Simon Reichersdörfer is the program director of the INSIGHT Forum and has been associated with the MIND Foundation since 2018; he is also one of its shareholders (non-profit gGmbH). The INSIGHT Forum regularly organizes academic lectures complemented with musical/artistic performances, meditation sessions or discussion rounds, all of which are thematically related to psychedelic research or “Bewusstseinskultur” (“culture of consciousness” in the sense of the philosopher Thomas Metzinger). As program director, Simon curates the events of the INSIGHT Forum, helps shape the topics and the lecture series, and also regularly acts as moderator at these events. The name of the forum is inspired by the INSIGHT Conference, the largest conference on science and research into psychedelics in the German-speaking world, which is organized every two years by the MIND Foundation; like this conference, the aim of the INSIGHT Forum is to be a platform for information, education and social networking with regard to scientific research into psychedelics and the sustainable development of a so-called Bewusstseinskultur. Marvin Däumichen is together with Simon also a part of the program management.
Simon’s academic background is in the social sciences and humanities. He studied sociology and philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and Humboldt University of Berlin. In the field of sociological research, his main areas of interest are social theory, communication and action theory as well as political sociology. In the humanities, his focus is on the philosophy of science, social philosophy and the history of metaphysical theory systems. In addition to his academic activities, Simon was and is also involved in various projects as an entrepreneur (for instance at OVID Health Systems).
Simon’s aim in the context of his work at the MIND Foundation is to promote scientific research into psychedelics and to educate people about them, and in particular to help psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy become part of the healthcare system in order to provide patients with even more effective therapeutic help. He has also dealt extensively with augmented psychotherapy.
