Kirt Mallie is an Indigenous Therapist, Cultural Educator and Spiritual Teacher. A proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander man, descendant of the Kaurareg/ Mualgal people. Co-founder of IPAT – Indigenous Psychedelic Assisted Therapies, Kirt is also a yoga/ meditation teacher, spiritual counsellor, sound therapist, and facilitates breathwork, Wayapa Wuurrk and We Al-li.

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.

Kayla Greenstien is a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney, researching the use of touch and theoretical underpinnings of psychedelic-assisted therapies.

This presenter’s talk will be delivered remotely via live stream or pre-recording.

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.

As the President of the Nimbin HEMP Embassy, Nimbin Mardigrass and the Legalise Cannabis Party, Michael Balderstone has been a dedicated advocate for cannabis law reform for decades. He is a highly prominent and long-standing figure in the Australian cannabis law reform movement. Through his activism and leadership, he has tirelessly championed harm reduction, education and sustainable cannabis policy reform. He’s also been a strong supporter of community initiatives and local events, bringing people together to share knowledge and challenge stigma.

Rachel Payne MP, Member for South East Metropolitan Region

Rachel Payne is not your typical politician. Growing up in humble circumstances, she left home at sixteen and has firsthand experience with welfare, government, housing, and legal services. She earned a Master’s in Public Policy and had a rich and varied life before politics. She held administrative, leadership and policy roles at Centrelink, the Eros Association, and the Family Court of Australia and toured the world as an acclaimed burlesque performer.

David Ettershank MP, Member for Western Metropolitan Region 

Before his election to the Legislative Council in November 2022, David was a director and co-founder of Outcomes Plus, a consulting practice that supported not-for-profit aged care providers with strong links to specialist, CALD and regional services.     

Lennard is a research horticulturalist working with psychoactive plants for the past decade. With a background in tissue culture and micropropagation, Lennard developed in vitro propagation protocols for Cannabis and Iboga, before moving into RnD in the medicinal Cannabis industry, improving production methods to increase yield and decrease production costs in controlled environment systems.

Snu Voogelbreinder is an independent ethnobotanical researcher and writer with a deep love of nature. His work brings together academic scholarship and esoteric knowledge, exploring the intersection of consciousness, culture, and psychoactive species.

He is the author of Garden of Eden: The Shamanic Use of Psychoactive Flora and Fauna, and the Study of Consciousness (2009), a comprehensive 500-page reference covering thousands of plant and animal species used in traditional and shamanic practices.

Jeremy is a multidisciplinary researcher and visual storyteller with more than 25 years of experience studying Acacia in Australia and abroad. His research has uncovered novel insights into the biology and chemistry of this important plant genus. A passionate advocate for biodiversity conservation, he has collaborated with government agencies to help protect and preserve botanical heritage.

Dr Liam Engel is an ethnobotanist, natural products chemist and science communicator specialising in psychoactive plants. Liam’s work spans chemistry, pharmacology, botany and social science, and is underpinned by advocacy for drug law reform. Liam conducts research at the NICM Health Research Institute, WSU and is co-founder of The Mescaline Garden nursery.

Rich is a freelance writer and journalist based in Melbourne, Australia. His work focuses on science, technology and the new world of psychedelic medicine. Rich recently worked with the Science Journalists Association of Australia for a couple of years and had work selected for both 2024 and 2025 Best Australian Science Writing anthologies.

Mohammed Reza Mirzadeh has come from a horticulture background. He spent almost all his working life (over thirty years) in the mushroom industry, mainly in Iran and Australia, holding positions in production, QA, and farm management. In the last twenty years, parallel to his positions within the industry, he has been conducting workshops and mushroom courses discussing compost/substrate production and growing methods for Agaricus and various Oyster mushrooms.

Torsten Wiedemann is a consultant on legal issues relating to plant drugs and new psychoactive substances in Australia. His background in ethnopharmacology and decades of work in drug law reform provide a comprehensive insight into the Australian legal landscape on plant medicines.

Simon Beck is a medical doctor, harm reduction educator and drug policy reform advocate. He is the secretary of the Australian Psychedelic Society. He has had an interest in mushroom identification for over a decade. He is interested in the clinical use of psychedelics and is also passionate about decriminalisation.

Anna Conrick is a PhD Candidate at Monash University and the Creative Director of Studio Phantastica, a sensory design practice that explores how spaces are created and experienced by diverse bodies and minds. Her doctoral research investigates atmospheres of Set and Setting in the context of psychedelic-assisted therapy, engaging sensory ethnography, weird spatialities, and relational design to examine how therapeutic environments shape embodied experience.

Adrienne was raised in Ipswich, Queensland, where she grew up on a single-parent family farm alongside her mother and Filipino grandparents. From a young age, she learned about tropical and sub-tropical plants through everyday experience, helping to care for fruit trees, orchids, and a range of other sub/tropical species. This early exposure fostered a quiet but steady interest in horticulture, particularly in plants valued within her family’s heritage.

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.

Nick Kent is an educator and advocate working in harm reduction and drug policy reform. A school teacher by trade, Nick began researching school drug education policies and leading Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia in his mid 20's, and has since worked at local, state, national and international levels across various drug policy areas, projects and organisations.