Mike Jay is an author and historian who has written widely on the history of science and medicine, particularly on the mind, consciousness and psychoactive drugs. His books include High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture (2010), Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic (2019), and Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind (2023).

Harry Pack is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores altered states of consciousness, expanded perception, and the subtle architecture of the mind. Through a dynamic practice encompassing painting, illustration, and digital media, he investigates the intersection between psychedelic experience and the inner psychological landscape, using art as a vehicle to explore reality.

Nen has inadvertently become one of, if not the, longest active and most experienced acacia researchers in entheogen and cross-cultural fields, having first found tryptamines in a previously unknown species in 1992, as a Psychology graduate. The avatar name Nen was launched in 2011 to promote internet harm reduction in plant medicines and to encourage the sustainable cultivation of the trees.

Associate Professor Petra Skeffington is a Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice, and an academic at Murdoch University in Perth. Her research and clinical expertise centres on psychological trauma and recovery, including resilience to trauma, prevention of post-trauma pathologies, and innovative approaches to treating psychological trauma.

Martin Williams, PhD is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University. Martin’s research background is in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology, and he is Executive Director of Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine (PRISM) and Vice-President of Entheogenesis Australis (EGA). Martin has been a co-investigator on a number of Australian clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, including the St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne study of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in palliative care; the Monash PsiConnect neuroimaging study of psilocybin with mindfulness meditation; the Swinburne PsiloDep pilot study; and several other studies of psilocybin, MDMA and other psychedelics for the treatment of a range of mental health conditions.

Alex K. Gearin (PhD) is a cultural anthropologist specialising in the intersections of mental health, neo-shamanism, and psychedelics. Much of his research has focused on ayahuasca, including for his recent book Global Ayahuasca: Wondrous Visions and Modern Worlds (Stanford University Press, 2024). The book explores how the emotional and sensory dimensions of ayahuasca practices intersect with modernity and globalisation, based on ethnographic research on the ground in Australia, Peru, and China.

Caine Barlow is a Fungi Educator and Mycologist based in Melbourne, Australia. He gives regular talks on mycology, fungi conservation, and teaches gourmet mushroom cultivation. He works closely with the Australian organisation Entheogenesis Australis, and is a co-founder of US-based organisation The Entheome Foundation. Caine is also a mentor for Milkwood Permaculture for their online Mushroom Cultivation course.

Dr Stephen Bright is a clinically trained psychologist who has worked in the field for more than 20 years. He has been the chief principal investigator of multisite clinical trials and has published research on psychedelics, microdosing, psychometrics and drug policy. Currently, Stephen is the principal investigator on a trial investigating MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and an associate investigator of a trial of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression, for which he is also the lead therapist. Stephen supervises PhD and Master’s students’ research at Edith Cowan University, where he teaches counselling skills and psychopharmacology. Dr Bright has given expert testimony to parliamentary inquests and court hearings. He was awarded Edith Cowan University’s Most Prolific Conversation Author in 2018 and 2019.

Determined to find a way back to full health, driven by her love of her children, Vanessa Kelly began her journey. She began researching and experimenting with psychedelic medicines. Her enquiries led her to a Bwiti Tribe, in the deepest jungle of Gabon in Central Western Africa. After many years of trying, she made her way into the Jungle, where she experienced healing, on an impossible level.

Whilst in the village, Vanessa healed with Iboga and adopted a series of principles from the Bwiti teachings, that have given her a toolkit for managing her life.

Samuel Douglas is a philosopher, writer, and former non-profit leader whose work sits at the crossroads of psychedelic ethics, political disillusionment, and attempted satire. He holds a PhD in philosophy and spent 15 years teaching critical thinking and professional ethics at the University of Newcastle before mostly stepping away from academia. Since then, he’s worked as a freelance writer and editor for a range of psychedelic organisations and publications, including Third Wave, Psychedelics Today, and Wakeful Travel.