Our people

Professor Reinhard Pekrun

Positive Psychology and Education

Areas of expertise: achievement emotion and motivation; epistemic emotions; personality development; educational assessment and evaluation

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Full

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4489-3827

Phone: +61 9701 4668

Email: reinhard.pekrun@acu.edu.au

Location:  ACU North Sydney Campus

Reinhard Pekrun is Professorial Fellow at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney; Professor of Psychology at the University of Essex, United Kingdom; and Professor Emeritus at the University of Munich, Germany. His research areas include achievement emotion and motivation, personality development, and educational assessment and evaluation. He pioneered research on emotions in achievement settings and originated the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions. Pekrun is a highly cited scientist; he is listed among the top ten currently most highly cited educational researchers worldwide. He has published 24 books and edited volumes as well as more than 300 articles and chapters, including numerous papers in leading journals such as Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, Child Development, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, and Emotion.

Pekrun is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the American Educational Research Association, and the International Academy of Education. He is a member of the editorial boards of top journals such as Educational Psychologist and Journal of Educational Psychology. He also served as President of the Stress and Anxiety Research Society, Dean of the Faculty for Psychology and Education at the University of Regensburg, and Vice-President for Research at the University of Munich. In an advisory capacity, Pekrun is active in policy development and implementation in education. In 2015, he received the John G. Diefenbaker Award from the Canada Council which acknowledges outstanding research accomplishments across fields in the humanities and social sciences. He is also the recipient of the Sylvia Scribner Award 2017 (American Educational Research Association), the EARLI Oeuvre Award 2017 (European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction), and the Lifetime Achievement Award 2018 of the German Psychological Society.

Select publications

Top ten

• Vogl, E., Pekrun, R., Murayama, K., & Loderer, K. (2020). Surprised – curious – confused: Epistemic emotions and knowledge exploration. Emotion, 20, 625-641. https://org/10.1037/emo0000578
• Pekrun, R., Murayama, K., Marsh, H. W., Goetz, T., & Frenzel, A. C. (2019). Happy fish in little ponds: Testing a reference group model of achievement and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(1), 166–185. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000230
• Marsh, H. W., Pekrun, R., Parker, P. D., Murayama, K., Guo, J., Dicke, T., & Arens, A. K. (2019). The murky distinction between self-concept and self-efficacy: Beware of lurking jingle-jangle fallacies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(2), 331–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000281
• Pekrun, R., Lichtenfeld, S., Marsh, H., W., Murayama, K. and Goetz, T. (2017) Achievement emotions and academic performance: Longitudinal models of reciprocal effects. Child Development, 88(5), 1653–¬1670. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12704
• Pekrun, R., & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (Eds.). (2014). International handbook of emotions in education. Taylor & Francis / Routledge.
• Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Barchfeld, P., & Perry, R. P. (2011). Measuring emotions in students’ learning and performance: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ). Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.10.002
• Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Daniels, L. M., Stupnisky, R. H., & Perry, R. P. (2010). Boredom in achievement settings: Control-value antecedents and performance outcomes of a neglected emotion. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(3), 531–549. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019243
• Pekrun, R., Elliot, A. J., & Maier, M. A. (2009). Achievement goals and achievement emotions: Testing a model of their joint relations with academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013383
• Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 315–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9
• Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions in students' self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 91–105. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3702_4E

Projects

• Deadly Start: Enabling Preschoolers’ Literacy, Numeracy and Wellbeing (R. Craven, A. Yeung, E. McKinley, R. Wallace, K. Turner, C. Hulme, & R. Pekrun). Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP210100402), 2021-2024, AUD 771,651.
• Fostering Epistemic Cognition and Self-Regulated Learning in Mathematics and Science (K. Muis, P. Kendeou, R. Pekrun, G. Sinatra). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant (#85664), 2020-2024, CAD 358,241.
• Assessing and Enhancing Emotional Competence for Well-Being in the Young (ECoWeB; E. Watkins, T. Ehring, G. Schulte-Körne, R. Pekrun, K. Scherer, et al.). European Commission, Horizon 2020 (Project 754657), 2017-2021. Euro 3,999,980.
• Motivation-Enhancing Treatments and Mind Mapping: An Attribution-Based Intervention to Facilitate College Students' Engagement and Persistence in Online Learning Environments (R. P. Perry, J. G. Chipperfield, J. M. Hamm, & R. Pekrun). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; Insight Grant Reference 435-2017-0804), 2017-2022. CAD 152,000.Example
• ECR CORE Collaborative: Getting Real about Engineering: An Exploration of the Emotional Lives and Motivations of Students in the Engineering Classroom (Co-PIs: I. Villanueva, J. Husman; Key Personnel: R. Pekrun), National Science Foundation (NSF), award no. (FAIN): 1661117, 2017-2020. USD 500,010.
• Emotional Contagion Between Teachers and Students Emotionale Ansteckung zwischen Lehrkräften und Schülern (Co-PIs: A, C. Frenzel, R. Pekrun, C. Reck). German Research Foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG; reference FR 2642/8, 2015-2018. Euro 353,630.
• Psychosocial Predictors of Health and Survival in Late Life. Co-Pis: J. G. Chipperfield, R. P. Perry, T. L. Stewart, N. C. Hall, M. M. Lobchuk, R. Pekrun, & P. St. John. Canadian Institutes of Health Research Operating Grant (Regional Partnership Program), 2013-2016. CAD 256,758.
• Learning Environments Across Disciplines (LEADS): Supporting Technology Rich Learning Across Disciplines (PI: Susanne Lajoie, McGill University; Theme leaders: R. Azevedo, J. Leighton, R. Pekrun). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; reference 895-2011-1006), 2012-2019. CAD 2,499,995.
• PALMA, Project for the Analysis of Learning and Achievement in Mathematics Projekt zur Analyse der Leistungsentwicklung in Mathematik (PI: R. Pekrun; Co-PIs: R. vom Hofe, W. Blum). German Research Foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG, 2000-2008. Euro 906,417.

Accolades and awards

• Listed among the top ten most highly cited educational researchers (based on 2019 citations, Pekrun ranks 6^th out of 58,316 educational researchers; P. A. Ioannidis et al., 2020, Updated science wide author databases of standardized citation indicators, PLoS Biol, 18(10): e3000918)
• Fellow Status, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2019
• Lifetime Achievement Award, German Psychological Society (“Ehrung für das Wissenschaftliche Lebenswerk“, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie) 2018
• Sylvia Scribner Award, American Educational Research Association, 2017
• EARLI Oeuvre Award, European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, 2017
• Outstanding International Collaboration Award, SIG Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning, American Educational Research Association, 2017
• John G. Diefenbaker Award, Canada Council for the Arts, 2015
• Honorary Professorship, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia, 2015
• Fellow Status, Association for Psychological Science (APS), 2015
• Member Status, Center for Advanced Studies, University of Munich, 2013
• Award for Outstanding Contributions to Educational Research, American Educational Research Association (AERA), 2012
• Fellow Status, American Educational Research Association (AERA), 2012
• Fellow Status, International Academy of Education (IAE), 2008
• Stress and Emotion Research Award, SIG Stress and Coping in Education, American Educational Research Association (AERA), 2000

Appointments and affiliations

Academic positions

• Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom, 2019 - present
• Professorial Fellow, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, 2017 - present
• Professor and Research Chair (W3), Personality and Educational Psychology, University of Munich, 2012 - 2019
• Chair for Personality and Educational Psychology (C4), University of Munich, 2001 - 2012
• Chair for Psychology (C4), University of Regensburg, 1994 - 2001
• Associate Professor (C3, Fiebiger Award), Developmental Psychology, University of Regensburg, 1991 - 1994
• Interim Professor (Lehrstuhlvertretung), Educational Psychology, University of Frankfurt a.M., 1989 - 1991
• Interim Professor (Lehrstuhlvertretung), Differential Psychology, University of Heidelberg, 1988 - 1989
• Assistant Professor, Psychology, University of Munich, 1982 - 1988

Administrative positions

• Chair, Advisory Board of the University of Munich, 2010 - 2019
• Vice-President for Research, University of Munich, 2007 - 2009
• Associate Director, Department of Psychology, University of Munich , 2002 - 2007
• Director, Institute of Educational Psychology, University of Munich, 2001 – 2002
• Dean, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Regensburg, 2000 – 2001
• Founding Director, Center for Higher Education Research and Development, University of Regensburg, 2000 - 2001
• Associate Dean, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Regensburg, 1994 - 1996, 1998 - 2000
• Director, Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, 1992 - 1994

Editorial roles

Current editorial boards

• AERA Open
• Anxiety, Stress and Coping
• Contemporary Educational Psychology
• Educational Psychologist
• Educational Research Review
• European Journal of Psychology of Education
• Journal of Educational Psychology
• Metacognition and Learning

Grant agency review panel

• Austrian Science Fund
• European Research Council (ERC)
• German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)
• Israel Science Foundation (ISF)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
• National Science Foundation (NSF, USA)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

Public engagement

• BBC
• The Guardian
• Hindustan Times
• New Zealand Herald
• Science New for Students
• Science Newsline
• Süddeutsche Zeitung
• Bayerischer Rundfunk
• Die Zeit
• Tagesspiegel