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The conference will advance the BCSP’s vision of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and practical applications of psychedelics and consciousness research. This two-day event will unite leading scholars, scientists, artists, writers, and practitioners to explore consciousness from integrated humanities and scientific perspectives, bridging theoretical insights with societal impact. 

The conference will focus on knowledge sharing, featuring discussions on philosophical, scientific, artistic, and cultural perspectives on altered states of consciousness. Many consciousness researchers–both scientists and philosophers–are studying and writing about psychedelics, but this conference will provide a unique opportunity to bring them together to share their insights through dialogue to improve our collective understanding of consciousness. Designed as a complement to the film series, the conference will bring together people and learnings from across our pillars-–Basic Science, Journalism, Applied Research and Policy, and Culture and Community-–into an exploration of consciousness and its many interpretations.

This event will take place in fall 2026. Stay tuned for further details.

Join the BCSP and the Exploratorium for an evening of mind-expanding programs, from experimental music to psychedelic research. Immerse yourself in unusual sensory experiences with our exhibits. Listen to boundary-pushing music from Sarah Davachi, and learn about psychedelic education and harm reduction from local organizations.

The UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) and the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public (KCESP) are excited to host the first Workshop on Ethics and Engagement in Psychedelic Science. This landmark event will bring together psychedelic basic scientists from across the bay area to explore how ethical and values-driven principles can be integrated directly into their research.

Psychedelic science has a rich and complex history, which continues to influence research priorities and practice. Psychedelics researchers are grappling with how to navigate a unique research ecosystem in which histories of colonization, criminalization, and stigma have affected people, research funding, agendas, practice, and communication strategies. 

The resurgence of scientific inquiry into how psychedelics affect the brain, mind, and body raises ethical questions for basic scientists, whose work, while foundational, can sometimes feel disconnected from societal impact. How do diverse perspectives and disciplines shape psychedelic inquiry for basic research? How do incentive structures and operational environments shape research priorities in basic science? How might needs, values, and insights from other disciplines and perspectives also shape basic science? How do we understand and integrate values such as equity, reciprocity, and humility into our work?

The day-long workshop will be held near UC Berkeley campus and is a vital step toward shaping a new era for psychedelic science—one where groundbreaking discoveries are deeply rooted in ethical responsibility and societal benefit.

Get tickets here.

On September 25, the Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (CICI), in partnership with the BCSP, will host two events on the UC Berkeley campus exploring what psychedelics can offer the humanities as part of the Psychedelics in Society and Culture programming. From 5–7 p.m., Ramzi Fawaz, Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, will join Ramsey McGlazer, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Stephens Hall, for Thinking Like a Multiverse: Psychedelic Pathways to a Diverse World. This conversation asks what it takes to cultivate wonder, curiosity, and delight in human difference, exploring how the intensities of psychedelic experience might serve as tools for reimagining diversity in an increasingly polarized world. McGlazer is Senior Editor of Critical Times and, along with Stephanie Young, co-curating the 2025 Psychedelics in Society and Culture Fellowship project, Poetics and Plant Medicine, a yearlong public reading series that brings together poets, experimental prose writers, and scholars working at the intersection of aesthetics and psychedelic culture.

More information here.

On September 25, the Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (CICI), in partnership with the BCSP, will host two events on the UC Berkeley campus exploring what psychedelics can offer the humanities as part of the Psychedelics in Society and Culture programming. From 12:00 – 1:30pm in Dwinelle Hall, Ramzi Fawaz, Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, leads The Thrill of Groundlessness: A Psychedelic Humanities Tool Kit. This workshop explores how qualities often linked to psychedelic experience–disruption of the ego, sharpened perception, and a sense of vast connection–might open new ways of teaching, researching, and sustaining intellectual life in unsettled times. Alongside questions of method and pedagogy, the workshop reflects on how these qualities might support the well-being of humanities scholars in a precarious academic landscape.

Advance registration required.

This month, CounterPulse premieres On the Floor, a new performance by Maria Silk, Ph.D. student in Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, and collaborator Théophylle Dcx. On the Floor is a 2025 Psychedelics in Society and Culture Fellowship project, supported by the BCSP, Flourish Trust, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation’s NEW program, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation’s Community Arts program. The work channels the queer legacies of 1980s post-disco and hi-NRG dance music as a vehicle for altered states of embodiment, reflecting on the role of psychedelics and nightlife in shaping queer community during the early HIV/AIDS epidemic. Moving through hedonism, exhaustion, escape, and discipline, the performers explore how dance becomes a portal to pleasure, grief, and collective memory.

On the Floor runs at CounterPulse alongside Trashflower, a work by Rose and Zoey Huey, as part of the ARC Edge residency. Performances take place at CounterPulse on September 4, 5, 12, and 13.

At Psychedelic Science 2025 in Denver, the BCSP is hosting four panels on topics ranging from public opinion research to psychedelic journalism, brain imaging, and policy reform, showcasing the center’s growing role as a convener of rigorous, accessible dialogue. We’ll also gather our community off-site for The Space Between, a laid-back evening of connection, conversation, and celebration on June 19.

Panels featuring members of the BCSP community will include:

Listening to Public Opinion: Findings from the Second BCSP National Survey

On June 18, Andrea Venezia, executive director of the BCSP; Kuranda Morgan, BCSP civic science fellow; and Tyrone Jesse Sgambati, BCSP researcher will participate in a panel discussion of findings from the second administration of the BCSP’s psychedelic survey. The panel will highlight the shift in public attitudes about current issues in psychedelics and the implications for public policy at both the federal and state levels.

Beyond the Blobs: Critical Perspectives on Visualizing the Psychedelic Brain

On June 19, Jennifer Holmberg, a researcher at the BCSP, will participate in a discussion of how to visualize and communicate the complex effects of psychedelics on the brain.

The Psychedelic Beat: Journalism and a Rapidly Shifting Story

On June 20, Malia Wollan, the editor-in-chief of journalism projects at the BCSP; Jane C. Hu, head writer of The Microdose; Shayla Love, 2022 Ferriss Fellow; and Tiney Ricciardi, 2023 Ferris Fellow will offer a snapshot of how journalism shapes—and is shaped by—the “psychedelic renaissance.”

Additional sessions facilitated by BCSP affiliates, fellows, and community members will include:

Art @ the Heart: The Role of Creativity in the Future of Psychedelics

On June 18, this panel brings together a constellation of visionary panelists—artists, writers, designers, therapists, organizers, and technologists—who are shaping the creative edge of the psychedelic movement, including BCSP Flourish project contributor Hillary Brenhouse. Together, the panelists explore how art and creative practice are not just reflections of psychedelic experience, but essential technologies of healing, integration, cultural transmission, and transformation. From AI decoding altered states, to expressive therapy in clinical settings, to embodied movement and digital visual storytelling—this panel is a vibrant dialogue about how we gather, heal, communicate, study, and transform through psychedelic-informed creativity. This session will surface emerging questions around ethics, access, expression, and the expanding role of the artist and cultural worker in the psychedelic ecosystem. The panelists represent a spectrum of approaches—clinical, underground, journalistic, digital, and ceremonial—and offer a glimpse into the future of psychedelics as not only medical or mystical, but imaginative, relational, and radically participatory.

Ancestral Medicine – Healing the Streets: Grassroots Holistic Detox and Recovery

This panel, which includes BCSP Social Media Fellow Xochitl Bernadette Moreno, explores the intersection of ancestral medicine, street-based harm reduction, and community-led healing in the context of the incarceration, houselessness, and addiction crisis. Drawing from diverse cultural traditions and frontline experiences, panelists will share how indigenous, African diasporic, and Earth-based practices are being reclaimed and integrated into grassroots detox and recovery models. From mobile herbal apothecaries to ceremony to trauma-informed care, this conversation will highlight the role of culturally rooted, clinical (i.e EMDR, narrative therapy, IFS) and “outside the clinic” holistic approaches (i.e acupuncture, sweat lodge, entheogens) in supporting self-determination, spiritual reconnection, and trauma healing. With a focus on unhoused and formerly incarcerated communities often excluded from psychedelic discourse, this panel centers the wisdom of people healing in real time – with the community, under the sky, and in deep relationship with land and lineage.

Breaking Barriers on the Path to Liberation: A Call to Center Black Women’s Healing Journey

This panel, which includes Courtney Watson, charges us to dive further into the role of psychedelics and integration work in Black women’s healing. We will explore the barriers, solutions, and considerations at the forefront of the movement. An opportunity for transformative healing in the amplification of Black women’s voices Historically, Black women have endured compounded trauma due to systemic oppression, cultural stigmas, and the demands placed on them due to gender roles. Participants will be able to describe how the liberation of Black women, both in and around the psychedelic space, contributes to broader collective liberation. Although there is room for healing of the trauma experienced both on the macro and micro level of society through psychedelics, Black women face unique obstacles and barriers to accessing this healing modality. In addition to access, equitable and culturally sensitive integration methodologies are limited and far in between. When visiting solutions and considerations, we look to the words of Bell Hooks – “Healing is an act of communion.” There is a critical importance of community support and collective healing particularly in the work with Black women. Participants will increase understanding of the impact of spirituality and community on Black women’s mental health and be able to develop culturally informed support strategies. In addition, solutions need to emphasize a holistic approach which will include the biological self, the social self (community), the psychological self, and the spiritual self through the creation of sacred spaces. This conversation will explore spirituality as a large umbrella and an additional tool in integration with Black women. Informed psychedelic facilitation illuminates the way to profound emotional release, introspection, and enhances connectivity to one’s spiritual self and community.

Building the Psychedelic Training Ecosystem

Psychedelic care is rapidly evolving through multiple pathways, including medical, state-regulated supervised use, harm reduction, and more. Across all, a robust training ecosystem is of paramount importance. This panel, which includes Jeremy Rudy of Sabba Collective, will spotlight diverse efforts underway to build this infrastructure and promote high-quality care. The panelists, who represent nonprofits, for-profits, drug developers, and academia, will also explore various tensions at play around training at this time of significant uncertainty for the broader psychedelic field.

From Rodents to Humans: Unlocking the Science of Psychedelic-Induced Neuroplasticity

Psychedelics are increasingly showcased for their ability to boost neuroplasticity—the brain’s capacity to create new connections between neurons or modify existing ones. However, something that’s often underappreciated is that the majority of research on psychedelics and neuroplasticity has been conducted in rodent models or in vitro, with very little evidence directly linking these findings to humans. On this panel, leading psychedelic neuroscientists, including Manesh Girn, a member of the Mycoskie-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Social Media Fellowship Selection Committee, will provide an up-to-date overview of the current state of psychedelic neuroplasticity research, highlighting current contentions and challenges. We will discuss how neuroplasticity is studied across preclinical and human research, the methodological gaps that complicate translation between these fields, and the steps needed to bridge these gaps effectively. The panel will address critical questions, such as: How can we study neuroplasticity more reliably in humans? What role does neuroplasticity play in the therapeutic effects of psychedelics? What opportunities are there to develop ‘non-psychedelic’ psychedelic analogs that retain neuroplastic and therapeutic effects? Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how psychedelics work, the challenges faced by researchers, and the innovative pathways shaping the future of psychedelic neuroscience.

Join author Michael Pollan and neuroscientist Gül Dölen for The Future of Psychedelics, a live conversation with Indre Viskontas at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco. Co-presented by City Arts & Lectures and the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, the event explores how psychedelics are reshaping science, mental health, and culture.

Part of the 2024 Psychedelics in Society and Culture Fellowship program, this public symposium is led by UC Berkeley professor Poulomi Saha and gathers scholars, artists, and ceremonial practitioners to explore how psychedelic and mystical experiences can reanimate critical theory. Join us for a day of conversation, ceremony, and cross-disciplinary inquiry featuring guests Erika Gagnon, Mayanthi Fernando, Christian Greer, and Aidan Seale-Feldman.