Ed Diener is the distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois. He received his doctorate at the University of Washington in 1974, and has been a faculty member at the University of Illinois for the past 36 years. Dr. Diener was the president of the International Society of Quality of Life Studies, the Society of Personality and Social Psychology and the International Positive Psychology Association.
Professor Diener's research focuses on the measurement of well-being; temperament and personality influences on wellbeing; theories of well-being; income and well-being; and cultural influences on well-being. He has edited three recent books on subjective wellbeing, and a 2005 book on multi-method measurement in psychology. Diener just published a popular book on happiness with his son Robert Biswas-Diener (Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth) as well as a book on policy uses of accounts of wellbeing with Richard Lucas, Ulrich Schimmack, and John F. Helliwell (Well-Being for Public Policy). A multivolume collection of his most influential works in the area of subjective well-being will be published this year (The Collected Works of Ed Diener) as well as a book on international differences in well-being, which he edited in conjunction with Daniel Kahneman and John F. Helliwell (International Differences in Well-Being).
His extensive research on happiness and wellbeing has helped develop a more scientific understanding of the social political and cultural dimensions to happiness.
Also see: How to improve your mood