The mission of the UW–Madison Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances is to support research and educational activities regarding psychedelic drugs and related compounds. The center supports the UW–Madison campus and the Wisconsin community with research infrastructure, such as drug dosing rooms, treatment facilitator training, and education.

Although some work focuses on drugs with a clear psychedelic effect, related substances may have clinical effects on mood or behavior without the psychedelic experience, thus the use of the term “psychoactive.”

The center supports the Master of Science in Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation.

The center also seeks to establish relationships with commercial entities that would benefit from various screening tests or early stage clinical trials.

In the 1st Annual Microdose Awards for psychedelic science and innovations, the University of Wisconsin–Madison was voted University of the Year, Contenders included Harvard, John Hopkins University, University of California-San Francisco, and the University Imperial College-London.