Barbara Dicker Oration 2025, The Psychedelic Renaissance: Hope or Hype for people with mental illness?

The annual Barbara Dicker Oration is an initiative of the Barbara Dicker Brain Sciences Foundation that facilitates meaningful conversations about mental health and brain sciences, as well as supporting research advancements in these fields.

This year we are delighted to welcome our guest speaker Professor David J Castle, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Tasmania and Consultant Psychiatrist, Royal Hobart Hospital Statewide Mental Health Service.

David has wide clinical and research interests, encompassing schizophrenia and related disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder spectrum disorders and disorders of body image. He has a longstanding interest in the impact of licit and illicit substances on the brain and body and is actively engaged in programmes addressing the physical health of the mentally ill and the mental health of the physically ill. He has published widely in scientific literature and frequently speaks at scientific meetings.