Join us in this episode as we speak with Emma Robinson, a professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Bristol with extensive experience in animal research. She unpacks the regulations surrounding animal research, offering a scientist’s view on animal rights activism, ethical tension, and why this work remains essential. Robinson also delves into the emerging intersection of psychedelics and animal research, describing how these substances are studied and how they might help reshape mental illness.

• Professor Emma Robinson
• UK Government’s Roadmap to Ending Animal Testing
• PETA Confrontation
• Cognitive and affective models of psychedelics in rodents
• Psilocybin
• Ketamine
• British Neuroscience lecture with Prof Robinson and Prof Nutt
• The 3Hs Initiative

In this episode of the Drug Science Podcast, we talk to Simon Doherty, a journalist and content creator with a focus on harm reduction. He explores how reporting on electronic music and rave culture naturally led to his work on harm reduction. He goes on to dissect Talk to Frank and its flaws in providing accurate, evidence-based information. Finally, by comparing the unique landscape of free parties to the regulated club scene, Doherty discusses why and how clubs avoid common sense harm reduction techniques, endangering clubgoers.

Links

• Simon’s TikTok
• Investigating Talk to Frank
• Calling Frank
• The Loop
• Rave Aid Crew
• GHB/GHL
• Ketamine
• Nitazenes

Join us in this episode as we talk to Prof Sara Tai, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Manchester and an NHS consultant clinical psychologist.

Sara’s research is grounded in biopsychosocial frameworks, with a focus on understanding the mechanisms of change that underpin effective psychological therapies. She has extensive experience delivering therapy, and training other clinicians to deliver interventions with individuals, families, and young people across diverse settings, including acute in-patient units, community mental health services, and schools.

For many years, Sara has been at the forefront of research into psychedelic-assisted therapies, working collaboratively with academic and industry partners to explore how psychedelics bring about therapeutic change. She has been instrumental in manualising psychological support models that integrate the core effective components shared across evidence-based psychotherapies, helping to define best practice in this rapidly advancing area. An experienced researcher, clinician, and trainer, Sara has led and collaborated on large-scale randomised controlled trials and has played a central role in training psychedelic therapists worldwide. Her work continues to bridge scientific research and clinical practice, advancing safe, effective, and compassionate approaches to mental health care.

Sara explores her research into the oft-overlooked role of therapy within psychedelic treatments. She discuses how her work has helped to challenge the notion of psychedelic compounds as medicine in themselves, shifting the focus onto the therapeutic approaches alongside them. Ultimately, Sara underscores the need for more transformative psychedelic experiences grounded in peer support, indigenous knowledge, or therapeutic experience in order to facilitate positive outcomes.

Links

Prof Sara Tai

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Method of Levels