Psychedelic Research Network

Psychedelics drugs including psilocybin and LSD provide many avenues for research. From their acute subjective and neural effects to their capacity to reduce symptom severity across a range of psychiatric and neurological conditions. We aim to bring together clinicians, pharmacologists, psychologists, neuroimagers and preclinical modelers to converge on translational research projects to better understand how psychedelics work, and how the brain works, using psychedelics.

History

The group was in 2022 established as a thematic working group, in response to the growing interest and research focus on psychedelic treatments. In 2023, we organized the ECNP New Frontiers Meeting on the topic of psychedelics in Nice; the meeting received massive attention underscoring how timely a meeting on this topic was. Starting with a core group of researchers with a focus on facilitating cross-site collaborations and data sharing, we have grown to also include now 2 ECA members.

The establishment of the ECNP network on psychedelics has meant that non-academic organizations, regulators and companies have access to European academic experts on the mechanisms and use of psychedelic treatments. The network has also been instrumental to define current research gaps in how psychedelics work as, e.g., in our publications in Neuroscience Applied. Academically, the network has successfully organized and suggested symposia in meetings for relevance of neuropsychopharmacology.

Gitte Moos Knudsen, Denmark, and Johan Lundberg, Sweden

Goals

1

Represent the methodological and technical skills and scientific expertise required for the development of relevant human and animal studies in order to set up collaborative projects.

2

Share collected data among the constitutive centres of the present network to carry out pilot or ancillary studies testing new hypotheses or replicating previous findings.

3

Invest in shared stocks of GMP-produced psychedelics.

4

Support policy-making vis-à-vis politicians and regulators.

5

Develop educational material to provide evidence-based information to professionals and society.

6

Support the careers of early-career scientists performing psychedelic research.

Core members

Member name

Institution

City

Country

Lucie Berkovitch

Neuromodulation Institute of Sainte Anne Hospital GHU Paris Psychiatrie et Neurosciences

Paris

France

Eero Castren

University of Helsinki

Helsinki

Finland

Christina Dalla

University of Athens

Athens

Greece

David Erritzoe

Imperial College London

London

United Kingdom

Patrick Fisher

Neurobiology Research Unit, Rigshospitalet,

Copenhagen

Denmark

Gerhard Gründer

Central Institute of Mental Health

Mannheim

Germany

Friederike Holze

University Hospital Basel

Basel

Switzerland

Kim Kuypers

Maastricht University

Maastricht

The Netherlands

Juan Pablo Lopez

Karolinska Institutet

Stockholm

Sweden

Tomas Palenicek

National Institute of Mental Health

Klecany

Czech Republic

Luísa Pinto

University of Minho

Braga

Portugal

Katrin Preller

University of Zurich

Zurich

Switzerland

Dimitris Repantis

Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin  

Berlin 

Germany      

Robert Schoevers 

University Medical Center Groningen 

Groningen

The Netherlands 

Carolina Seybert

Champalimaud Foundation

Lisboa

Portugal

Dea Stenbæk

University of Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Denmark

Shell members
Member name Institution City Country
Naomi Fineberg University of Hertfordshire Hertfordshire United Kingdom
Vibe Frokjaer  University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark
Guy Goodwin University of Oxford
COMPASS Pathways
London United Kingdom
Matthias Liechti University of Basel Basel Switzerland
David Nutt Imperial College London London United Kingdom
Eric Vermetten Leiden University Leiden The Netherlands
Early Career Academy members

Member name

Institution

City

Country

Jessica Mingardi

University of Milan

Milan

Italy

Nathalie Rieser

University of Zurich | Johns Hopkins University

Zurich

Switzerland

Pim Van Der Meer

UMC Utrecht

Utrecht

The Netherlands

Course

Access the ECNP Knowledge Hub where you can find online courses with high-quality lectures from expert speakers, organised by the Networks.

Psychedelic research: science, therapy and future directions in mental health

The Psychedelic Research Network a comprehensive overview of the current scientific understanding of psychedelics, their neurobiological mechanisms, therapeutic applications, clinical protocols, safety considerations, and future directions in mental health research.

Enrol here