#3 Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley – Designing Scientific Studies

In this episode, my guest is ⁠Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley⁠. She is a Neuroscientist with 10 years of experience researching psychedelics. Grace completed her PhD in Neuroscience at King's College London and currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at NWPharma Tech. She is the Research Director at Heroic Hearts Project, a charity that supports combat veterans with mental health challenges resulting from trauma and is also the founder of Hystelica, a community focused on understanding women's biology for safe and effective psychedelic use.

This episode will help you better understand the overlap and divergence between scientific and design research, their respective purposes, methodologies, and outcomes. It discusses the challenges of "designing scientific studies," including the distinctions between studies and clinical trials, and strategies for ensuring methodological rigor.

We also touch on data collection in scientific research, minimizing bias in complex research settings like psychedelics, and aligning research processes with the active nature of psychedelic experiences.

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For more information and additional resources, please visit ⁠www.psychedelics.design⁠

Contribute and fill out the ⁠research survey⁠ aimed at investigating how psychedelic substances affect the design process in context with psychedelic-induced nature-relatedness.

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Hystelica

An organisation dedicated to understanding safe and effective psychedelic use for women.

To ensure that the specific needs of women are considered in the future of psychedelics, Hystelica are conducting, promoting, and inspiring - research and education within the psychedelic community.

⁠https://www.hystelica.com⁠

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Further References:

Research Survey Hystelica: https://www.hystelica.com/survey

NWPharma Tech: ⁠https://nwpharmatech.com/⁠

Heroic Hearts Project: ⁠https://heroicheartsproject.org/⁠

King's College London: ⁠https://www.kcl.ac.uk/⁠

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS): ⁠https://maps.org