Stephen Reid

Hi! I'm Stephen Reid, born and raised in London. I attained an undergraduate degree in Physics at Oxford, and then a Masters in Complexity Sciences at Bristol.

I had funding to continue to PhD but at the last minute I dropped out and went to live in Strasbourg, France. After 4 months I returned to the UK and immersed myself in the world of climate activism with the Camp for Climate Action ('Climate Camp').

In October 2010, with friends from Climate Camp, I set up UK Uncut, an anti-austerity direct action group focusing on the issue of corporate tax dodging.

In 2011, I started working for the New Economics Foundation (NEF), a people-and-planet focused thinktank. There I co-founded the New Economy Organisers Network (NEON), a network bringing together campaigners, academics, activists, trade unionists, politicians and others working to bring about a new economic system.

In the summer of 2011 I had my first major drug experience with MDMA at Glastonbury Festival. A year later, I had my first psychedelic experience with 2C-B at Shambala Festival, which inspired a fascination with psychedelics.

In December 2012, I became the youngest ever board member of Greenpeace UK. In 2013 I left NEF and started working as a freelance technology consultant/developer for organisations including 38 Degrees, the Labour Party, the Green Party, 350.org, the Living Wage Foundation, Positive Money, SumOfUs, 10:10 and Brandalism.

In 2014, having just returned from my first Nowhere (the largest of the European Burning Man events), I founded the Psychedelic Society, which continues to be my main project.

Since 2017 I have been fascinated with metamodern/Teal thinking. In mid-2018, the Psychedelic Society started making the transition to becoming a Teal organisation.

From late 2018, I have been contributing to Extinction Rebellion, and co-hosted the wellbeing space at the Marble Arch camp during April 2019.

Short bio in the third person

Stephen Reid is a social entrepreneur, activist and public speaker. He is currently a co-director of the Psychedelic Society, which he founded in 2014 and has become one of the global leading providers of legal psychedelic retreats. Previously, he was the youngest ever board member of Greenpeace UK, co-founded the New Economics Foundation's New Economy Organisers Network and worked as a technology consultant for organisations including the Labour Party, the Green Party and 350.org. Stephen has an MPhys in Physics from the University of Oxford, where he specialised in quantum field theory, and an MRes in Complexity Sciences from the University of Bristol.