OPEN Foundation

Bridging Approaches: Phenomenology

🗣 Dr. Andy Letcher, PhD
     Julian Kiverstein, PhD
     Rebekah Senanayake
     moderated by Eirini Ketzitzidou Argyri

⏰ Wednesday 1 October, 2025 8PM CEST (7PM BST, 2PM ET, 11AM PT)

📍 Online via Zoom

Add to Calendar
Standing between objective investigation and subjective experience, phenomenology is at the heart of multiple disagreements in the psychedelic field. Does lived experience even matter?
In a time where brain activity can be measured objectively, scientists are trying to create non-hallucinogenic psychedelic compounds, so that patients can be treated without the ‘side effects’ of lived experience. Other scholars remind us that subjective experience is embodied and situated within an environment of cultural, historical, social and geographical factors, and that purely objective science is a mere fantasy.
Can perception or the self be studied without phenomenology? Can one gain true access to the subjective experience of another? Which methods are effective? Are they scientific, or does phenomenology touch the limits of academic knowledge?

Bridging Approaches is a series of events tackling subjects under dispute in the psychedelic field in a peacemaking mode. Professor of neurophilosophy Julian Kiverstein will discuss the significance of phenomenology to the philosophy of mind and its implementation in cognitive science. Moving from ecology to religion studies, Andy Letcher will talk about the advantages and pitfalls of phenomenology in the context of psychedelic spiritualities. Rebekah Senanayake will explore how extensive fieldwork, traditional apprenticeships, and embodied research practices can bridge phenomenological inquiry and empirical investigation, connecting traditional and modern scientific ways of knowing in psychedelic studies. Together they will try to create bridges between their views, and find constructive manners to talk and work together without resolving the conflict.
The discussion will be moderated by Eirini Ketzitzidou Argyri.

READY TO ATTEND?

ATTEND FOR FREE AS A MEMBER

Unlock access to this and all exclusive live events & recordings with leading psychedelic experts and engage in real time through the OPEN Community Membership. Plus, enjoy a community space, a content library, discounts, and more.

ATTEND with donation

You can attend this event through a one-time donation to support our non-profit in organizing high-quality educational events with networking opportunities.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Dr. Andy Letcher is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, where he is programme director for the online and in-person MScs in Psychedelics: Mind, Medicine, Culture. He is the author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom and researches psychedelic spiritualities, especially the use of psychedelics within contemporary Paganism and the use of the fly agaric mushroom. 
 
Julian Kiverstein is a senior researcher at the Lemon Tree Interdisciplinary Center for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Philosophy. He is trained as a philosopher of mind but work as an interdisciplinary researcher at the edge of many different disciplines. He has always been inspired by ideas about embodiment and our existence as human beings from the phenomenological tradition in philosophy. 
Rebekah Senanayake integrates anthropological and psychological approaches to consciousness research, bridging phenomenological and empirical methodologies. As a PhD Candidate, she combines 27 months of Amazon fieldwork over a decade with psychological studies on psychedelics and consciousness.
Formally invited to apprentice with the Kichwa in 2019 (the first known woman to do so in the region), her field methodology explores embodied ways of knowing, positioning the researcher as an active participant in traditional ceremonies and ritual practices. Drawing on her Sri Lankan heritage and Australasian upbringing, her work seeks to create dialogue between traditional, Eastern, and Western scientific approaches to knowledge and inference.
Her research examines plant medicine traditions, ritual technologies, and expanded states through culturally embedded participation rather than solely observation, challenging dominant clinical paradigms in psychedelic studies. She has lectured at leading institutions including Princeton University and advises organisations through Inner Visions on navigating methodological complexities where subjective experience meets scientific inquiry.
Eirini Ketzitzidou Argyri is a PhD candidate at the University of Exeter, UK. Her research examines how psychedelic experiences can unsettle and transform frameworks of meaning, shaping identity, relationships, and worldviews. She has published on post-psychedelic integration challenges and psychological growth, and collaborates with PsyCare UK in harm reduction and community-based support. In Exeter, she has been coordinarting the Transdisciplinary Psychedelic Colloquium and co-founded the Holistic Integration group, a community space that brings together diverse perspectives and practices of integration.

Member Access

As a member, you can log in below and access this event or click the button at the bottom to go to the community platform.

See you there!

Bridging Approaches: Phenomenology - October 1st