Recognizing a lifetime of success

Faculty of Arts and Science researcher John W. Berry was recently honoured at the 33rd International Congress of Psychology in Prague, Czechia with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Presented by the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS), the award honours distinguished and enduring lifetime contributions to international cooperation and advancement of knowledge in the field of Psychological Science. The award’s goal is also to bring the work of such distinguished scientists to the attention of a broader audience and to promote psychology as a discipline.

In receiving the award, Dr.  Berry noted that he considers it to be the highlight of his academic career; but that many people have provided support throughout, particularly his family.

Nominated by the Canadian for Psychology National Panel of the Canadian Psychological Association, the organization noted Dr. Berry (Department of Psychology) has contributed to the development of cross-cultural and intercultural psychology over the past 50 years. Recognized as a founder of these fields, he incorporated many of the concepts and findings from them into a plan to improve diversity and equity at the university as chair of the Principal's Advisory Committee on Race Relations at Queen's from 1989 to 1991.

He has also developed the ecocultural framework that conceptualizes the links among habitat, culture and individual behaviour. He has operationalized this framework in a series of comparative empirical field studies in many parts of the world, investigating cognitive style, intercultural relations, acculturation, and multiculturalism.

Dr. Berry has published numerous research books, textbooks and handbooks, as well as many journal articles and book chapters on topics concerned with Indigenous Peoples, immigrants and ethnocultural groups living together in culturally diverse societies around the world.

Learn more about the award on the IUPsyS website.