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R
ichard M. Ryan, Ph.D., is a Professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology & Education at the Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, where he has been acknowledged by The Australian as one of Australia’s top researchers listing him on the Lifetime Achievers Leaderboard.[1] He is also a Distinguished Professor in the College of Education at Ewha Womans University, a Professor Emeritus in Psychology at the University of Rochester, and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. Outside of academia, he is a co-founder of motivationWorks, an organizational research and consulting firm where his speaking and consulting clients include Fortune 100 companies.
As a clinical psychologist and co-developer of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), he is the leading expert on motivation and vitality — how we cultivate high-quality motivation and engagement, foster positive change, and enhance vitality and wellness. Ryan lectures frequently in the United States and abroad on the factors that promote motivation and healthy psychological and behavioral functioning; applied to such areas as work and organizations, education, health, sport and exercise, video games and virtual environments. Reflective of Ryan’s influence internationally and across disciplines, he has been recognized as one of the eminent psychologists of the modern era[2],[3], and listed among the Top 20 most influential industrial-organizational psychologists[4].
Ryan is among the ‘World’s Top 25 Scientists,[5] and the most cited psychology scientist today.[6] He has authored over 500 papers and books in the areas of human motivation and well-being, including his books, Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness (Ryan & Deci, 2017) and Glued to Games (Rigby & Ryan, 2011).
Even New York Times bestselling management books cite and recognize Richard Ryan and his SDT co-founder Edward Deci as the world’s biggest experts in motivational design…“Ryan and Deci are the sun around which all this other research orbits. They’re true pioneers. Forty years from now, we’ll look back on them as the most important social scientists of our time.”[7]
Reflective of Ryan’s influence internationally and across disciplines, he has also been honored with three lifetime achievement awards for his work on motivation, personal meaning, and self and identity, and has received an honorary degree from the University of Thessaly, honorary professorships at the University of Bath, UK and Northeast Normal University-Changchun, China, and an honorary membership to the German Psychological Society.
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References:
[1] The Australian: Australia’s Top 40 Lifetime Achievers in Research (2021).
[2] Sternberg, Fiske, & Foss, 2016, Scientists Making a Difference: One Hundred Eminent Behavioral and Brain Scientists Talk about their Most Important Contributions. Cambridge University Press.
[3] Diner, Oishi, & Parker, 2014, An Incomplete List of Eminent Psychologists of the Modern Era, Archives of Scientific Psychology.
[4] Human Resources MBA: The 30 Most Influential Industrial and Organizational Psychologists Alive Today.
[5] Stanford University Report: World’s Top 2% Scientists 2022.
[6] Research.com: World Ranking of Top Psychology Scientists in 2022 (1st Ed).
[7] Daniel Pink, Drive, 2009. Also see Schmidt & Rosenberg, 2017; Bock, 2015; Doshi & McGregor, 2015; Fowler, 2014; Friedman, 2014; Goldberg & Somerville, 2014.