Current

Professor Emeritus Caroline Watt:
A founding member of the KPU (1986), Prof Watt is interested in methodological issues in parapsychology. She was the second incumbent of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology (2016-2024). Now retired, she continues to run a registry for parapsychological studies with Jim Kennedy and to write and review research papers. In June 2025 she was elected President of the Society for Psychical Research. She also continues as a member of the Bial Foundation’s Scientific Committee, the Research Grants Committee of the Society for Psychical Research,  Associate Editor of Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition, and UK International Liaison for the Parapsychological Association. She is author of Parapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide, and co-author of An Introduction to Parapsychology (5th Edition).

Professor Peter Lamont: Personal Chair in History and Theory of Psychology
Prof Lamont joined the KPU in 1996. He is a former Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts, a past Secretary of the British Psychological Society (History and Philosophy of Psychology Section), and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is also a former professional magician, a past President of the Edinburgh Magic Circle, and an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle. He has published extensively on the history and psychology of magic and the paranormal. For his Substack The Faculty of Wonder click here, and for additional information click here.

Dr Ian Tierney: Honorary Research Fellow
Dr Tierney is a retired Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.  He completed his PhD at the University of Stirling, and his clinical training in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh. For over 40 years he has collaborated with the KPU, advising individuals who are distressed by their paranormal experiences.  He and Prof Watt have published recommendations for clinical psychologists working with individuals reporting paranormal experiences.

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Professor Thomas Rabeyron: Honorary Research Fellow
Thomas Rabeyron is a clinical Psychologist and a professor of clinical psychology and psychopathology at the University of Lorraine (Nancy) and Director of the Interpsy Lab. In 2009, he also co-founded the Center for Information, Research and Counseling for Exceptional Experiences (CIRCEE), of which he is director of the counseling service. His research focuses on the clinic aspects of exceptional experiences, neuropsychoanalysis and the evaluation of psychoanalytic psychotherapies. He has published one book about clinical psychology (Psychologie Clinique et Psychopathologie, Armand Colin, 2018) and two books about exceptional experiences and psi (Clinique des Expériences Exceptionnelles, Dunod, 2020; Codex Anomalia, InterEdition, 2023). English readers can see a description of his research on the SPR Psi Encyclopedia and will find a list of his papers published in English here.

Jim Kennedy: Honorary Research Fellow
Jim Kennedy began his career at the Institute for Parapsychology (1974-1979). After studying public health and biostatistics, in 1990 he began working in medical research, while also devoting much of his free time to research and writing about parapsychology. After retiring in 2011, he devoted more time to parapsychology—particularly to transferring his methodological experience with regulated clinical trials to parapsychological and psychological research. In 2012 he helped to inaugurate and subsequently continues to collaborate with Prof Watt in operating the KPU Study Registry.

Abby Pooley: PhD 
Abby Pooley graduated with a Psychology degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2018. After completing an MSc, she returned to Edinburgh in September 2019 to begin a PhD supervised by Prof Caroline Watt. Her PhD (awarded June 2025) focused on ganzfeld ESP research as a case study pertaining to methodological issues in psychology.