Ederyn Williams

Ederyn Williams (born 21 September 1946) is a British academic, commentator and writer whose work focuses on social presence theory and technology transfer.

Early life and education Williams is the son of the Welsh academic and television critic Raymond Williams. Williams earned a DPhil in Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1971.

Social presence theory Williams, along with fellow social psychologists Bruce Christie and John Short, developed social presence theory in 1976. Social presence theory is defined as "the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships."

In the early 1980s, Williams was briefly the head of the short-lived gaming company, Telecomsoft.

In 1991, Williams became the Managing Director of Leeds Innovations Ltd. at the University of Leeds. In 2000, Williams joined the University of Warwick, where he founded an academic department that later became Warwick Ventures Ltd.