I am a Professor of Cognitive Psychology in the Psychology Department at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. My main interest is memory, in particular, aspects of episodic and autobiographical memory. But the question that bothers me most is this: How and why do people come to believe in and remember entire events or aspects of events that never happened? Much of my research has theoretical implications for how we understand memory, and informs professionals working in legal or clinical contexts.
Since 2016, I have served as the Executive Director of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, known as SARMAC. SARMAC aims to promote and support outstanding research, and encourages collaboration between basic and applied researchers in the field of memory and cognition. Along with colleagues at Warwick in the Law and Business Schools, I co-founded Warwick’s Centre for Operational Police Research (COPR). I currently serve as the Co-Director of COPR alongside Prof Jackie Hodgson (Warwick Law School). COPR is an interdisciplinary network that brings together researchers from 9 academic departments, including Psychology, Law, Business, Computer Science and Politics at Warwick University. Our aim is to conduct police-related research that is both intellectually innovative and has clear policy and practice implications within policing. I have also served as an Associate Editor at the journal, Legal & Criminological Psychology, for 8 years.
I welcome applications from first-rate graduate students wishing to pursue postgraduate research degrees in any area of episodic or autobiographical memory, particularly memory distortions. There are funding opportunities for PhD studies in the UK, but the funding landscape is fairly complex. The Warwick Graduate School provides information and advice for prospective students, and you can access a full list of funding opportunities here. Home/EU students may be funded by Research Councils (there are currently 7 government-funded councils that offer funding support for postgraduates) or funds provided by the University/Department. International students may wish to apply for the Chancellors’ International Scholarship scheme. Note that funding application deadlines tend to fall in Jan/Feb each year for a Sept start.