Richard Crisp was born in London (UK), and educated at The Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School in Rochester, Kent.
In 2007 he was appointed Full Professor of Psychology in the Centre for the Study of Group Processes at the University of Kent.
Richard Crisp has published widely on diversity, multiculturalism, prejudice, stereotyping, social cognition and intergroup contact.
His scholarly contributions are particularly known for their application of cutting-edge advances in psychological science to pervasive and problematic social issues.
In 2007 he developed a new cognitive intervention for reducing prejudice and promoting tolerance based on the application of theory and research into mental imagery (the imagined contact hypothesis).