Critical Perspectives on Knowledge Production in Psychedelic Science

Critical Perspectives on Knowledge Production in Psychedelic Science is a course that aims to examine a wide range of critical issues and perspectives in psychedelic science, equipping students with a broader and more integrated understanding of how research is conducted across a variety of settings, its limitations, and how these may be overcome in the future.

The course will address a wide range of issues related to the field of psychedelic science, including the role of the humanities in the renaissance of psychedelic research, tensions between methodological imperatives and ethical/patient-centred concerns in psychedelic clinical trials, how historical, political and economic factors inform psychedelic research design, the role of the entourage effect in the therapeutic use of psychedelics, and more.

Additionally, this course will also cover the critical questions to be asked about how, where and why particular knowledge about psychedelics is produced, especially as psychedelics continue to enter mainstream society. For instance, the course will examine how certain variables are selected in trials, how much value is assigned to particular forms of subjective experience, or is this valued at all, how knowledge production differs between the Global North and Global South, and how Indigenous perspectives are incorporated into psychedelic research.

Student Learning Objectives include the ability to discuss the role of the humanities in the renaissance of psychedelic research, articulate tensions between methodological imperatives and ethical/patient-centred concerns in psychedelic clinical trials, understand how historical, political and economic factors inform psychedelic research design, analyse how one-dimensional research designs focusing solely on drug dose may miss most of the desired outcomes, explain the historical significance placebo controls to the regulatory trajectory of both pharmaceutical and psychedelic research, discuss research designs able to compare the effects of substances, set and setting, and much more.

The course will be led by a team of instructors from various disciplines, bringing various perspectives and insights. It will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the field of psychedelic science.

This course cohort is currently ongoing and doesn’t accept new students.