The man from MENSA - 1 of 600: Mensa research

Bernard Mulholland

Jul 2016 · The Man From Mensa Book 1 · Independently Published

About this eBook

There is little in the public domain about this élite international high-IQ society, MENSA, which boasts a membership tested to have an IQ among the highest two per cent of the population. This book was written by an insider who, as a member of MENSA, contributed extensively to this high-IQ society over a span of almost thirty years. MENSA was originally conceived of as a third pillar intended to complement the Royal Society and the British Academy. When it was founded in Oxford during 1946 its original goal was to gather six hundred of the most intelligent people in Britain, as scientifically measured through an IQ test, who the government and its agencies could contact for advice on matters of government. It had two purposes: first, to conduct research in psychology and social science and, secondly, to provide contact between intelligent people everywhere in the world. The intention was for MENSA to conduct three strands of research:

- To test intelligence tests, and identify correlations with intelligence.

- Mensans as the subjects of research.

- The Mensan as an instrument of research, i.e. where they themselves chose areas of interest to research and write reports on them.

This book reveals some of the research conducted on or by Mensans over the intervening seventy years. Under its first president, Sir Cyril Burt, MENSA systematically conducted research on thousands of its members from 1946 until the death of the esteemed British psychologist in 1971. Burt’s research was challenged after his death, but it is debatable whether his detractors were fully aware of his MENSA research. MENSA was conducting big data research long before it became fashionable during the 21st century with the advent of powerful computers, and much of this research was made available to government departments at the time.

About the author

Bernard Mulholland is an author from Northern Ireland. His latest novel is Nazareth Quest which is a tense thriller set in Israel. Nazareth Quest arguably combines the best of the CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) franchise together with archaeology.

Dr. Bernard Mulholland is a historian, archaeologist and Byzantinist (Eastern Roman Empire) with a Doctorate in History and a Masters in Management from Queen’s University Belfast. Bernard wanted to take his research to a new audience, and the result is his novel Nazareth Quest, which is a tense thriller set in Israel. The November issue of Mensa Magazine has a really great review of the new novel.

Also authored by Dr. Mulholland is The Man From Mensa (two volumes) which is a history of the high-IQ society MENSA, which was founded in Oxford during 1946. During May 2023 Irish Mensa will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in Belfast.

Perhaps his most influential work, and one of his bestsellers for 2022, is Ratio Analysis of Financial KPI in the Higher Education Sector, which analyses financial data from nine leading Russell Group universities in the UK. Author's note: the data for much of this research came from 2006-2016 Annual Reports, and so, arguably, provides a pre-Brexit benchmark against which post-Brexit data can be measured.

Publications:

Bernard Mulholland, The man from MENSA - 1 of 600: Mensa research (Charleston, 2016).

--- , The man from MENSA - 1 of the 600: Politics 1990-1995 (Charleston, 2016).

--- , Ratio analysis of financial KPI in the Higher Education sector: a case study (Belfast, 2018).

---, Early Byzantine Ireland: a survey of the archaeological evidence (Belfast, 2021).

---, Navan Fort, Ireland: archaeological and palaeoecological analysis (Belfast, 2021).

Mulholland, B. (2021). 'Can archaeology inform the climate change debate?' Academia Letters, Article4385. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL4385

Academic conference papers

- 'Identification of Early Byzantine Constantinopolitan, Syrian, and Roman church plans in the Levant and some possible consequences', Patristic Studies in the twenty-first century: proceedings of an international conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Association of Patristic Studies, ed. Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Theodore de Bruyn and Carol Harrison (Turnhout, 2015), 597-633.

- ‘Can the location of the baptismal font in relation to other nodes of power in Early Byzantine basilical churches help to reveal the underlying sacred topography?’ Landscapes of power, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XV International Graduate Conference 2013, 22-23 February 2013, History Faculty, University of Oxford.

- ‘Women in Early Byzantine churches’, Reality and illusion: seeing through the ‘Byzantine image’, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XIV International Graduate Conference 2012, 17-18 February 2012, History Faculty, University of Oxford.

- ‘The wreathed cross or stephanostaurion on sixth-century marble chancel screens in the Mediterranean region’, Between Constantines: representations and manifestations of an empire, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XIII International Graduate Conference 2011, 4-5 March 2011, History Faculty, University of Oxford.

- ‘Does archaeological evidence for the location of the diakonikon in the Early Byzantine Church affect our perception of clergy-laity relations?’ Being Byzantine: definitions, limits and realities, Oxford University Byzantine Society's XII International Graduate Conference 2010, 5-6 March 2010, History Faculty, University of Oxford.

- ‘The quest for C4’. Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium (16/5/2008), Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.

- ‘Is Schiffer’s Behavioural Archaeology a useful tool for Byzantine archaeologists?’ The archaeology of Byzantium, 41st Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies 4th–6th April 2008, School of history, classics and archaeology, University of Edinburgh.

- ‘The Macedonian Renaissance in the archaeological record at St. Polyeuktos, Saraçhane, Istanbul (Constantinople)’, Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium (18/4/2007), Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.