Professor of Cognitive Psychology,

University of Bristol, UK

 

 

Stephan Lewandowsky, PhD, is a cognitive scientist.  He has worked in both the United States and Australia, and is currently Chair of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol and a member of the university's Cabot Institute. His research examines people’s memory and decision making, with particular emphasis on how people respond to corrections of misinformation.  He also researches the public’s understanding of science and why people often embrace beliefs that are sharply at odds with the scientific evidence, and he is particularly interested in the difference between skepticism and denial when it comes to climate change.

 

Lewandowsky has published near 150 scholarly articles, chapters, and books, and has contributed numerous opinion pieces to the national media on issues related to war and terrorism, and climate change.  His work has revealed the important role of skepticism in people’s ability to update their memories.  He was elected a fellow of the Center for Skeptical Inquiry in 2015.

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He discovered that climate change research is confronted with the dissemination of a substantial amount of disinformation.  He has applied his research to this issue, and has written, with John Cook, The Debunking Handbook, which summarizes the literature on how to debunk misinformation, is available for free to the public online in virtually all languages.

 

He was awarded a Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council in 2011, and he received a Wolfson Research Merit Fellowship from the Royal Society upon moving to the UK in 2013.

Dr. Lewandowsky earned a Masters and PhD from the University of Toronto.  He served on the Faculty at the University of Oklahoma from 1990 to 1995 before moving to Australia.

 

He blogs at www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org on matters relating to climate change and global challenges.  He is also the Digital Content Editor for the Psychonomic Society and blog routinely on cognitive research conducted by the Society.