Speakers 2024

Joost Breeksema - Philosopher and PostDoc, director OPEN Foundation

Philosopher and qualitative researcher interested in the lived experiences and perspectives of patients and therapists involved in psychedelic treatments, aiming to deepen our understanding of the potential therapeutic mechanisms involved and the role of non-pharmacological contextual factors. Director of OPEN Foundation and the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research (ICPR 2024; icpr-conference.com; 6-8 June 2024). Underlying all his work is a deep-seated belief in the scientifically grounded, responsible and ethical integration of psychedelics into health care and society that respects the multiplicity of other, non-medical approaches.

Tijmen Bostoen - Psychiatrist and Researcher at ARQ Centum ‘45/ Leiden University Medical Center

Tijmen Bostoen, M.D., is a psychiatrist and a master of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He specializes in the pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy of PTSD and works at ARQ Centrum ’45, the National Dutch center for psychotrauma. He is a Co-Investigator and study therapist in a European phase 2 multi-center MDMA assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD trial and has experience in the clinical application of ketamine assisted psychotherapy for therapy refractory PTSD. His PhD research at Leiden University Medical Center/ARQ Centrum ‘45 focuses on the clinical application of psychedelics in the treatment of PTSD.

Michiel van Elk - Associate professor, author, University of Leiden

Michiel obtained degrees in philosophy (MA), biological psychology (MSc) and the psychology of religion (MSc) in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Nijmegen. He completed his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Donders Institute in Nijmegen (cum laude). He worked as a visiting researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara (2010), as a Marie Curie post-dotoral fellow at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland (2010-2012), as a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University (2017), as a Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Amsterdam (2019-2010) and as a researcher at the University of Amsterdam (2013-2020). Since 2020 Michiel is affiliated as Associate Professor to the University of Leiden and supported by grants from the Templeton Foundation, NWO and the BIAL Foundation he supervises the Psychedelic, Religious, Spiritual and Mystical (PRSM) experiences Lab. Michiel has published several popular science books on such different topics as the Babybrain, the Evolution of Religion, Ecstatic Experiences and Psychedelics.

Jeanine Kamphuis - Psychiatrist at the Department for Mood Disorders in the University Hospital Groningen

I am a psychiatrist working at the Department for Mood Disorders in the University Hospital Groningen. We treat severely depressed patients with high disease burden who have often tried multiple treatments without enough result. Together with my colleagues I seek ways to help these patients. We are often trying the last steps in our treatment guidelines, such as the use of electroconvulsive therapy or monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Given the great need for new treatment modalities I feel an urge to investigate and properly implement new approaches. One of these approaches is ketamine, and I coordinate the ketamine treatment program that we started in 2017. My current research focus is on the use of mind-altering drugs, such as ketamine and classic psychedelics, for treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders especially depression.

Morten Lietz - PhD Candidate, University of Fribourg

Morten Lietz is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Medical Science, focusing on the effects of LSD on neuroplasticity across the lifespan. Further, he serves as speaker- and backstage-coordinator for ALPS (Awareness Lectures On Psychedelic Science), a Swiss non-profit, which organizes scientific conferences.

Before coming to Switzerland, he played a key role in initiating a research program at the University of Groningen (NL), which investigated the combination of neuroplasticity enhancing agents and neuromodulatory treatments for improved cognitive outcomes. Additionally, he co-organized the first two editions of the Summer School on Psychedelic Research with Dr. Joost Breeksema and OPEN Foundation (NL).

Next to his thesis project, his research interests are on the effects of psychedelics on autobiographical and associative memory, how (epi)genetics influence the psychedelic experience, and the effects of microdosing on safety & cognition.

Aidan Lyon - Philosopher, University of Amsterdam and Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy

Aidan Lyon is a philosopher at Leiden University and external member of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy. He completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 2009 at the Australian National University and has Bachelor's degrees in Science (Mathematics) and Arts (Philosophy) from the University of Queensland. His research is at the intersection of psychology and philosophy and focuses on wisdom, uncertainty, psychedelics, meditation, yoga, and artificial intelligence. His book, Psychedelic Experience: Revealing the Mind, published with Oxford University Press, explores the intersection of psychedelics, meditation, and other spiritual practices. Dr. Lyon also works as a philosophical risk-management consultant, specialising in decision contexts that involve extreme uncertainty and high stakes. He works with clients across a wide array of domains, including biosecurity intelligence, geopolitical forecasting, environmental decision-making, institutional investing, and psychedelic therapy.

Daan Oostveen - Philosopher, Utrecht University

Dr. Daan F. Oostveen is a philosopher and a scholar of religion working at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University. He graduated from Ghent University with M.A. degrees in both Philosophy and Comparative Literature. His PhD was awarded by the Faculty of Theology and Religion of VU Amsterdam, with a doctoral dissertation on multiple religious belonging. For his doctoral research, he spent a year as a research fellow at the People’s University of China in Beijing to study contemporary Chinese religious diversity in 2018. He is a founding member of the New European Humanities in the 21st Century Network (neh21.net), which works on connecting innovative research on the humanities in Europe for the World Humanities Report. His research interests include the new humanities, including the psychedelic humanities, comparative religion, and posthumanism.

Robert Schoevers - Professor, Psychiatrist and researcher, University Medical Center Groningen

Psychiatrist and researcher, currently head of Dept. of Psychiatry UMCG and Director of interdisciplinary BCN Research School at the RijksUniversiteit Groningen. Active in oral esketamine and psilocybin studies for patients with treatment resistant depression. Interested in both the clinical potential and mechanisms of action of psychedelic substances in mental disorder, surrounded by a rapidly growing group of enthusiastic, hard working and motivated junior and senior researchers. Skeptical about hypes, and at the same time curious about innovation.

Stephen Snelders - Historian, Researcher, Utrecht University

Stephen Snelders studied history at Utrecht University. After receiving his M.A. in social and economic history, in the 1990s Stephen developed and worked on a PhD project on the history of LSD in the Netherlands. One of the sources of this project were interviews with pioneers of psychedelic therapy and culture. Stephen also worked as editor of a bulletin on psychedelic drugs. In 1999 he received his PhD at VU-University on the thesis ‘LSD and psychiatry in the Netherlands’. A shortened trade version, ‘LSD-therapie in Nederland’, was published in 2000.

Since then, Stephen has researched and published extensively on the history of psychoactive drugs, focusing on interactions between scientific and public domains, and more particular in the social and cultural sphere. He has worked as research fellow and teacher at the VU-Medical Center (Medical Humanities), Utrecht Medical Center (Julius Center), and is since 2015 research fellow and assistant professor at the Faculty of Science of Utrecht University (Freudenthal Institute/History and Philosophy of Science). Recent publications are ‘Drug Smuggler Nation: Narcotics and the Netherlands, 1920-1995’ (Manchester University Press 2021, 2023), ‘Drugssmokkelland’ (Walburg Pers, 2022), and ‘From psychiatric clinics to magical center: LSD in the Netherlands’, in the volume ‘Expanding Mindscapes: A Global History of Psychedelics’ (MIT Press, 2023).

Albert Dahan - Professor, Leiden University

Prof Dahan graduated from de Vrije University in Amsterdam (MD; 1986) and Leiden University (PhD; 1990). After receiving his PhD degree, he began his residency in Anesthesiology in 1990 (a 5-year program) at the Leiden University Medical Cente. He founded in 1992 the Anesthesia & Pain Research Unit, a clinical research united dedicated to cardiorespiratory research.and became staff anesthesiologist in 1995 and full professor of Anesthesiology in 2004. The research unit performs outcomes research in anesthesia and pain (treatment) with special focus on respiratory physiology and pharmacology, and aims at the widespread distribution of gained knowledge in close collaboration with academic and non-academic partners. The work in the research unit is made possible by a multitude of grants that we received from national and international funding agencies including ZonMW (Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development; The Hague), US DoD, US FDA and commercial partners. Currently there are 15-20 PhD students working in the department under the leadership of an excellent group of 7 postdocs, working on nociception monitoring during surgery, ventilatory control (using the 2nd generation Leiden gas mixer), novel anesthesia techniques, pain research and the pharmacology of opioids, opioid antagonists and anesthetics focussing on ketamine. His research group published over 490 peer reviewed papers on respiration, pain, pain treatment, anesthesia, and opioid-induced respiratory depression. He recently adopted a novel approach, aimed at application of the economic principle of utility, i.e. incorporating the intended benefit and multiple non-intended harms of treatment into one function. The research unit participates in the ZonMW-sponsored TAPTOE consortium (tackling and preventing the opioid epidemic), and performs research in close collaboration with the US FDA. In 2020 he was knighted (order of the Lion of the Netherlands) and in 2023, he received the ISAP lifetime achievement award.

Amir Vudka - Assistant Professor, researcher, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis

Dr. Amir Vudka is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Media Studies of the University of Amsterdam, and a researcher at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA). His research is characterized by a cross-disciplinary approach that bridges media and cultural studies, film theory, philosophy, as well as the exploration of psychedelics and drugs. Notable among his recent publications are "Technology and Addiction: What Drugs Can Teach Us About Digital Media" (Transcultural Psychiatry 2022), and "Cooking the Cosmic Soup: Vincent Moon's Altered States of Live Cinema" (Deleuze and Guattari Studies 2023). In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Vudka is a dedicated film programmer, an art curator, and the artistic director of both the Sounds of Silence Festival and the Altered States Festival.

Stefanie Enriquez-Geppert – Assistant Professor at the Department for Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology, University of Groningen

Stefanie Enriquez-Geppert is a psychologist, with a PhD from the Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience (University of Münster, Germany) focusing on the interplay between brain activity, structure, and cognitive behaviour. In her postdoctoral phase, Stefanie developed neuroscience-based neurofeedback protocols at the University of Oldenburg and the University Psychiatry, studied cognitive ageing in Spain, and researched brain lesion impacts at the University of Cambridge.

Currently, at the University of Groningen, her research is dedicated to applying cognitive interventions to alleviate executive dysfunctions across various populations. Stefanie has led the first study integrating psychedelics with neurofeedback to improve executive functioning, and is exploring the cognitive effects of psilocybin and the acceptability of psychedelic-assisted training. At the board of the Society of Applied Neurosciences, she supports emerging young scientists. Stefanie volunteers as a scientific advisor for the 'International Justice Mission' in Germany, an international non-governmental organisation for human rights.