Prof. Richard Wiseman a psychologist, undertook an eight-year study to find out if lucky people are born or made. After putting hundreds of people's lives under a microscope, he has hopeful news.

Prof Richard Wiseman started his working life as an award-winning professional magician and was one of the youngest members of The Magic Circle. He then obtained a first class honours degree in Psychology from University College London and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Edinburgh.

He currently heads the Perrott-Warrick Research Unit at the University of Hertfordshire. Core funding for this Unit is provided by the Perrott-Warrick Fund, administered through Trinity College Cambridge.

Prof Wiseman’s work has also been funded by many other organisations, including The Leverhulme Trust, The Wellcome Trust, COPUS, The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) and The Bial Foundation.

The University of Hertfordshire recently awarded Prof Wiseman Britain's first Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology. In 2000 he was awarded The CSICOP Public Education In Science Award, and in 2002 Prof Wiseman received the Joseph Lister Award from the BAAS.

Prof Wiseman has established an international reputation for scientific research into the scientific examination of unusual areas within psychology. This work has been reported in over 40 academic journal articles, including those In Nature, Science and Psychological Bulletin. In addition, he has co-authored 6 books and presented over 50 papers at both national and international conferences.

Prof Wiseman often appears on the media, and has developed considerable experience designing experiments and surveys for television, radio and print media.

He has been a regular guest on BBC1’s ‘Tomorrow's World’ and Radio 4’s ‘The Today Programme’, and his work has also been reported on a large number of other radio and television programmes, including BBC2’s ‘Horizon’, Channel Four’s ‘Equinox’, ITV’s ‘World In Action’, and Radio 4’s ‘Start The Week’ and ‘Midweek’. Feature articles about this work have appeared in various newspapers, including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian. He has recently completed a documentary about the psychology of luck for BBC1, and an international documentary on the science of humour for the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Most recently, Prof Wiseman teamed up with best-selling science author Dr Simon Singh to co-present the science programme ‘Funny you should ask’ for The Discovery Channel. The two of them also appear on BBC4’s ‘Mind Games’ – a five-part game show based around puzzle solving.

A survey by The Times Higher Education Supplement revealed that he was the psychologist most frequently quoted by the British media, and The New Yorker magazine recently described him as ‘Britain’s most recognizable psychologist’.

Contact Prof Richard Wiseman at R.Wiseman@herts.ac.uk.
Psychology Department
University of Hertfordshire
College Lane, Hatfield
Herts AL10 9AB
Tel: 01707 284628
Fax: 01707 285073