The history of the School can be traced back to 1921 with the appointment of Albert Wolters – the University’s first Lecturer in Experimental Psychology.
As one of the first psychology departments in the UK, we have enjoyed a long and distinguished history. Now over eighty years later the School is firmly established as a world leader in teaching, research and training.
Notable psychologists who have been members of the School:
- Albert Wolters (1st Head of Psychology at the University of Reading and President of the British Psychological Society 1938-41).
- Magdalen Vernon
- Corinne Hutt ( best known for early studies of the biological basis for autism)
- Beate Hermelin (Professor of Developmental Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry) – PhD supervisor for Uta Frith, Peter Hobson, Pam Heaton and others)
- R.C. Oldfield (Emeritus Professor, University of Edinburgh)
(best known for his design of the Handedness Inventory) - Hadyn Ellis (Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Cardiff University)
- John C. Marshall, cognitive neuropsychologist, Professor, Radcliffe Infirmary Oxford
- David Crystal (Honorary Professor, Bangor University)
- Max Coltheart (Emeritus Professor, Macquarie)
- Brian Moore (Professor of Hearing Sciences, University of Cambridge)
- John Morton (Professor of Child Development, UCL)
- Michel Treisman (Emeritus Reader, Oxford)
- Tony Marcel (Professor, University of Hertfordshire) – known for his work on unconscious perception
- Susan Spence (Professor, Griffiths University Australia)
- Ruth Campbell, Emeritus Professor, University College London
- Bernard P. Moulden, vision scientist and formerly Vice-Chancellor, James Cook University, Queensland
- Elaine Funnell, Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology, Royal Holloway University of London
- Alan Allport, Emeritus Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
- Barbara Wilson (Cognitive neurologist, Founder of the Oliver Zangwill Centre)
- Paul Salkovskis (Professor of Clinical Psychology, Bath University)
- Lucy A. Henry, Professor of Developmental Psychology, City University London
- Charles N. Lewis, Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of Lancaster