Chris Boyle


Christopher Boyle is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an Associate Professor in Psychology and Inclusive Education at the University of Exeter. He has previously been an association football Referee who refereed in the Australian A-League and the Scottish Premiership. Dr Boyle is a qualified psychologist working in the UK and in Australia. Dr. Boyle has written extensively on subjects of psychology and inclusive education. He is a respected academic and has authored over 100 publications on these topics.
He successfully edited the Australian Psychological Society's journal '' between 2012 and 2017.

Early life and education

Boyle was born in the 1970s in Dennistoun in Glasgow's notorious east end. Unusual in Scotland at the time but both sides of Boyle's family were from different and non-Scottish background - Irish on his father's side and Italian on his mother's side. He was an avid Queen's Park F.C. fan and played for their supporter's team. Boyle left high school at 16 years old and worked variously as a runner in a stockbroker's office, Youth Training Scheme with Glasgow City Council before reappraising his career path and going back to education and completing a Higher National Certificate in Computing. This enabled him to gain a place at the University of Glamorgan in Behavioural Sciences achieving a 2:1. Boyle went on to successfully complete two master's degrees, a BA, a PGCE, and a PhD, the latter from the University of Dundee.

Refereeing career

Boyle has officiated matches in both the Scottish Premier League, Scottish Football League First Division and Scottish Football League Second Division making him one of the most experienced referee's in the A-League. He has also officiated a Scottish Challenge Cup game. He made headlines in his debut match of his A-League career when he officiated the game between Melbourne Victory and North Queensland Fury at AAMI Park. During the game, he awarded three penalties, and handed out two red cards to North Queensland players Chris Grossman and Eric Akoto.

Academic career

He has also lectured on the professional training programme for educational psychologists at the University of Dundee, UK and in the subject areas of child development and psychology with the Open University, UK. He has completed his PhD at the University of Dundee in the area of inclusion in secondary schools and teacher perceptions of inclusion which both form the main components of his current research interests.

Media Coverage

Boyle's academic work regularly receives media attention and he is often asked to contribute to articles and/or TV/radio programmes around the world.

Published Books