Keynote Speakers
Professor Jo Neill
Jo Neill is Professor of Psychopharmacology at the University of Manchester. She is Chair of the Medical Psychedelics Working Group at Drug Science, a Trustee for Heroic Hearts UK, scientific advisor for the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group, Beckley Psytech, Albert Labs, and Octarine Bio. Jo is an advisory board member of the International Therapeutic Psilocybin Rescheduling Initiative. She is co-founder of b-neuro, a University based Contract Research Organisation developing new treatments for mental illness through animal models and past President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology (President 2016-2018). She served on the Research Excellence Framework panel for Unit of Assessment 3 (Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy) in 2014. Jo is working with Policy at Manchester and Drug Science to educate the public about the urgent need for drug law reform and suspension of Schedule 1 restrictions to enable research into the medicinal properties of currently illegal drugs. Jo will be discussing the current research around the use of psychedelics in treatment as well as the history of these substances and why they initially became illegal. Jo will also touch on the hesitancy by the Home Office to reschedule psychedelics, which would open the doors for further pivotal research into their therapeutic use. Twitter: @b_neuro
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Hannah Deacon
Hannah Deacon is a campaigner whose dedication to campaigning for patients’ rights in this space succeeded when the law changed on 1 November 2018, which led to cannabis becoming legal as a medical treatment. Her successful campaign on behalf of son Alfie Dingley, who lives with a rare and severe form of epilepsy, led to his doctors receiving the first schedule one license to prescribe whole-plant cannabis in the UK, funded by the NHS. Hannah is passionate about developing an ethical medical cannabis sector in the UK and supporting patients access to this life-changing treatment. Hannah will be talking about her campaigning work on behalf of her son Alfie and medicinal cannabis in the U.K. Twitter: @Hannah_Deacon40
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Mattha Busby
Mattha is a freelance journalist who has reported on drug policy from psychedelic therapy clinics in Mexico to overdose prevention facilities in Denmark via illegal cannabis cafes and guerrilla harm reduction sites in the UK. His first book ‘Should All Drugs Be Legalized?’ was published by Thames & Hudson last year. He is looking for a publisher for his second. Mattha has written a variety of articles relating to substance use and drug policy, namely for Vice. You can also find Mattha on a recent Drug Science podcast, ‘Drugs in the Media‘, hosted by Professor David Nutt. Mattha’s presentation will focus on the journalistic journey in relation to substance use and how the media can be a powerful tool to try and reduce and eliminate stigma, yet also, whether on purpose or inadvertently, fuel stigma towards, and faced by, people who use drugs. Mattha will also share how learning about substance use and policy through journalistic reporting, can help shape their own opinions about certain matters, from human rights to the war on drugs. Twitter: @matthabusby
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Mackayla Forde
Mackayla Forde, known creatively as ‘RED MEDUSA’, is a UK-born academic and artist passionate about health injustices, decoloniality and the radical transformation of hegemonic research methods. Awarded highly competitive funding from the Economic Social Research Council, Mackayla is studying for a doctorate at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research utilises poetry and centres decolonial research methods to explore and platform disadvantaged women’s health experiences during the first lockdown of the CoVid-19 pandemic in March 2020. A speaker at HIT Hot Topics ’22 Annual 10th Anniversary Conference, she discussed coloniality and its role in the ongoing ‘war of drugs’, and the ways in which stories and language – dismissed by western science as the least reliable forms of data, can be utilised to counter and transform harmful contemporary narratives about historically oppressed peoples. And this is exactly what Mackayla will be discussing during her presentation at Barod’s conference in May.
Over the last two decades, Mackayla has worked on projects alongside creative and academic juggernauts such as Tolu Agbelusi, Anthony Anaxagorou, Kat François, Joyce Treasure, Professor Eugene Richardson and Dane Baptiste. In 2020, the poet-turned-academic became internationally recognised following the release of ‘Here to Stay’, a ground-breaking spoken word piece which spotlights the inherent coloniality embedded in the fashion industry. Created alongside award-winning fashion designer Osman Yousefzada, ‘Here to Stay’ has featured in Vogue, Forbes and Grazia magazines and is currently part of the ‘Taking Care of Business’ exhibition at the Migration Museum in London.
Mackayla has collaborated with the Noisettes’ former bass player and performer Shingai, Harm Reduction International, Queen Mary University of London, the African and Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, SickleKan and NHS Blood & Transplant and other local and national organisations to bring much needed attention to important social and political issues. Mackayla continues to storm the UK and international poetry scene, headlining the famous feminist ‘She Grrrowls’ festival, ‘Wordplay and Flow’, ‘Hummingword’ and as a speaker at the Million Women Rise March. Mackayla regularly delivers poetry workshops and presentations at conferences, secondary schools and universities across London and the UK, and is working on a collection of love poetry following the successful release of her recently published chapbook ‘Breathing Water’ in 2022. Twitter: @PoetREDMEDUSA
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Danny Ahmed
Danny is a registered mental health nurse, integrative psychotherapist with 25 yrs experience working in the substance use field. Danny is a clinical partner at Foundations and clinical director for Cranstoun. He is passionate about supporting people who use drugs and alcohol problematically and advocating generally for the human rights of people who use drugs. Danny recently led on the highly successful Diamorphine Assisted Treatment programme in Middlesbrough and will be talk about this, as well as fighting the resistance to such harm reduction interventions. Twitter: @dannyahmed76
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Professor Katy Holloway and Dominic Maddox
Katy is a Professor of Criminology at the University of South Wales, where she has worked since 2002. Previously, Katy worked as a data analyst in the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge after completing her PhD there in 2000. During the course of her research career, Katy has investigated a wide range of substance use-related issues including: drug use among arrestees, the causal connection between drug use and crime among prisoners, the effectiveness of drug treatment, the use of Take-Home Naloxone, the implementation of the Welsh Government’s Substance Misuse Strategy, the characteristics of opiate overdose events, substance use among university students, and the misuse and diversion of over-the-counter and prescription medication. Katy is currently working on a Welsh Government funded evaluation of Minimum Pricing of Alcohol over a 5-year period and working with her university to develop a peer-led student drug and alcohol information, advice and support service. She is a member of the Welsh Government’s National Implementation Board for Drug Poisoning Prevention, Executive Board member of the Dyfodol, IRIS, Gwent and Dyfed Drug and Alcohol Service and has recently been appointed as member of the Western Bay Drugs Commission. Katy will be discussing the UK’s first peer to peer student harm reduction service, in conjunction with Barod, that is soon to be implemented within the University of South Wales. This service has overcome a zero tolerance policy to providing a space for students to confidentially access support without sanction. Twitter: @KatyHolloway22
Dominic is currently a second-year student at USW studying psychology with hopes of completing his Counselling Doctorate in the future. After serving in the military, Dominic saw how helpful and important it was that the right support was made available to those who needed it. Hi House is one of many helping projects he is involved in, along with being a children’s coach/mentor and a crisis call listener. Taking on a lead role, he hopes to make Hi House into a safe and supportive space for young people wanting to learn more about the risks and effects of drug and alcohol use, while supporting their freedom to make their own decision.
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Chairs
Dr. Julia Lewis
Dr Julia Lewis is a consultant addiction psychiatrist and clinical lead for addiction services within the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and a visiting professor at the University of South Wales. She is a member of Welsh Government’s National Partnership Board for Substance Misuse and its National Implementation Board on Fatal and Non-fatal Drug Poisonings. Julia is a member of the executive committee of the Addictions faculty within the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Julia was a member of the working group responsible for the most recent update to the ‘Orange Guidelines’ as well as a member of the working group writing the first set of UK-wide guidelines for the management of alcohol use disorders. She is one of the authors of the Welsh Government’s National Treatment Framework for Alcohol Related Brain Damage and a director of the newly established UK ARBD network. In her spare time she is a published playwright, amateur actor and Rotarian with four cats. Life is never dull. LinkedIn: julia-lewis-93082a36
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Dr. Wulf Livingston
Wulf is currently Professor of Alcohol Studies at Glyndwr University. His actively involved in a number of research projects throughout the UK on topics such as; cannabis, homelessness, in-patient detoxification, minimum pricing for alcohol, and residential rehabilitation, and much of his previous research activity has been centred on alcohol and other drugs. Wulf is extensively published within academic journals, books, practice guidance and research reports. He is a registered social worker, whose current practice involves supporting North Wales Recovery Community. Wulf is also chair of the British Association for Social Workers Special Interest Group on Alcohol and other Drugs and coordinator of the Welsh Centre for Alcohol and other Drugs. Twitter: @wulflivingston
