I act as the Communications Officer for the Society for Psychical Research and am an occasional blogger.
Higher qualifications
B.A. (Hons.) Philosophy and
English (2:2) – University of Kent at Canterbury
B.Sc. (Hons.) Psychology
(2:1) – Birkbeck College, University of London
B.A. (Hons.) Open degree (1st)
– The Open University
M.A. Modern European Thought – Thames
Polytechnic
Ph.D. Film Studies – University
of East Anglia (Life After Death in the
Cinema)
Ph.D. History – Anglia
Ruskin University (George Albert Smith
(1864-1959): From Stage to Screen)
Memberships
The Society
for Psychical Research
The
Royal Photographic Society
The
Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
The
Parapsychological Association (Professional Member)
The J B Priestley Society
Cambridge Cycling Campaign
The ACD Society
Society distinction
Associate
of the Royal Photographic Society (by research)
Affiliation
Honorary
Visiting Research Fellow in the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences, at
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (September 2014-September 2019)
Labour Party – Member 1983-2018, 2023-date
Fortean
Times –
Special Correspondent 1993-date
Society for Psychical
Research website trustee statement
The following trustee statement appears on the website of
the Society for Psychical Research:
‘Tom joined the Society in 1987 and Council in 1989. He
was a member of the Publicity sub-committee (later the Image and Publicity
Committee) from 1988-1994 – during which time he co-designed the SPR logo – and
was Hon. Appeals Secretary 1989-90. In 1991 He served on Professor Robert
Morris’s working party which led to the setting up of the now-defunct Research
Activities Committee, and was Hon. Testing Officer 1992-2007. In 2005 he joined
the Image, Publicity and Publications Committee and when it split into the
Education and Publicity and e-Communications Committees he joined both. He is still a member of the former and was of
the latter until it disbanded in May 2017. While on the e-CC he was involved in
developing the Society’s website.
‘He has refereed papers for JSPR and was its book reviews editor from January 2009 to January
2018. Having joined the Library
Committee in 2010, he became its chair in August 2016. Since 2011 he has served on the Conference
Programme Committee. Also in 2011 he became the SPR’s Communications
Officer. In that capacity he responds to
general emails received through the website, as well as looking after the SPR’s
Facebook page (from February 2010) and Twitter accounts – general (from July
2013) and Psi Encyclopedia (from October 2019). He added content to the
website until the appointment of a dedicated content manager in March
2018. He has been instrumental in
obtaining several collections of material for the SPR’s archives and was
involved, with Prof. David Fontana, in lobbying for the reissue of the 1999 Scole Report as a mass circulation
paperback in 2011.
‘For some years he was a coordinator of the Anglia
Paranormal Research Group and investigated a number of spontaneous cases. He
has contributed to JSPR and Paranormal Review (and
its predecessors) as well as Fortean Times and online
publications; blogs at http://tomruffles.blogspot.co.uk/; and is the author of Ghost
Images: Cinema of the Afterlife. He
is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society by research, was an Honorary
Visiting Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University, 2014-2019, and is a
member of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena and
a Professional Member of the Parapsychological Association. He holds two Ph.Ds: one on Life After Death in the Cinema, from the
University of East Anglia, the other on George
Albert Smith (1864–1959): From Stage to Screen, from Anglia Ruskin
University, about a significant figure in the early history of the SPR.’
(Last updated 1 July 2024)
