Harvard University has announced a $16 million gift from the Chicago-based Gracias Family Foundation to create an interdisciplinary effort to study psychedelics in society and culture.

The gift will fund the study—which will work across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Divinity School—and an endowed professorship with a broad focus on human health and flourishing, as well as support research across the university. The new initiative will approach the field from a range of humanistic and social scientific viewpoints including law, policy, ethics, religion and spirituality, the nature of consciousness, and art and literature. Harvard’s Mahindra Humanities Center (MHC), the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR), and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics plan to host several seminars, public-facing events, and a world-class conference in conjunction with the study. In addition, the gift will fund initiatives to bolster training for emerging leaders in this space, the growth of existing programs at CSWR’s Transcendence and Transformation Initiative, and a new set of fellowships at CSWR and MHC.

“One of Harvard’s greatest strengths is our ability to bring together experts from various fields to engage in vibrant discussions that advance scholarship from multiple angles,” said MHC interim director Bruno Carvalho. “This initiative will give us the space to explore and enrich public dialogue around psychedelics, including their potentials, as well as ethical and social implications.”

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