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The Queen’s community is remembering Professor Jonathan Smallwood, who passed away on Oct. 24 at the age of 50. He earned his PhD from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland in 2001 and first came to Canada as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia in 2004. After holding positions at the University of Aberdeen, the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Max Planck Institute, and the University of York, he joined the Queen’s Department of Psychology in 2020.

Dr. Smallwood’s research pioneered the study of spontaneous thought, focusing on identifying the neural basis behind the thoughts and feelings that occupy our daily lives. He was a dedicated scientist who brought together a large network of collaborators in the service of understanding how our complex patterns of thought are constrained by the contexts we are in, the activities we engage in, and the anatomy and interactions of our brain. He was a leader who left a seismic impact on his field, with over 300 published works in field-leading journals, cited almost 50,000 times, and was named a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Plc in both 2020 and 2021. Within the Queen’s community, Dr. Smallwood was a valued friend, a respected colleague, and a cherished teacher and mentor.