Our Board

TRUSTEE

Jo is Professor of Psychopharmacology and Past President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology. Jo has been working in preclinical drug discovery for psychiatric medicine for over 30 years with some experience in the pharmaceutical Industry but mostly in academia.

Jo is conducting animal studies into the efficacy of psilocybin for cognitive disorders and qualitative research into its effects in certain patient populations.

TRUSTEE

Tara began her career as a strategist in advertising agencies and has worked with many of the world’s biggest brands from Unilever and Coca-Cola to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Later, she began to specialise in the new field of applied behavioural science and led Ogilvy Behavioural Science Practice’s inaugural experiment.

Today she creates integrated behaviour change campaigns for clients such as HM Government, Recycle for London and Public Health England and is host of Nudgestock, the world’s biggest festival of behavioural science and creativity.

As a self-declared “psychedelic evangelist” she has been for many years trying to influence public policy regarding psychedelic medicine and in 2022 she founded the PAR campaign for “psilocybin access rights” to bring further public attention to the need for evidence-based drug policy and the case for rescheduling psilocybin.

TRUSTEE

Professor Sara Tai is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Sara is an experienced practitioner, trainer, and supervisor of a-diagnostic approaches for working with people who have experienced serious problems affecting their mental health, and their families; providing one-to-one interventions, group interventions, and family work.

She has extensive clinical and research experience of working within multi-cultural inner city areas and provides regular consultancy internationally on developing accessible community and inpatient services, training clinicians in psychological interventions for psychosis and bipolar disorders and mood swings. Her research focuses on the science and practice of psychological interventions, including cognitive theory and interventions for people experiencing psychosis and mood-swings.

She has an international reputation as a trainer in CBT and is currently involved in clinical trials and experimental research developing psychological interventions for psychosis and bipolar disorders in Texas, Philadelphia, Illinois, Beijing, Europe and the UK.

RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGIST & ADVISOR

Currently based at the Maudsley Hospital, King's College London, WaiFung is a Psychology MSc and DClinPsych (Cand) with years of clinical experience primarily in the field of addiction and neurodevelopment..

Over the past few years, he has undertaken the role of researcher statistician and psychologist within a team conducting a number of international studies exploring the impact of ayahuasca on mental health, in particularly within Amazonian ceremonial settings with cultural sensitivities upheld.

RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGIST & ADVISOR

Half German and Sri Lankan - Nige is currently a Prof. Doc candidate at the University of the West of England, where he trains as a counselling psychologist. Born on the Isle of Man and raised in Chester, Nige went on to study with a background in psychopharmacology and early phase clinical testing.

Since qualifying from an MSc, he has set out to design experiments with the intention of shedding light on the therapeutic potential of plant compounds. From 2016, Nige has designed and conducted a number of projects investigating the impact of the Amazonian plant brew, ayahuasca.

In his spare time he volunteers for harm reduction charities, PsyCare and the Zendo Project.