Dr Shevaugn Johnson
Dr Shevaugn Johnson is a clinical psychologist and nurse originally from Canada. She has worked in the harm reduction psychedelic integration space and is currently involved in two psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy trials in Queensland. Moreover, she has been involved in the establishment of a Queensland-based ketamine-assisted therapy program. Furthermore, she is a member of the Australasian Research Group on Psychedelic Science and Australian Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Practitioners, and is the secretary of the Australian Psychological Society Psychedelic-assisted Therapy Interest Group.
Caine Barlow
Caine Barlow is a Mycologist and Fungi Educator based in Melbourne, Australia. He gives regular talks on mycology, fungi conservation, and teaches gourmet mushroom cultivation. He is a member of the Australian organisations Entheogenesis Australis, MYCOmmunity Applied Mycology, The Australian Psychedelic Society, and the Entheome Foundation. Caine posts regularly on his Instagram, @guerrillamycology, sharing adventures from cultivation, foraging, and ethnomycology, to interesting observations from his home lab.
Rich Haridy
Rich has written for a number of online and print publications over the last decade while also acting as film critic for several radio broadcasters and podcasts. His interests focus on psychedelic science, new media, and science oddities. Rich completed his Masters degree in the Arts at the University of Melbourne back in 2013 and was Chair of the Australian Film Critics Association for two years (2013-2015) before joining science and technology news outlet New Atlas in 2016. Since joining the New Atlas team Rich’s interests have considerably broadened to examine the era-defining effects of new technology on culture and life in the 21st century.
Dr Vince Polito
Dr Vince Polito is a Senior Lecturer from the School of Psychological Sciences at Macquarie University. Vince has a keen interest in understanding how altered states of consciousness can impact on cognition and mental health, and he and his students have studied hypnosis, states of flow, meditation, yoga, chanting, virtual reality, religious rituals and psychosis.
Symon Beck
Symon Beck is a mycoenthusiast with over ten years of experience foraging and eating many different species of fungi on Australia’s East Coast. Symon enjoys targeting new species and seeking out new locations for hunting. He has a particular interest in Psilocybe and other psychoactive species, and helps run the PMANZ group on Facebook. He has previously guided educational groups in the field, teaching others the basics of fungus identification and plans to continue to do so into the future. Symon's academic background is in medicine and psychiatry.
Dr Alistair Mctaggart
Alistair is a research fellow for the Centre of Horticultural Science (QAAFI), University of Queensland. He studies the evolution of fungal pathogens, with a focus on rust and smut fungi. He has completed postdocs in Africa, America, and Europe. Alistair has started a new research direction for UQ, studying the biodiversity of native psychoactive mushrooms in Australia. This research will determine whether Australian magic mushrooms have evolved unique genetic pathways for the production of psilocybin and confirm the endemicity of our native taxa. Alistair will establish a living collection to safeguard genetic diversity and provide a platform to research the applications of psilocybin for human health.
We invite the Australian ethnobotanical and psychedelic community to ongoing Garden States Microdose webcast series taking generally taking place on the last Wednesday night of each month at 8:00 pm AEDT (Melbourne) until our next major conference can return. Registration for Microdose Webcasts is free, but donations are encouraged where possible to support EGA's important work (booking fees may apply).
The webcasts will cover a variety of topics from the field of Ethnobotany and Psychedelic and sustainability. The webcast will be produced and hosted by a variety of folks active in the community including but not limited to Nick Wallis (Enpsychedelia), Miss Guidance (From EGA), Jonathan Carmichael (President of EGA) and Elen Jones of The Nimbin Herbs Experience. The content will be made up of panels, guest lectures, interviews, short film segment etc. and go for around 1 to 1.5 hours.
Each webcast will stream any new videos from the Seedlings Video Project as part of the monthly show. The Seedlings Project is ongoing, so please consider making a video submission any time. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel via the following link: Entheo TV.
We invite you to stay in touch with our community and keep up to date with our events by signing up to our email list via the EGA Home Page.
The Entheogenesis Australis (EGA) team
Planting seeds for the earth, body and mind
www.entheogenesis.org