Craig McGarty moved to Murdoch as the Director of the Centre for Social and Community Research in February 2007, before that he was Head of the School of Psychology at The Australian National University. He is
 best known for his work in the areas of categorization,  stereotype formation and social identity. He is also heavily involved in research on group-based emotions including collective guilt and on public opinion and collective action.

His current ARC Discovery Project is on bolstering commitment to positive social change through small group interaction with a focus on efforts to combat climate change, promote Reconciliation, supporting
programs to combat poverty in developing countries, and reducing stigma towards people with mental disorders.
He is the author of Categorization in Social Psychology (SAGE, 1999) and he jointly edited Stereotypes as Explanations (Cambridge, 2002) and The Message of Social Psychology (Blackwell, 1997).