Neil Van Rij

Neil is Psyence’s resident mycologist. He holds an M.Sc (Agriculture) from the University of Natal, South Africa. Prior to joining Psyence, Neil was a Mushroom Researcher/ Professional Scientist at the Cedara Mushroom Research Centre where he was responsible for identifying and prioritizing the research programme for the centre; in this capacity he ensured the maintenance of spawn labs and supervised agronomy trials. Neil was selected for the Cochran Fellowship (plant disease epidemiology) at Iowa State University; a United States Department of Agriculture fellowship in 2006. Two years later he attended a JUNCAO mushrooms training course in China at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fujhou this was followed by his appointment as a Professional Scientist in the Juncao Mushroom Research Centre, where he was responsible for all research related issues, this has involved the structuring of a 15 year research programme based on spawn/culture optimization, best production practices, pest and disease control and use of spent mushroom substrate and spawn production for the Province’s mushroom project. Neil is a registered Professional Scientist (400381/1).