Richie Graham Poulton (born October 1962) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

psychologist and the director of the University of Otago's Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Research Unit, which runs the

Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (also known as the Dunedin Study) is a detailed study of human health, development and behaviour. Based at the University of Otago in New Zealand, the Dunedin Study has followed the liv ...

(also known as the Dunedin Study). He is also a professor of psychology at the University of Otago, the 2007 founder and co-director of the National Centre for Lifecourse Research,,the founder in 2011 of the Graduate Longitudinal Study, New Zealand, and the chief science adviser of the Ministry of Social Development in the New Zealand government.

Early life

Poulton was born in October 1962 in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. His father was a financier, his mother was a "stay-at-home mum".. He was one of two sons. For Poulton's father's work, the family moved from Christchurch to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, and then to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Poulton's last four years of school were at

Auckland_Grammar_School Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

. Although he enjoyed the academic parts of his schooling, he enjoyed sport more, playing

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

in the summer and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

in the winter. He was a member of the school's senior rugby team the coach of which was

Graham Henry Sir Graham William Henry (born 8 June 1946) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Henry played rugby union for ...

, who eventually coached the

New Zealand national rugby union team The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, the All Blacks.

University education and career

On finishing high school, Poulton moved to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

to attend the University of Otago. There he received his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in science and his postgraduate diploma in

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

. During his diploma studies, Poulton worked as an interviewer for the Dunedin Study, helping Terrie Moffitt assess 13-year-old study participants. After completing his degrees in 1988, Poulton went to England. He lived in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

-- an impoverished area -- and worked as a clinical psychologist. Burned out and broke after 18 months, he then went to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, by which time his parents had moved there. He worked for a year as a clinical psychologist and then enrolled for a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. Four years later, in 1995, he received his PhD. Poulton then took a position as a clinical psychologist at Long Bay Jail, treating people at risk of suicide. There he met his future wife, also a clinical psychologist working in another part of the jail. After six months, he and his by-then wife moved to Dunedin for Poulton to become deputy director of the Dunedin Study. In 2000, Poulton became director of the Dunedin Study. In 2006, he was appointed to a personal chair in the School of Medicine.

Awards

In 2004, Poulton received the New Zealand Association of Scientists' Research Medal and the Health Research Council of New Zealand's Liley Medal for Excellence in Health Research. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2010, and was named a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

, for services to science and health research, in the

2017 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

. He was named an

ISI Highly Cited Researcher The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis, ...

in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. In 2019, he received the University of Otago's Distinguished Research Medal, while in 2022 he was appointed a distinguished professor at that university. In November 2022 Poulton was awarded the Royal Society Te Apārangi's Rutherford Medal, along with the Dunedin Study and team members Murray Thomson, Terrie Moffitt and

Avshalom Caspi Avshalom Caspi (born May 5, 1960) is an Israeli-American psychologist and the Edward M. Arnett Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University, as well as Professor of Personality Developm ...

Personal life

Poulton is married to clinical psychologist Sandhya Ramrakha, with whom he has a daughter, Priyanka Poulton. In about February 2021, Poulton was diagnosed with salivary duct cancer. Despite treatment, in about May 2021, it had metastasized and is incurable.

References

External links

*Richie Poulto
Brief Bio
*The Dunedin Stud
(Dunedin Multi Disciplinary Health and Development Research Unit)

*
Richie Poulton interviewed by Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poulton, Richie Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Living people New Zealand psychologists University of Otago faculty Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit University of Otago alumni University of New South Wales alumni 1962 births Clinical psychologists