Merve Mollaahmetoglu obtained a psychology degree at the University of Exeter, and a MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences at University College London. Currently, Merve is completing her PhD at the University of Exeter, which investigates the role of ruminative thinking in initiating and maintaining substance use disorders.
Dr Ben Sessa is a psychiatrist, researcher, and writer. Ben qualified as a medical doctor at UCL in 1997, before going on to study psychiatry. He then worked as a child consultant and adolescent psychiatrist with young people and adult patients in addiction and trauma-related psychiatry.
Chris Timmerman obtained a psychology degree in Psychology in Santiago, Chile and an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Bologna, Italy. Chris is currently a postdoc researcher at Imperial College London at the Centre for Psychedelic Research, leading research investigating the effects of DMT in the human brain and experience, as well as exploring their applications for mental health conditions.
Dr Megg Spriggs completed her PhD in psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2018. Megg joined the Centre for Psychedelic Research in 2019, working as a trial coordinator and guide on trials of psilocybin. Her main role is one of the lead researchers on the Centre’s upcoming clinical trial assessing psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy as a treatment for anorexia nervosa.
Dr David Erritzøe is a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Psychiatrist at Imperial College London. David conducts a variety of psychopharmacological research, using brain-imaging techniques such as PET and MRI. David completed his PET imaging training at Columbia University, before completing his PhD at University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.
Christine is a philosopher with training in sociology and psychology also. Her research interests include a range of topics in Moral Philosophy and Empirical Ethics, Feminist Philosophy and Decolonizing Approaches; Frankfurt School Critical Theory, Philosophy of Medicine and the Life Sciences (especially psychedelic psychotherapy, genetics and stem cell research), and Science and Technology Studies.
Michiel van Elk is an associate professor at the unit of Cognitive Psychology of the Institute of Psychology. Michiel completed his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Donders Institute in Nijmegen. In 2010, he worked as a researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara and then as a postdoctoral fellow in Switzerland. Michiel’s research focuses on religious and spiritual experiences.
Celia completed her undergraduate degree and Ph.D at UCL. After a short time Yale University on a scholarship programme, she returned to UCL for a post-doc. Following this she worked at University of Melbourne as a visiting research fellow and returned to UCL for a fellowship and then Lectureship. Celia joined University of Exeter as a Senior Lecturer in May 2013 and was given a Chair in Psychopharmacology in 2015.
Andy Letcher is a Senior Lecturer at Schumacher College, where he is the Programme Lead for the MA Engaged Ecology. He is the author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom, and numerous papers on psychedelics, ecology, animism and paganism. Andy has doctorates in Ecology (from the University of Oxford) and the Study of Religion (King Alfred’s College, Winchester).
Johanna wrote her Master’s dissertation on Jung’s Red Book during an internship at Fundacion Vocacion Humana, a Jungian centre in Buenos Aires. She has taught a course on the interlink between Depth Psychology and the psychedelic experience, offered by the ‘Psychedelics Today’ forum. Her interests include Transpersonal Psychology, Ecopsychology, Holotropic Breathwork, Process philosophy, and Western Esotericism
Dr Leor Roseman is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, where he received his MRs and PhD, under the supervision of both Professor David Nutt and Dr Robin Carhart-Harris. His research focuses on the neural and psychological correlates of the psychedelic experience and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.
Dr David Luke is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich, UK, where he has been teaching an undergraduate course on the Psychology of Exceptional Human Experience since 2009, and he is also Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, and Lecturer on the MSc Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology for Alef Trust and Liverpool John Moores University. His research focuses on transpersonal experiences, anomalous phenomena and altered states of consciousness…
David Nutt is a professor of neuropsychopharmacology, a psychiatrist, a broadcaster, and a writer. David completed his medical training at Guy’s Hospital London, trained in neurology to MRCP, trained to be a psychiatrist in Oxford, and then continued there as a lecturer and a Wellcome Senior Fellow in Psychiatry. Prof. David Nutt is also the former chairman of Drug Science, a UK-based drugs advisory committee.
Rennie is a psychedelic enthusiast with a background in Psychology and Neuroscience. He completed his PhD at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge. The primary focus of his doctoral work was to explore how different conceptualizations of relationships within and between cognitive tasks may inform the transfer of skills following practice (a.k.a. training) and interpretation of possible outcomes.
Peter is an Anglo-Scandinavian philosopher of mind who specializes in the thought of Whitehead, Nietzsche, and Spinoza, and in fields pertaining to panpsychism and altered states of mind. Following his degree in Continental Philosophy at the University of Warwick, he became a Philosophy lecturer in London for six years after which he pursued his PhD at The University of Exeter – where he is now a research fellow and lecturer.
Matthew Watkins is a mathematician, author, broadcaster, DJ and generalist thinker. In the world of psychedelic research, he’s best known for a 1996 critique of Terence McKenna’s notorious Timewave theory (announced by McKenna to his audience as “The Watkins Objection”). His most recent publication was an experimental cosmic/local history book (You Are Here: The Biography of a Moment, 2017). Lately, he’s reluctantly become involved with AI safety research.
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