Image by Richard Reader
In association with the Beckley Foundation.
2nd – 3rd April, 2011. University of Kent at Canterbury.
Attention Breaking Convention speakers,
We are soliciting contributions for an edited volume(s) of Breaking Convention Proceedings. Strange Attractor Press (http://strangeattractor.co.uk/about-3/) has expressed interest in publishing this work, although we are still in the preliminary stage of negotiations. We are requesting contributions of 2,000-4,000 words (though we may consider some longer contributions, if you give us a really good reason to do so) and are working with the following, tentative timetable in mind.
31 July 2011, deadline for expression of interest
31 August 2011, deadline for chapter synopsis (i.e. brief summary and outline)
15 December 2011, deadline for complete first draft
31 January 2012, drafts returned to contributors with comments from the editors
1 March 2012, deadline for final drafts
Please could you let us know by 31 JULY if you are interested in contributing and also that you will be able to meet the deadlines (e-mail A.Waldstein@kent.ac.uk). Also, please let us know if you want to use the title of your Breaking Convention presentation as a working title, or if you want to change it. Information on style, formatting, etc. to follow.
We hope you will be able to participate in this project and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Many thanks,
The Breaking Convention Organizing/Editing Committee
A conference in four quarters is to be held over the weekend of the 2nd-3rd of April, 2011. Workshops, seminars and presentations from submitted abstracts will run in parallel with the track of invited speakers.
Please note: If you have questions about your tickets or the conference, please do not contact the Beckley Foundation. Instead, please use the contact form found on the conference website.
This is an extremely exciting project: watch this space!
Featuring:
◎ Screenings of ‘DMT: The Spirit Molecule’ & ‘Dirty Pictures’.
◎ Video presentations from Prof. Ralph Metzner, Ram Dass, and Dr. Stan Grof.
◎ An Ayahuasca track, convened by Bia Labate.
◎ Several tracks of seminars, debates, workshops and presentations from submitted abstracts.
◎ Screenings of short psychedelic films, including ‘2012: Time For Change’, by João Amorim, and ‘Vine of the Soul’, by Richard Meech.
◎ Four invited symposia (see below).
◎ Two evening parties with live music, and a wine reception.
The four invited symposia:
What does psychedelic mean?
Organised by Dr. David Luke, PhD. Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Greenwich; Director of the Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness lecture series at the October Gallery, London
Psychedelics are substances with multiple dimensions, and can be considered artistically, clinically, spiritually, psychologically, neuro-scientifically, legally, historically, culturally, magically, ontologically, etc. This symposium will fuse together a number of diverse perspectives and help us assemble some of the intellectual jigsaw pieces we have created out of these plants and molecules.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
Mike Jay
Paul Devereux
Charlotte Walsh
Dr. Luis Eduardo Luna, PhD
Dr. Andy Letcher, PhD.
Amanda Feilding
* * *
Psychedelic Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Spirituality.
Organised by Dr. Ben Sessa, MD. Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Somerset, UK.
Psychiatry Symposium
Psychedelic Drugs have been recognised by non-Western cultures for generations as tools to access repressed memories and enhance psychotherapy. After the discovery of LSD’s effects in 1943 psychedelic psychotherapy blossomed worldwide until it was banned in the late 1960s. Later the entactogen MDMA was used successfully by therapists before it too was banned in the 1980s. Now, after a hiatus of nearly forty years, there are numerous contemporary studies under way throughout the world exploring the possible role of hallucinogens for modern medicine. This conference’s Psychiatry Symposium brings together some of the proponents of these studies to describe their landmark work.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
Dr. Evgeny Krupitsky, MD. (Ketamine)
Dr. Roland Griffiths, MD. (Psilocybin)
Dr. Peter Oehen, MD. (MDMA)
Dr. Neal Marshall Goldsmith, PhD.
MDMA Debate
We will then hold an ‘MDMA Debate’, which aims to encourage the audience to pitch their views to one another and our panel of experts to discuss the varying viewpoints about the drug MDMA. Ecstasy is used by at least half a million people each weekend in the UK and has been praised both as an important new tool for psychotherapy on the one hand and a dangerous neurotoxin on the other. This is the UK’s first public debate of the drug’s risks and benefits. Come and make your voice heard!
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
Dr. Ben Sessa, MD (Chair).
Dr. Rick Doblin, PhD.
Dr. Peter Oehen, MD.
Dr. Jon Cole, PhD.
Professor Val Curran, MD.
Dr Andy Parrott, PhD.
* * *
Current research on consciousness and psychedelics at the University of Kent
Organised by Dr. Cameron Adams, PhD., research fellow and lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Kent; and Dr. Anna Waldstein, PhD, lecturer in Medical Anthropology and Ethnobotany and convenor of the BSc in Medical Anthropology at the University of Kent.
In recent years the University of Kent has emerged as a centre for the study of psychedelic consciousness in the UK. This symposium presents a selection of relevant work by academics (and alumni) from across the University, including contributions from anthropology, conservation, sociology, criminology, mysticism and Hispanic studies. The breadth of research on psychedelic consciousness at the University of Kent spans self-medication with psychedelics as a form of empowerment, the cultural identities of people who use psychedelics and other illicit substances, and the ability of consumers to influence drug policy, to the use of active imagination to access paranormal worlds, and the representation of altered states of consciousness in literature.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
Dr. Cameron Adams, PhD.
Dr. Caroline Chatwin, PhD.
Dr. Axel Klein, PhD.
Dr. Anna Waldstein, PhD.
Dr. William Rowlandson.
Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD.
* * *
Bold Visions: The Future of Psychedelic Culture & Research.
Organised by Dave King & the UKC Psychedelics Society.
The psychedelic community is witnessing a research renaissance with rich results, legitimate protocols and government approvals. The success of The Beckley Foundation and of MAPS is booming, the science is ever more supporting, groups such as the UKC Psychedelics Society are sprouting, and university courses on psychedelics are manifesting. Alongside these scientific pursuits the psychedelic culture is stirring – ayahuasca is spreading around the world through Santo Daime branches. This symposium will see data from current research and questions about where the future of psychedelics lies. What are the far reaches of research? What political problems present themselves? What limitations and lessons have we learnt from the past? What is the future of psychedelics in society?
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
Dr. Rick Doblin, PhD.
Amanda Feilding
Dr. Franz Vollenweider, MD.
Prof. Torsten Passie, MD, PhD.
Graham Hancock
Andy Roberts
With thanks to MAPS and The Beckley Foundation for their affiliation with this project.