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Alex Haslam

Professor Haslam (left) said it was a "real honour" to receive the award

Top psychologist wins award

A psychologist who specialises in topics including leadership, motivation and group conflict has won an award from the British Psychological Society (BPS). 

Professor Alex Haslam received the Presidents’ Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychological Knowledge at the BPS annual conference in Brighton.

The award is given each year to a researcher doing work of “outstanding quality” who has made “exceptional contributions to psychological knowledge”.

Professor Haslam is an honorary professor at the University of Exeter, and professor of psychology at the University of Queensland.

“It’s a real honour to get this award, but I see it very much as a tribute to the various outstanding collaborators I have worked with throughout my career,” he said.

“All of them have provided the motivation, the support and the hard graft necessary for our collective knitting to be stuck to when easing off might have seemed an altogether more sensible course of action.

“In this respect if there is a single person that I would like to single out to thank it is Paul Webley, the former head of psychology and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Exeter – who had the vision and the mettle to invest in our research at a time when many others wouldn’t.

“Without his leadership, and that of many others like him, there is simply no way that it would have been possible to do the work for which this award is recognition.”

The BPS called Professor Haslam “one of the most highly cited and influential psychologists of his age, renowned for his high-impact work across social, organisational, clinical and health sub-disciplines”.

It added: “Professor Haslam has published a large body of research that examines the role of group processes in key spheres of organisational activity – including leadership, motivation, communication, decision making, negotiation, productivity, collective action, space management and gender.” 

Date: 17 May 2017

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