Description
Psychedelic therapies (PT) are emerging as a promising treatment paradigm across a range of mental health conditions. While early clinical studies demonstrate encouraging efficacy, there remains a need to better understand transdiagnostic mechanisms of therapeutic change and to systematically investigate contextual factors such as set and setting, preparation, and integration to optimize therapeutic delivery.
This doctoral project focuses on the clinical development of PT using DMT and harmine formulations in a human research context. The project investigates shared psychological and process-level mechanisms of therapeutic change across multiple indications, including substance use disorders, affective disorders, and women’s mental health. A central aim is the development, refinement, and evaluation of structured psychedelic-assisted therapy paradigms and treatment manuals, with particular attention to contextual and process-related factors such as mindfulness-based approaches, nature-relatedness, and environmental context.
The doctoral candidate will work with clinical and behavioral datasets derived from PT studies, with optional integration of psychophysiological or biomarker-informed data, and contribute to the design, conduct, and evaluation of clinical trials in humans. Research activities include psychometric assessments, clinical outcomes, and exploratory analyses of therapeutic processes. Digital phenotyping and language-based methods will be used to examine how subjective experience relates to treatment outcomes. By integrating clinical and contextual perspectives within an active clinical development program, the project directly supports the advancement of scalable, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapy frameworks.
Location
Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland)
Supervisors
Dr. med. Milan Scheidegger is a board-certified psychiatrist and psychotherapist (FMH) at the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich. He leads the Psychedelic Research & Therapy Development group, with a focus on the neurobiology, clinical mechanisms, and translational development of psychedelic-assisted therapies, particularly in affective and substance use disorders.
Dr. Helena Aicher is a psychologist and psychotherapist with research expertise in neuropsychopharmacology and psychedelic-assisted therapy at the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich. She is currently involved as a postdoctoral researcher in clinical studies applying DMT/harmine formulations and works clinically within the Swiss limited medical use framework for psychedelics.
Secondments
Institute: Reconnect Labs AG (Zurich, Switzerland)
Supervisors: Dr. Davor Kosanic
Purpose: To provide hands-on exposure to psychedelic drug development, clinical trial operations, and regulatory and translational strategy within a University of Zurich–affiliated biotech environment. The doctoral candidate will gain insight into formulation development, clinical operations, data integration, and commercialization pathways relevant to precision neurotherapeutics.
Institute: University Medical Center Groningen (Groningen, The Netherlands)
Supervisors: Dr. Jens van Dalfsen
Purpose: To develop expertise in molecular and biomarker-oriented approaches to psychedelic research, complementing the candidate’s clinical and computational training. The DC will gain experience in interdisciplinary biomarker identification and mechanistic analysis relevant to transdiagnostic treatment development.
General eligibility criteria
- The position is open to candidates of any nationality (European and non-European) who fulfil the requirements set for the Doctoral Candidates (DCs) funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.
- Applicants must hold a Master’s degree in a relevant academic field, allowing enrolment in a PhD program at the hiring beneficiary.
- Applicants must not previously have been awarded a PhD degree.
- Applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country in which the DC project for which they are applying is based for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to recruitment. This excludes short stays such as holidays, compulsory national service or time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention.
- Applicants must be willing to undertake secondments at another institute of the network during the DC project, including at institutes in other countries.
- Applicants must be able to demonstrate their ability to understand and express themselves in both written and spoken English at a level that is sufficiently high to fully benefit from the network training (C1/C2 level).
- Applicants are expected to be motivated to work in the field of psychedelic therapy.
- Applicants are expected to work independently, well-structured and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary consortium.
Additional eligibility criteria
A Master’s degree in psychology, medicine, neuroscience, pharmacology, or a related field.
Strong interest in transdiagnostic approaches and psychedelic-assisted therapy in clinical research settings.
Basic understanding of clinical research methodology, including psychometric assessment and analysis of clinical outcomes.
Interest in working with multimodal clinical and behavioural data, including qualitative outcomes, process-related measures, and computational approaches.
Motivation to acquire practical skills in clinical operations, including Good Clinical Practice (GCP), quality management, study documentation, and the conduct of clinical trials in humans.
Strong interpersonal skills, including empathic and supportive engagement with study participants in therapeutic settings.
Strong communication skills and motivation to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary research environments at the interface of clinical practice, psychotherapy research, and translational drug development.
Sufficient German language skills (at least B2 level) to conduct patient-facing clinical research activities in Switzerland, or a clear commitment to acquire this level early during the doctoral project.