Emeritus Professor at the University of Liverpool, Director; International Research Centre for Investigative Psychology, The University of Huddersfield; President, International Academy for Investigative Psychology, directed the unique Centre for Investigative Psychology at Liverpool University, which he set up there in 1994 and is the pioneer and leading expert in psychological profiling. He is widely known outside academia for his best-selling book, CRIMINAL SHADOWS – INSIDE THE MIND OF THE SERIAL KILLER – which won the Golden Dagger and the Anthony Awards for non-fiction.
He is often quoted in the mass media and writes for national newspapers on matters relating to crime and the applications of psychology to issues in the news. His book, Football In Its Place, predicted the Hillsborough Stadium disaster and was influential on the Taylor enquiry into the design and management of football grounds. This book was a development of his text, The Psychology Of Place, a general exploration of the way places develop their personal meanings for people. His first book, PSYCHOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS, published in 1974, has become a classic introduction to the topic.
Professor Canter’s popular writing deliberately sits between a number of genres. He makes current ideas in the study of the mind accessible to a wide audience, whilst following “whodunit” trails. This draws on his own direct experience as an applied psychologist working for industry and giving guidance to well over 150 criminal investigations, which therefore always also gives his work an autobiographical twist.
Professor Canter’s 6-part series, entitled MAPPING MURDER (for which he was writer, presenter and associate producer) was transmitted by Channel 5 and Virgin Books commissioned him to write a book on the subject, under the same title, which they published in Autumn 2003, the paperback edition appearing in 2005. An updated edition was issued in September 2007. Other television credits include his participation in the C4 Dispatches programme on Madeleine McCann and in Crimewatch.
Professor Canter publishes widely in the academic arena and gives lectures on his researches all over the world. Oxford University Press invited him to contribute a work on FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY to their VSI series, published in Autumn 2010 and a leading seller internationally in the series.
He has also contributed to Wiley – FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY FOR DUMMIES which has proved very popular. He contributes an ongoing blog to Sage Publications.
Professor Canter has published a revised, updated edition of CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY with Routledge.
His “Who’s Who” entry lists his avocations as clarinet, composing, collage and cantering but that is because one of his hobbies is alliteration.