Dr Ross Bartels

My research focuses on using socio-cognitive measures and paradigms to examine processes underlying and associated with sexual thoughts, fantasies, and cognitions.

Dr Lauren Smith

I specialise in the journeys of people in, through, and out of the Criminal Justice System, with a particular emphasis on supporting transitions and supporting families of people with convictions.

Dr Georgina Gous

My research focuses on the accuracy of ear-witness testimony, investigating the use of leading questions during police interviews and cross-examination in court, the effectiveness of courtroom witness preparation techniques, the use of special measures for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses in court, and factors impacting jury decision-making.

Dr Hannah Merdian

My research interests are offenders who use child sexual exploitation material and their offence characteristics. I’m also interested in sexual deviancy and its assessment concerning criminal and non-criminal populations.

Rachael Dagnall

My research interests include occupational stress among staff working in high-stress environments and how to increase resilience within such populations. I also research rehabilitative cultures within prison environments.

Dr Tochukwu Onwuegbusi

My research interests are multidimensional and encompass a number of themes, including eyewitness testimony issues, jury decision-making, attitude and risk judgements, sexual interests, facial expression and recognition, etc. In particular, I apply experimental research designs and eye-tracking technology to assess a variety of real-world forensic and clinical phenomena.”

My research focuses on burglary, investigating the potential aetiological factors, particularly cognitions, and social factors. I use virtual reality to allow for the simulation of burglary offences in an immersive environment.

Dr Phil Willmot – 

I am a Consultant Forensic and Clinical Psychologist in the Men’s Personality Disorder Service at Rampton Hospital. My specialist areas include personality disorder, violent and criminally diverse serious offenders, and schema therapy.

Ellie Calow – PhD Researcher

My current research surrounds Jury Bias towards people who identify with non-conforming genders. I am using a collaborative and quantitative approaches to create representative, visual stimuli of people of varying gender identities. These will hopefully be used in future juror bias studies alongside instructional information to help mitigate bias.

Lauren Leivers – PhD Researcher

My research investigates the suitability of UK police interview practices for neurodiverse individuals, including autistic people and individuals with ADHD, focusing on which components of the Cognitive Interview are suitable for supporting them. I am passionate about contributing to the development of more inclusive and supportive evidence-based investigative interview practices within the criminal justice system.

Hannah Bowskill – PhD Researcher

I am currently conducting research into jury bias, crime type, and bias reduction techniques. My hope in researching this is to prevent injustice for those facing adversity in the courtroom and create conversation to guide future solutions for jury bias.

Sophie Richmond – PhD Researcher

I am interested in the well-being of staff working with multiple disadvantage groups within charity organisations, and the subsequent impact this has on service users. I have a particular interest in substance misuse and moral injury due to my previous work as a Recovery Worker and new role as a Trainee Mental Health and Well-being Practitioner.

Charlotte Petchey – PhD Researcher and Graduate teaching fellowship

I am currently conducting research into police approaches to substance-related harms (focusing on take home naloxone), in the hopes of increasing awareness around take home naloxone and the potential benefits and applications it can have in society, whilst working with the police.

Investigating the vividness of sexual fantasies and its effect on sexual behaviour

I’ve been studying Psychology for the past 20 years and engaging in research. For example, during my recent MSc in Applied Forensic Psychology, I conducted a dissertation on the indicators for Chemsex Involvement. I also have a history of public sector, private sector, and voluntary sector work in the areas of drug and alcohol recovery, and offending behaviour. I am currently working on my PhD looking at the feasibility of screening for problem gambling within drug and alcohol services, and mental health services.

I’m currently researching mock juror deliberations, delving into how cognitive and racial biases shape verdict decisions. My main goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of practical intervention methods in order to minimize these biases in the legal decision-making process.

Helen Howell – PhD Researcher

My research focuses on risk factors for human directed aggression in dogs, particularly those relating to a dog’s owner and their interactions with the dog. This is with the intention of developing a structured professional judgement tool for use in assessing the risk of human directed dog aggression.

Professor Todd Hogue

My main research is related to people who have sexually offended including: measures of risk and clinical change; the impact of individual differences and personality disorder; measuring deviant sexual interest and arousal; and attitudes toward sexual offender and reintegration into society.

Michelle Smith

My areas of research interest include trauma and resilience in both offender populations and forensic staff, personality disordered offenders, and female offenders, .

Prof Amanda Roberts

My current research examines the risk factors for addiction, pathological gambling, and antisocial behaviour.

Rachael Mason

Research interests include understanding the links between violence, impulsivity and substance use.

Dr Aidan Hart – Clinical and Forensic Psychologist 

Specialises in learning and conditioning theory, as well as the assessment and treatment of violent and sexual offending and mental health issues. Skilled in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Behaviour Therapies, and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT).