Contributors

Dr Guy Hayward read music as an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge. He stayed there to complete his MPhil in musicology, and then a PhD on the psychology/anthropology of communal singing traditions around the world. During his PhD, Guy was introduced to psychical research via Rupert Sheldrake’s work... more

Jack Hunter is a PhD candidate in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol. His research takes the form of an ethnographic study of contemporary trance and physical mediumship in Bristol, focusing on themes of personhood, performance, altered states of consciousness and anomalous... more

Harvey J Irwin (PhD, 1978) is a long-standing researcher with an interest in the psychology of parapsychological experiences and paranormal beliefs.  His publications include 150 papers in academic journals and five books, including the highly praised and widely used text ... more

Hannah Jenkins studied at the University of Sydney, and completed a PhD in analytical philosophy at the University of Tasmania, studying the evidence for psi in relation to explanation history and theory. She is founder and director of Quality Investigative Psi Projects (QIPP), which aims to develop ways of making... more

Wim H. Kramer studied electronic engineering and holds a MSc. degree in clinical & experimental psychology, also two international MBA’s in business administration. He is Managing Director of the Dutch Foundation: ‘Het Johan Borgman Fonds’. He has published articles on clinical and historical aspects of... more

Dr David Luke, PhD, BSc, completed his doctoral thesis on the psychology of luck in 2007, and is now Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich, where he teaches an undergraduate course on the Psychology of Exceptional Human Experience. 

Dr Leonardo Martins is a Brazilian psychologist, PhD and Master in social psychology; postdoctoral researcher in the Institute of Psychology at University of São Paulo, having completed a research internship at Coventry University in England; and researcher and member of the following laboratories, nuclei and... more

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James G Matlock received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He has had a longstanding engagement in parapsychology and has written on the history of parapsychology, the anthropology of religion,... more

Robert McLuhan studied English Literature at Oxford, then worked as a foreign correspondent for the Guardian in Spain and Portugal. He now works as a freelance journalist. He has been a member of the Society for Psychical Research since 1993, blogging and speaking on paranormal topics. His 2010... more

In the late 1970s Brian Millar did extensive parapsychological research under John Beloff at the University of Edinburgh, through a Perrott-Warwick studentship, and then at the University of Utrecht. In the course of this considerable practical experience his results were repeatedly ‘no psi’. ... more

Michael Nahm studied zoology, botany, genetics and palaeontology, and earned his PhD with a dissertation on tree physiology. During the recent years, he initiated and coordinated national and international research projects in forestry science. In addition, he follows a second line of research by exploring... more

Roberto R Narváez received an MA in History from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His research interests include the history of scientific methods, the history of religions and philosophy, the history of psychical research in Europe and North America, classical American pragmatism, and the... more

Roger Nelson is an experimental psychologist with a PhD from New York University. His background also includes physics and engineering. Nelson was Research Coordinator for the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory at Princeton University from 1980 to 2002. He is the founder of the Global... more

John Newton undertook postgraduate research into sixteenth- and seventeenth-century beliefs about ghosts at the University of Durham and the University of Oxford. He received his doctorate from the former in 2004 for his thesis exploring the relationship of the period’s literature to both the official theology and... more

John Palmer received a PhD in psychology from the University of Texas. He has worked at the Rhine Research Center (formerly Foundation of Research on the Nature of Man) almost continuously since 1984, serving as director of research and director of education. He is editor of the Journal of Parapsychology... more

Steven Parsons is an experienced researcher of ghosts, hauntings and related human experiences, a Council member of the Society for Psychical Research, and advisor to the Ghost Club.... more

Patricia Pearson is an award-winning journalist and author whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, Huffington Post and Businessweek. Her most recent book, A Brief History of Anxiety – Yours and Mine, challenged the notion that mood disorders are purely brain-based with... more

Guy Lyon Playfair (1935-2018) joined the SPR in 1974 and was a member of its governing Council. A graduate of Cambridge University, he worked as a freelance journalist and photographer since 1963. He spent fourteen years in Brazil where he collected material for the first two of his twelve books, including ... more

Michael Potts is Professor of Philosophy at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. His Ph.D. is from The University of Georgia. He is the co-editor of Beyond Brain Death: The Case against Brain-Based Criteria for Human Death (Kluwer, 2000), and has authored numerous articles and... more

John Poynton is Professor Emeritus of biology at the University of Natal, South Africa, a research associate of the Natural History Museum, London, and a scientific fellow of the Zoological Society of London.  His main research has been in African zoology and biogeography; he has also published in the... more