Uncle Mark Brown is a proud Gunditjmara man through his mother's lineage and a Bunurong man through his father's side.  Artistry has been an integral part of Uncle Mark's life since childhood, having wielded a pencil as soon as he could grasp one. 

Artistry has been an integral part of Uncle Mark's life since childhood, having wielded a pencil as soon as he could grasp one. 

Ash Dargan is a Larrakia recording artist, storyteller and adventurer from Darwin NT. He is one of Australia’s premier performers and recording artists on the Yidaki. His distinct blend of Australian Indigenous instrumental world music has achieved world renown in both recorded works and live performances since 1996.

Associate Professor Monica Barratt is a drug policy scholar at RMIT University. Her work aims to make unregulated drugs safer through policy reforms and on-ground responses. Monica has published over 130 academic research papers and attracted over $6M competitive funding, including from the National Health and Medical Research Council, most recent being awarded a competitive Investigator Grant fellowship. She is the National Research Lead for The Loop Australia, a charity that delivers drug checking services in Queensland and Victoria.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brooke Walters is the founder of ConsciousNest, a grassroots festival harm-reduction and support service she has operated without government funding since 2014. She is also the Project Coordinator at Hi-Ground and has served as a supervisor at Queensland’s fixed drug-checking sites, as well as a past employee of The Loop Australia.

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 Sun is the current individuated ego expression of 5th dimensional consciousness incarnating within a 3rd dimensional flesh suit in order to navigate this simulation often mistaken as life on Earth. After emerging from his mother’s womb amidst loud protests sometime in the late 20th century, he was cast upon this Earth in the prerequisite state of spiritual amnesia. In this state, he began performing standup comedy around the world, winning many prestigious competitions (Triple J Raw Comedy, UK's So You Think You're Funny, Director's Choice Award) and appearing on various television programs.

Dr Adam J. Carroll (PhD, Plant Biochemistry) Exposure to the profound transformational power of psychedelics as a teenager in the mid-late 1990s - combined with a deep sense of spiritual connectedness with nature.

Drawing on his background in horticulture, arboriculture and ethnobotany, Communacacian brings an accessible and unique approach to growing Australian native trees.

Jessica Moulynox from Backyard Botany Australia is a qualified Ethnobotanist with over 20 years of experience identifying and utilising Australian native edible plants.  During this workshop, she will explain the importance of connecting people to these plants and the importance in using native edible and medicinal plants in your garden.  

Lee Miles, PhD, is a biologist and geneticist, who has an inquisitive nature that drives a passion for understanding the inner workings of various biological processes and sharing this knowledge with others. He is passionate about decriminalisation and has had an interest in education around roadside saliva testing.

Dr Nigel Strauss FRANZCP is a psychiatrist best known for his longstanding interest in Psychedelic Medicines and their safe introduction into Clinical Psychiatric Practice in Australia. He is currently a Consultant Psychiatrist at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and an Adjunct Clinical Associate within the School of Health Sciences Swinburne University.

Agnieszka is a scientist with a background in biomedical engineering, psychology and design. She is currently a PhD candidate at Clinical Psychedelic Lab at Monash University and a co-investigator on a psilocybin study for depression, with the goal to improve outcomes and increase access through a personalised, tech-supported design of PAT. As a scientist at Monash, she investigates mechanisms of novel therapeutics, including psychedelics and VR. As a co-founder of Enosis Therapeutics she developed a novel method of leveraging immersive technology to create an insight-focused approach to mental health treatment, well-being and human optimisation. She conducted the World’s first study on using an immersive therapeutic approach in combination with psychedelics to sustain psycho-emotional change.