The Ancient Modern Institute

 • RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ETHICS LEADERSHIP • 

The Ancient Modern Institute works across science, traditional knowledge, medicine, culture, consciousness, and the systems that determine how knowledge moves through the world.
A smiling woman seated indoors wearing a dark blue headwrap and a yellow-and-black patterned draped garment, holding a small mushroom in one hand.

1. Research

STUDYING WHAT HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED.

We investigate questions that often exist between established disciplines, including neuropsychopharmacology, psychedelics studies, consciousness research, biology, traditional medicine, ethnobotany, and Indigenous knowledge systems.

We exist to expand what we are capable of understanding.
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2. Education

BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN WAYS OF KNOWING.

Ancient Modern develops educational experiences that translate across disciplines, cultures, institutions, and systems of understanding, from university access and academic education to field learning, public scholarship, and direct knowledge exchange.

Knowledge can only change the world when people can access it.
Learn about Education Initiatives >>
An Indigenous man hand pollinates wild vanilla vines in his Amazonian family aja - farm - wearing traditional, ornate blue and red beaded Shuar clothing.

3. Ethics Leadership

BUILDING THE SYSTEM BEFORE THE INDUSTRY BUILDS IT FOR US.

Entire industries are emerging around medicines, practices, and knowledge that have existed within Indigenous and traditional communities for generations. How those industries are built matters. Ancient Modern develops models for reciprocity, Indigenous leadership, cultural sovereignty, community ownership, research ethics, and regenerative economics.

Ethics should not simply restrict a system after it has been built. It should determine how the system is built in the first place.
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KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

Learning moves in every direction

MEDICINE + SCIENCE

Where two healing systems meet

EDUCATION + TALKS

Research made into public conversation

COLLABORATE + FUND

Partner with the work directly

Leadership Team

Executive Director
Pukar Makani Nepal
A man wearing a black hooded jacket, navy pants, and muddy boots crouches under a thatched roof structure in an outdoor rural setting.
Founder, Lead Advisor
Michelle Sinnette
Director of Indigenous Ethics
Raquel Yolanda Antun Tsamaraint
Meet the Team

"The world becomes larger when we stop insisting there is only one way to know it."

– Pukar Nepal

Shop the MATERIA Store

Everything researched or supported here has a physical counterpart: objects, foods, and plant medicine made by the same communities the Institute works alongside. Bring a piece of it home.

Apply to join our EXPEDITIONS

A personal connection can catalyze both deeper understanding and immense growth. Join an expedition to meet and collaborate with the people and places behind this research.