Berkeley, CA – Dec 16, 2025 — Scientific research is always a reflection of the world around it—our history, our values and our people. That is why researchers must do more than just observe; they must constantly look inward. Integrating ethics means practicing humility and accountability every day. It means asking: Does this work promote equity? Is it mutually beneficial?
This is critical in psychedelic science. As interest in psychedelics explodes, researchers on the cutting edge face unique ethical dilemmas. To move forward responsibly, they must ensure that the excitement for discovery is matched by a commitment to doing right by the community.
The BCSP’s core values inform work at the center. Within basic science, journalism, community-building, applied research and policy, the BCSP’s staff ask questions and support each other as they figure out how ethical and values-driven principles can be integrated directly into their work and the work of others in the field of psychedelic science.
On November 7, 2025, the BCSP and the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public gathered 38 participants for a first-of-its-kind workshop designed specifically for psychedelic basic scientists: researchers who investigate the biological mechanisms of action of psychedelics. Organizers hoped to ask, 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 can researchers make sure they’re doing research with communities and not just about them? How might needs, values, and insights from other disciplines and perspectives also shape basic science? How do those in the psychedelic field understand and integrate values such as equity, reciprocity and humility into their work?
“Unlike applied research, basic science research is often oriented towards discovery and foundational knowledge, rather than in direct response to a societal problem,” said Kuranda Morgan, strategy director and civic science fellow at the BCSP, who co-led the workshop alongside Jen Holmberg and Leana King, both neuroscience PhD students and graduate fellows at the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public. “So how do we think about ways that neuroscience can be values-led, culturally attuned, and community-responsive when it can feel more upstream from the problems that society is experiencing?”
Being: Reflexivity in Research
How does one’s own disciplines affect them? How does background shape which issues someone is interested in, their methodologies and their audiences?
When talking about values-led work—and inviting lived experiences and community perspectives to influence that work—it’s important to examine one’s own history and training. That’s why the BCSP began the workshop by establishing context. Sylver Quevedo, who is the scientific director and chair of the board of directors for the Open Mind Collective, a faculty member at the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics and a principal investigator in an FDA trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, provided theoretical grounding for the day’s discussion, orienting attendees to the strengths of different disciplines, both research that’s driven by the scientific method and research that’s driven by narrative and personal experience.
Next, participants wrote down one of their own values—humility, curiosity and creativity were stand-outs—and considered how it showed up in their work.
Becoming: Exploring psychedelic inquiry through different disciplines
What new opportunities emerge when different ways of knowing work together? What’s the impact of exploring (or not exploring) perspectives from disciplines different from one’s own?
Background, both professional and personal, shapes how researchers approach their work—which is part of why it’s so meaningful to learn from each other’s work in various disciplines. To that end, participants heard from three different speakers about how they view psychedelic inquiry.
Dr. Heather Kuiper, co-founder and director of the Center for Psychedelic Public Health, spoke about how to approach psychedelic inquiry as a public health issue, related to social and community health. If researchers think about psychedelics as potentially improving outcomes, then how can they establish equity within and across the research process?
Dr. Diana Negrín, a geographer and curator with a focus on identity, space and social movements in Latin America and the United States, explored how geographic, historic and sociocultural contexts shape how plant medicines are stewarded and used. As psychedelics continue to become more mainstream, how do researchers acknowledge how their growing popularity shapes the communities and geographies that they come from? How can researchers reflect on the role of their work in changing relationships between communities and the land?
Marlena Robbins, the program coordinator for the Indigenous Student Research Fellowship at the BCSP and a DrPH candidate at UC Berkeley, spoke about Indigenous knowledge as science. How can researchers respect and learn from Indigenous research ethics, including relational accountability, reciprocity, kinship and trust? What is the importance of cultivating a relationship with the plants themselves?
In breakout groups, participants discussed ethical tensions that came up in their work. Then, each group worked through one dilemma: What are the historical contexts, and forms of insight might add to it? What would it look like if the ethical dilemma was addressed, and what would be the adverse effect if it wasn’t?
“We went through the process of collective sense-making: studying a problem, how it manifests, and what it might look like to have it solved, with people who are different from you,” said Morgan. “That builds a cultivated awareness, which can inform how you think about administering a sacrament or diversifying your research study participants.”
Together, workshop attendees brought together those “flowers” to create a garden of ethical dilemmas.
Belonging: Approaches to ethics and engagement
What does it look like to be inclusive in a research practice? What approaches can successfully advance interdisciplinary work?
How others bring their backgrounds to their work can broaden one’s understanding of psychedelic inquiry—and lead to collaboration, both with other researchers and with subjects of research. The organized asked three speakers to discuss engaged medical research and how to pursue interdisciplinary work in the psychedelic field.
Dr. Lea Witowsky, executive director of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public at UC Berkeley, spoke about three projects that bridge science and society: the Kali Center graduate fellowship, which provides graduate students with ethical training; an event that bridged perspectives between the autism community (care-givers and self-advocates) and scientists studying autism; and an art residency focused on visualizing genetic data in textiles.
Dr. Brian Anderson, a psychiatrist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and an associate clinical professor at the UCSF School of Medicine, spoke about how he co-designed a study about demoralization from long-term AIDS diagnosis with the community he researched, focusing on increasing connection through group therapy and dealing with trauma that didn’t qualify as PTSD through psilocybin therapy. Anderson shared how conversational spaces like town halls can steer research questions.
Dr. Bryan Howard, a co-founder of Oakland Hyphae, the first industry-recognized psychedelic testing lab, talked about the importance of trials outside of an academic setting to understand the potency and experiences of various psychedelic substances.
Moving forward
At the end of the workshop, participants gathered together to reflect on what they learned and specific actions that they could take to further develop ethical frameworks in their own research.
“The BCSP is really unique, in that we have these different disciplines: journalism, basic science, applied research, and convenings and events,” says Morgan. “Values-led ways of working are at the core of the BCSP’s identity, and we’ll continue thinking about how to imbue engaged practices, right relationship, cultural attunement and values into our work.” The workshop was a meaningful way to have those conversations—and just the beginning.
