Peter Fonagy

Peter Fonagy, PhD, FMedSci, FBA, FAcSS, OBE, is a Professor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science and Head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at UCL; Programme Director for Mental Health, UCLPartners; Chief Executive of The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families; Consultant to the Child and Family Program at the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; and holds visiting professorships at Yale and Harvard Medical Schools.

His clinical and research interests centre on issues of early attachment relationships, social cognition, borderline personality disorder and violence. A major focus of his contribution has been an innovative research-based psychodynamic therapeutic approach, mentalization-based treatment, which was developed in collaboration with a number of clinical sites in the UK and USA. He has published over 600 scientific papers, 250 chapters, and authored or co-authored 19 books.

He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Academy of Social Sciences. He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the British Psychological Society, the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorder and in 2015 was the first UK recipient of the British Academy Wiley Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Psychology.