Neil Van Rij
Mycologist
M.Sc (Agri) (cum laude)
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).