Emeritus Professor Peter Bryan Warr

Peter Warr Scholarship Fund

Peter’s family have set up a fundraising page in his name to create a personal tribute to him and to remember him for years to come. 

As a result of the kind donations on the fundraising page as well as a very generous gift left by Peter in his Will, over £50k has been raised. This will be used to set up a scholarship fund in memory of Emeritus Professor Peter Warr and his dedication to work psychology. The University of Sheffield is incredibly grateful to Peter for setting up this gift, and also towards all the people that have donated to make this scholarship fund possible.

This fund will support a student through their MSc Occupational Psychology course, now named the MSc Business and Organisational Psychology as of 2025/26. The impact that a scholarship such as this can have on a student's life is invaluable. 

This is certainly true for the first Peter Warr scholar, Thomas Jervis.

I cannot express my gratitude enough for the award of this scholarship. My other university options were closed to me due to the living and tuition costs and I would not have been able to attend Sheffield without this opportunity. Thank you enormously for allowing me to pursue my dream of completing my MSc at such a fantastic institution.

Thomas Jervis

Occupational Psychology MSc (now Business and Organisational Psychology MSc)

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In loving memory of Emeritus Professor Peter Warr 

Peter was born on 18^th June 1937 in Birkenhead.

After school and national service, he studied for his BA at Cambridge University. Peter joined the University of Sheffield Psychology Department in 1961 as a Research Assistant, and a year later became a member of the lecturing staff.

In the mid 1960’s he was instrumental in developing a successful proposal for a Medical Research Council (MRC) unit there.

The resultant MRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit (SAPU) began life in 1968 with Peter as Assistant Director under Professor Harry Kay.

In 1973, he was appointed Director of SAPU, for which he subsequently secured co-funding from the ESRC. He led SAPU until 1996, in the process bringing in more than £40m of research funding. His leadership, in turn, provided the foundation for the Institute of Work Psychology in 1994.

As Director of SAPU, Peter introduced an MA in Occupational Psychology in 1975, which became the MSc equivalent. He also provided the infrastructure for over 100 psychologists to complete their PhD’s and was instrumental in launching the careers of so many people now in senior academic and practitioner positions in the UK and overseas.

Peter also made a huge academic contribution through his personal research. He has published 30 books and some 230 refereed articles and chapters. He has contributed to leading international refereed journals, and was known and respected throughout the occupational psychology world.

During his career, he received all three major awards for scholarship made by the British Psychological Society (Spearman Medal – 1969 / President’s Award – 1983 / Honorary Fellowship – 1997).

Within the wider psychology community, Peter served on a variety of councils and governmental agencies. He was editor of the British Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, Associate Editor of the British Journal of Psychology and played editorial roles in many other UK and international journals. 

After he retired, and was appointed Emeritus Professor in 2002, he maintained his links and continued working with the Institute of Work Psychology and subsequently the Management School.

During his retirement he deepened his interest in researching, writing and speaking about local history. He was Archivist for the Ranmoor Society and he wrote and published ‘Sheffield In The Great War (2014)’ and ‘The Growth Of Ranmoor, Hangingwater and Nether Green (2009)’. 

Peter leaves his son and daughter, Mark and Carrie, son-in-law and daughter-in-law, Paul and Janet, and granddaughters, Sarah and Rachel.

The University of Sheffield is very grateful to Peter’s family for sharing this obituary, photos and for setting up a new fund to support postgraduate students in the Institute of Work Psychology.