris Lab • Website

Founder of Mycopreneur & Co-Founder of Mycoday

Talk: tbc

Dennis Walker is a satirist multimedia producer primarily known for his satirizing of the psychedelic space.

He is the founder of Mycopreneur, with which he has platformed over 150 mushroom entrepreneurs from 25 countries on six continents. The Mycopreneur platform is a globally recognized leader in the psychedelic media space, with recent press coverage in Rolling Stone, Forbes, High Times, and many other outlets.

Walker is also the Co-Founder of Mycoday functional mushroom chocolate.

LinkedIn • Mycopreneur • Mycoday

Founder of Aether Apothecary & Founder of Lost Muti

Talk: tbc

Cullen Clark is the Founder & CEO of Aether Apothecary and the creative force behind Lost Muti, where he blends ethnomycological insight, ritual design, and cultural storytelling to reimagine the relationship between fungi, wellness and living systems.

With a deep fascination for nature’s intelligence, Cullen leads cross-disciplinary initiatives at the intersection of mycology, design and experiential care, enabling brands and spaces that evoke connection, transformation and meaning.

Driven by a commitment to regenerative practices and visionary design, he is known for guiding emerging projects that pay homage to ancestral knowledge while engaging the future of psychedelic-adjacent culture.

LinkedIn • Aether Apothecary • Lost Muti

Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Psychedelic Research and Neuropsychopharmacology Imperial College London

Talk: tbc

Dr Rayyan Zafar is a Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Psychedelic Research and the Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, where he leads research into the neuroscience of psychedelics, addiction and mental-health transformation.

With a foundation in neuropsychopharmacology and a strong commitment to bridging rigorous science and therapeutic potential, Dr Zafar has presented at major conferences and published on topics such as neuroplasticity, harm-reduction and psychedelic interventions.

He brings together academic insight and real-world relevance, exploring how psychedelic-assisted approaches may reshape treatment for addiction and promote deeper healing.

LinkedIn • Centre for Psychedelic Research Imperial College London

Founder & Executive Director, Fireside Project

Joshua White (he/him) is the Founder and Executive Director of Fireside Project, a nonprofit devoted to providing accessible, culturally attuned psychedelic support and training at scale. Fireside Project operates the Psychedelic Support Line, a telephonic helpline specifically for people navigating psychedelic experiences, and the Fireside-Certified Psychedelic Coaching Program, which provides scheduled, long-term support by video to people preparing for and integrating psychedelic experiences, and Lucy, an emotionally intelligence voice-to-voice chatbot devoted to training psychedelic practitioners. 

Joshua is a lawyer, psychedelic researcher, coach, and peer support advocate. Before founding Fireside Project, Joshua served as a Deputy City Attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, where he focused on suing businesses exploiting vulnerable communities, serving as General Counsel to City departments, and co-teaching a nationally renowned clinic at Yale Law School.

LinkedIn • Fireside Project