Celebrating the life and work of Professor William Yule

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This post is kindly reproduced with permission from KCL – original post.

Celebrating the life and work of Professor William Yule

Emeritus Professor William ‘Bill’ Yule passed away unexpectedly but peacefully at home on 5 November 2023. ACAMH Chair Dr. wrote a tribute on behalf of the organisation.

Near the one year anniversary of his death, friends, family and colleagues gathered at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience to celebrate his life and work. On 25 November 2024, King’s College London welcomed friends, family and colleagues from across the globe to share Professor Yule’s impact on them, their work, and the field of clinical child psychology. Throughout the afternoon, we heard from 28 esteemed colleagues about Professor Yule’s contributions to research, clinical practice and his global humanitarian work.

The event was introduced by the Executive Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, with Professor Rona Moss-Morris (Head of Department of Psychology) chairing the first session.

Watch the full event recording

We are grateful to King’s College London’s School of Mental Health & Psychological Sciences, the Department of Psychology, the Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, the Society for the Study of Behavioural Phenotypes, and Children and War UK for their contributions to this event.

Professor William Yule

Bill Yule was Emeritus Professor of Applied Child Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where he Founded the Child Traumatic Stress Clinic. He was the Director of the clinical psychology training course at the (then) Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) (1982-1987), Head of Clinical Psychology Services at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals Special Health Authority (1987-1994), and advisor to the Metropolitan Police, the British Army, the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

In the UK, Professor Yule was involved in establishing clinical child psychology as a robust discipline. Throughout his career, he published more than 350 articles and book chapters, and 10 authored or edited books on the subject. He was renowned internationally for his pioneering research on understanding and treating the effects of trauma on children.

Professor Yule first came to the IoP in 1962 to complete a one-year Diploma in Clinical Psychology. He then began a research job with Professor Jack Tizard CBE in the Medical Research Council unit based at the IoP. In 1964, Professor Yule moved to the University of London Institute of Education, taking up the position of Lecturer in Child Development. He returned to the IoP in 1969 as a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Psychologist at the (then) Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospital child and adolescent services.

He was involved in the Isle of Wight epidemiological studies in the late 1960s – 1970s alongside Professor Tizard and Professor Sir Michael Rutter. In the 1980s, he conducted seminal work on the negative impact of high lead levels on children’s cognition and behaviour. During that decade, he also became a founding member of the Society for the Study of Behavioural Phenotypes. He was appointed as Chair in Clinical Psychology at the IoP in 1987, a post he held until his retirement in 2005.

In 1993, he became an advisor to UNICEF during the civil war in Bosnia. He then helped set up the Children and War Foundation, a charity based in Norway, with Dr Atle Dyregrov. He ran programmes for child victims of earthquakes in Turkey, Greece and Iran. He was also part of the UK Sri Lanka Trauma Group, providing help for children affected by war in Sri Lanka.

Professor Yule’s work and recognition continued long beyond his retirement. He was the driving force in setting up the BPS Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Psychology Section in 2013, and was its inaugural chair. In 2017, he chaired the BPS Presidential Taskforce on Refugees and Asylum Seekers and, towards the end of his life, was involved in setting up the Children and War UK as a recognised charity. He was still lecturing on the clinical psychology doctorate at the IoPPN in 2023.

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