Some people have called us a walking encyclopedia of psychedelic bullshit, but we think of ourselves as nerds who care.

Lily Kay Ross is a journalist, harm reduction advocate, and independent scholar advancing the field of Critical Psychedelic Studies. She’s Creator and Producer of New York magazine’s Cover Story: Power Trip podcast. She’s interested in queer, feminist and neurodivergent perspectives, peer-reviewed research, and science journalism that centers patients and people with lived experience. She has her Masters of Divinity from Harvard, and her PhD in Gender Studies from the University of Otago. Lily was Feminism & Ethics Research Fellow and Producer at Psymposia from 2020 until her resignation in 2023.

David Nickles is an underground researcher, harm reduction advocate, and journalist. He’s Creator and Producer of New York magazine’s Cover Story: Power Trip podcast. As a forerunner of Critical Psychedelic Studies, his work has focused on the intersection of radical politics and the sociocultural implications of psychoactive substances, research and clinical ethics, and novel phytochemical analysis of psychoactive materials. He is a vocal opponent of psychedelic commodification and blows glass in an idealistic attempt to avoid monetizing his psychedelic work. After five years with the organization, Dave resigned from his role as Managing Editor of Psymposia at the end of 2023.