Michelle O’Brien is Conference Manager at MIND Foundation. She is currently responsible for the planning and delivery of INSIGHT Conference 2023 – Psychedelics: Bridging Therapy, Research, and Society – taking place from 31 Aug – 3 Sep in Berlin.

Michelle is an international event director, creative producer, project lead, and communications strategist (M.A). Over the past 20 years she has curated, produced, and directed summits, conferences, strategic campaigns, and festivals for acclaimed institutions across four continents. These include Edinburgh International Festival, Next Wave Festival NYC, Sydney Festival, transmediale festival Berlin, Tech Open Air Festival Berlin, New Forms Festival Vancouver, Ableton Loop Summit for Music Makers Berlin, Embassy of Canada Berlin, International Symposium of Electronic Arts, and FBi Radio 94.5FM Sydney.

Michelle holds a Master of Arts with Distinction in Digital Media, Culture and Society from Brighton University, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Public Communications and International Studies from the University of Technology Sydney. She is a graduate of European Festival Association’s Atelier for Festival Managers, and Australia Council for the Arts’ Future Leaders Program. She has trained in post-graduate Psychology, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and Vedic Meditation. Born in Sydney, Michelle has lived in Berlin since 2010.

Through the MIND Foundation’s work, Michelle hopes to help reduce suffering and improve the quality of life in patients with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders, through the scientifically-founded and legal use of psychedelics. Michelle is an advocate for self-healing and building a culture of consciousness, in both medicine and wider society.