ABOUT US

The Beckley Foundation was founded in 1998 by Amanda Feilding, Lady Neidpath, who directs both its scientific and policy programmes. It is run from its headquarters at Beckley Park outside Oxford where Amanda regularly holds meetings with scientists and policymakers.

The Beckley Foundation is a charitable trust that was set up to investigate consciousness and its changing states from a multidisciplinary perspective. Through its Science Programme the Foundation initiates, develops and conducts world-class research that will improve not only our scientific understanding of consciousness, but also provide practical information to help optimize health and well being. The Foundation is working at the frontiers of the renaissance of psychedelic research. It is also undertaking pioneering research into cerebral circulation and its impact on the aging process, including possible ways to counteract some of its debilitating effects. Collaborative work initiated by the Foundation has brought about not only the first research into LSD with human participants since prohibition, but also the first explanation of the physiology underlying the beneficial effects of the ancient procedure of trepanation.

In addition to the Science Programme, the Beckley Foundation conducts a Drug Policy Programme which is dedicated to providing a rigorous, independent review of global drug policy. The Foundation's overarching aim is to reduce the harms associated with both the misuse of drugs and the policies that aim to control them. To this end, the Foundation commissions reports, alongside organising international seminars which promote informed debate among leading experts from around the world on the many issues surrounding drugs. The intention of the Foundation is to help develop policies that are evidence-based and rational, rather than those that are ineffectual, due to being rooted in unsubstantiated ideology.