Joseph Mays received his MSc in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent researching responses to globalization by the Yanesha of central Peru. Graduating with biology and anthropology degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University, he published a medicinal plant guide for the Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve in the Ecuadorian cloud forest. Joseph was Program Director of Chacruna’s Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative (IRI) for 5 years and currently is IRI’s Advisor. He also holds a certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies from Naropa University, and his conservation work explores how cultural-conditioning influences approaches to biocultural sustainability. Currently he is enrolled in a PhD program in the History Department at the University of Saskatchewan studying under Dr. Erika Dick, focusing on Indigenous movements towards community autonomy in the Americas.