Robert Lyle Morris (9 July 1942 – 12 August 2004) was an American psychologist and parapsychologist, and the first holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh, where he founded and led the Koestler Parapsychology Unit (KPU) for almost two decades.
Early life and education
Morris earned a BSc in comparative psychology and animal social behaviour from the University of Pittsburgh in 1963, followed by a PhD in psychology from Duke University in 1969. He remained at Duke for a further two years researching avian social development. His interest in the paranormal had developed from an early age, and throughout this period he worked evenings, weekends, and summers at the Rhine Research Center — then known as the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man — the institutional successor to J. B. Rhine's original Duke parapsychology laboratory.
The Koestler Chair
Following the 1983 deaths of writer Arthur Koestler and his wife, Cynthia, whose bequest funded a new chair in parapsychology at a UK university, the University of Edinburgh's Department of Psychology was selected to host it, in part due to psychologist John Beloff's earlier work establishing parapsychology's presence there since the 1960s. Morris was appointed the first Koestler Professor of Parapsychology in December 1985.
Building the Koestler Parapsychology Unit
Working initially with limited resources, Morris built the KPU into an active research department, overseeing landmark work in areas including the ganzfeld technique, distant influence studies, and research into a possible relationship between geomagnetic activity and psi performance. Over nearly two decades as Koestler Professor, he supervised more than 100 undergraduate student projects and over 30 postgraduate students, including Richard Wiseman and Caroline Watt, both of whom went on to shape the field in the UK and beyond — Watt eventually succeeding him as Koestler Professor. Morris was widely respected across the field, including by sceptics and critics, and served as president of the psychology section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Death and legacy
Morris died in Edinburgh on 12 August 2004, at the age of 62, having held the Koestler Chair for almost twenty years. Following his death, the KPU underwent a period of reorganisation before Caroline Watt was appointed his successor as Koestler Professor in 2016. Morris's influence is widely credited with training a generation of academics who went on to establish parapsychology teaching and research programmes across the UK and internationally.