Dr Malin Vedøy Uthaug is a Norwegian researcher working on the biological and physiological mechanisms of altered states of consciousness. Through science and lived experience, she is on a mission to map uncharted territories of both mind and body in order to share insight that improves human healing, thriving and optimization.

Dr Uthaug has a background in health and social psychology, completed her PhD in Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University under supervision of Professor Johannes Ramaekers. Her doctoral dissertation featured five original naturalistic observational studies on the effects of Ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT, generating some of the earliest systematic empirical data on 5-MeO-DMT and helping to establish a foundational evidence base for subsequent clinical and mechanistic research. Following her PhD, Dr Uthaug worked at The Centre of Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. Here she continued exploring the effects of not only 5-MeO-DMT, but also DMT & (Holotropic) Breathwork.

Today, Dr. Uthaug leads investigator-initiated research programmes through her company, Embalance AS, in affiliation with Maastricht Univeristy. Her current work focuses on two primary research pipelines: 5-MeO-DMT and extreme breath-hold states in freediving. Across both domains, she studies how acute physiological transitions, baseline bodily state, and nervous system regulation shape short- and long-term outcomes.

A central contribution of her recent work is the co-development of the bodyset construct, a biologically grounded extension of the classic ‘set and setting’ framework, designed to capture the role of baseline physiological state and bodily regulation in shaping responses to intense interventions, including but not limited to psychedelics. Building on this foundation, she is co-introducing the construct of Pivotal Physical States (PiPS, *paper dropping Spring 2026!) with Dr. Jack Allocca et al., describing extreme or transitional physiological states that may facilitate healing or embed trauma depending on regulatory capacity and integration. Together, these concepts aim to bridge the gap between psychophysiology and altered states of consciousness, offering a more integrated and embodied understanding of (therapeutic) transformation.

In parallel with her academic work, Dr Uthaug is also an experienced public speaker, creator of The Embalance System, an editor for the ‘Journal of Psychedelics Studies’, and has held board and advisory roles within psychedelic science and education initiatives. She is one of the original co-founders of Norwegian Psychedelic Science whose main aim is to educate the general public as well as researchers, and mental health practitioners in Norway about psychedelics. She was awareded the Willy Schweitzer Award for Young Researchers at Insight Conference in Berlin 2021. Last but not least, Dr Uthaug is an active freediver who overcome her thalassophobia (i.e., fear of the ocean) by training freediving. In April 2022, during her first ever freediving competition, she accomplished two national records for Norway.