Caroline Watt (born 1962) is a Scottish psychologist and parapsychologist, and the second holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh, succeeding Robert Morris after his death.
Early life and education
Watt was born in Perthshire, Scotland, and grew up in a farming family before attending state school. She graduated with an MA in psychology from the University of St Andrews in 1984 — the same year press coverage of the newly created Koestler Chair, and Robert Morris's appointment to it, first brought parapsychology to Edinburgh.
Founding the Koestler Parapsychology Unit
Watt joined the Koestler Parapsychology Unit as a research assistant to Morris in 1986, becoming one of its founding members, and completed a PhD in psychology there in 1993 under his supervision. She remained at the unit as a research fellow until 2006, when she took up a senior lectureship in psychology at the University of Edinburgh, continuing her association with the unit throughout.
Career and research
In 2010, Watt was awarded the Perrott-Warrick Senior Researcher Fellowship, using it to research the psychology of precognitive dream experiences and to write Parapsychology: A Beginner's Guide (2016). In August 2016, she was appointed Koestler Chair of Parapsychology, a position she held until her retirement in 2024, becoming Professor Emerita. Her research in later years has focused heavily on methodology — including ganzfeld testing and, alongside parapsychologist and methodologist Jim Kennedy, the push for improved reporting standards and pre-registration of experiments across the behavioural sciences generally. She is co-author, with Harvey J. Irwin, of the widely used textbook An Introduction to Parapsychology, and previously co-authored a Parapsychology textbook with her long-term partner, Richard Wiseman.
Watt served as president of the Parapsychological Association, and continues to run a study registry for parapsychological research with Kennedy following her retirement. In June 2025, she was elected president of the Society for Psychical Research.
See also
- Koestler Parapsychology Unit
- Robert Morris
- Richard Wiseman
- Ganzfeld Experiment
- Society for Psychical Research