Researchers and Advocates of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies Meet in Iceland
In what may be a future social model for psychedelic-assisted therapies, Iceland is welcoming a community of influential researchers and policy makers from the U.S., Nordic countries and other nations who are gathering on February 27-28 for the second annual Psychedelics as Medicine Conference.
Organized by the Iceland-based Eden Foundation, PAM will take place at the Harpa Conference Center in Reykjavik. “Our role as responsible facilitators is to end the hype and amplify the research, so that psychedelics can be adapted into our healthcare systems slowly, carefully, and in calculated steps by researchers and professionals,” says Sara María Júlíudóttir, founder of the Eden Foundation.
The PAM conference will host discussions about the latest research and scientific findings on the therapeutic use of psychedelic compounds and their integration into clinical therapies. Organizers are presenting the gathering as a community building opportunity for researchers, therapists, medical professionals, Indigenous elders, and advocates to establish meaningful connections and opportunities to collaborate. Musical guests from Indigenous tribes, Kazakhstan and Iceland will perform and international community partners are expected to attend.
Presentations will include the importance of set and setting, the structure of dosage sessions, and ethical considerations to help ensure safe, effective and transformative outcomes for patients. In addition to the latest research and future advancements in neuroscience and consciousness studies, the conference will include conversations about the history and evolution of psychedelics in medicine.
Headlining speakers include Rick Doblin, founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Paul Stamets, mycologist, author, and researcher on the medicinal applications of fungi, Dr. Gül Dölen, neuroscientist and professor at the University of California, Dr. Pamela Kryskow, founding board member of the Psychedelic Association of Canada who specializes in psychedelic medicine, mental health, and chronic pain, W. Bryan Hubbard, an advocate with a background in law and public policy focusing on ibogaine, and Simeon Schnapper, a founding partner of JLS, a neuromedicine venture capital fund with expertise in psychedelic research, philanthropy, and advocacy.
Registration for PAM is open with options for general admission, professional, and philanthropy passes that include access to the two-day conference. PAM also offers streaming passes starting February 24 for those who cannot join in person.
Visionaries in Iceland Point the Way Forward
The Eden Foundation was established in January 2022 to support and amplify professionals in psychedelic science. The goal of the foundation is to engage influential politicians, researchers, medical professionals, and psychonauts from around the world to create a future for psychedelics as medicine in Iceland and Scandinavia. All psychedelics are currently illegal in Iceland. There are no official treatment centers, research with substances or treatments offered within the healthcare system – except the use of ketamine as a pain relief treatment.
In 2023, the Eden Foundation organized the first ever psychedelic conference in Iceland with about 500 attendees and 20 international speakers who gathered in the largest conference hall in Reykjavík. That same year, when she was then the director of health, equivalent to the surgeon general in Iceland, Alma Möller noted that it was time for a new approach to treating mental illness and that she hoped evolving therapies using psychedelics will live up to expectations.
Möller is currently the minister of health and according to PAM organizers, has shown interest in the 2025 conference. Representatives from her ministry will be in attendance as well as Icelandic politicians and parliament members, ministers and other representatives from the health sector, some of whom also attended in 2023.
“What perhaps stands out is that there is further evidence emerging that these mind-expanding substances, when used correctly, appear to be effective against various mental illnesses,” said Páll Matthíasson, the head of psychiatry at the Icelandic National Hospital at PAM2023. In an interview with Channel 2 News in Iceland, Matthíasson said it was important that psychedelic substances be used as a tool in a larger treatment plan with a specialist.
According to the website for this year’s PAM conference, the creative vision behind the gathering and the foundation organizing it is led by “Sara María Forynja, a transpersonal psychotherapist with years of experience working with psychedelics, her business partner and well-known mental health activist, Silja Björk Björnsdóttir and their close-knit team of spiritual women leaders.”
This community, which is propelling the psychedelic revolution in Iceland, has sparked a growing movement of people discussing and working with plant medicines. “Led mostly by women who share stories and influence to make big change,” the organizers say that their goals include not just the greater good of Iceland, a country of about 400,000 people, but the collective benefit of humanity.
Björnsdóttir and Forynja say that their community is creating a new vision of purposeful alliance among global psychedelic communities. “Come for the conference, stay for the Icelandic adventure!” they write in response to questions from Lucid News. “Come meet the influential team of women, queer people and neurodivergents that put this conference together.”
Forynja, the founder and owner of the Eden Foundation, is the first Icelandic person to seek education as a psychedelic psychotherapist. She has been vocal about her training and graduated as a transpersonal psychotherapist in 2024 from AWE and Five Education, prompting other Icelanders to seek the same training.
Björnsdóttir, the co-owner of the Eden Foundation and PAM conference manager, has advocated for better mental health and wellness in Iceland since 2012. She has published two books, did a TEDx talk at the age of 22 after her suicide attempt, and has been featured in magazines and reality TV shows talking about her life as a person with PTSD, depression and suicidal ideation.
According to Forynja and Björnsdóttir, they are especially interested in featured talks at PAM2025 about iboga and ibogaine and their impact on the opioid crisis. They said this prompted them to invite W. Bryan Hubbard to address these therapies and introduce these treatments to Iceland. Speakers from Ghana and Gabon will also talk about the use of iboga and ibogaine in Africa, the cultivation of the iboga plant, and how it impacts the local agriculture and economy.
In addition to iboga and ibogaine, Forynja and Björnsdóttir say they are also interested in the implementation of MDMA-assisted therapy for patients with PTSD which they believe shows great promise. They say they have cultivated a relationship with MAPS which has long supported clinical trials for this therapy. The conference will also highlight the implementation of psilocybin as a medication for people with treatment resistant depression who do not find relief with SSRI’s,Forynja and Björnsdóttir say. The team says they admire the research in this area by London Imperial College and Compass Pathways, which was featured at the conference in 2023.
“Humanity is having a mental health crisis,” say Forynja and Björnsdóttir. “We need to respond to it, and we need to do it fast. Responsible, educated psychedelic therapies could very well be the key to unlocking that door.”
Addressing Prejudice and Misinformation
Forynja and Björnsdóttir say that while the first PAM conference in 2023 launched the conversation about the use of psychedelics in Iceland, there is still a great need for more education and knowledge sharing. They chose to organize the second conference to address what they say is continued prejudice and misinformation about the use of these therapies in Iceland.
“We want to learn more about how other countries have implemented these strategies into their legal systems and communities,” say Forynja and Björnsdóttir. “That is why we want to bring representatives from the global psychedelic community, to learn from their experiences and share the knowledge across all fields.”
Forynja and Björnsdóttir say they especially want to amplify the importance of set and setting and ensure that this message is heard and seen as a thread throughout the conference. They note that since the infancy of psychedelic research, the data has shown how instrumental set and setting is to psychedelic therapies. “We also know that the misuse of psychedelics, without the proper set and setting, is one of the things that leads to their criminalisation and illegality.”
According to Forynja and Björnsdóttir, they have carefully chosen the PAM2025 speakers to represent both the scientific and spiritual aspects of psychedelic therapies. At the forefront of the discussions will be the importance of responsible facilitating based on knowledge and research. Understanding the history of psychedelics is also a key element of bringing these therapies forward.
“We have to know the history to be able to understand it, criticise it and work with it, especially with what we are seeing happening in the world now, with the uprising of authoritarianism and right-wing powers,” say Forynja and Björnsdóttir. “This is history literally repeating itself and was undoubtedly something that many of us thought would never happen again, but it just goes to show the cyclical nature of human history.”
Highlighting Current Research
The organizers of PAM2025 say they will focus on both established and emerging researchers in the field of psychedelic therapies. The gathering will feature a broader spectrum of ideas than in 2023 and introduce a wide range of topics surrounding psychedelics. Members of the Huni Kuin Indigenous community will speak on their work in the Amazon, while Doblin will focus on MAPS and the FDA. Anthony Bossis, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, will speak about his years long research of psychedelics and end of life treatments.
Alongside established voices like Doblin and Stamets, PAM organizers say they will platform newer faces. The conference includes representatives of Indigenous communities in Africa, Europe, and Latin America to help ensure that conversations are not only focused on white westerners. “We are combining ancient history with modernity, to facilitate a broad discussion,” say Forynja and Björnsdóttir.
The PAM conference will also feature a separate Academic & Abstract Day where PhD students and future researchers can present their work and ongoing research to their peers. Forynja and Björnsdóttir say that they are keen to make sure that in addition to those who need funding, investors and business people attend the conference to network for future opportunities. Offered as an additional conference add-on, the Academic & Abstract Day will take place on February 26, a day before the main conference begins.
During the Academic & Abstract Day, the conference will host a Nordic Consortium that will bring together all the Scandinavian psychedelic associations from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. The day will end with a signing of a Collaboration Manifesto between these groups. Organizers expect the presentations to be attended by the head of the Icelandic mental health hospital, representatives from several addiction treatment centers, local and Scandinavian mental health associations.
According to the organizers of PAM2025, the main focus of the conference event is community. “This is about coming together and changing the world,” say Forynja and Björnsdóttir. “In today’s political climate, it is vital that we stand strong together and work together, not as separate entities, but as a unified front for the healing of humanity.”