Carey Marr- Erasmus Mundus PhD Student

Email: carey.marr@port.ac.uk

hold a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Williams College in Massachusetts in the United States. After graduating, I spent a year in Australia where I worked as a research assistant in the Forensic Psychology Lab at the University of Sydney under Helen Paterson and Celine van Golde. While there, I also volunteered with Not Guilty, an exoneration project based in Sydney.

In 2017, I started my doctorate in legal psychology, as part of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program in Legal Psychology (the House of Legal Psychology). I am based at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where I am supervised by Henry Otgaar, Melanie Sauerland, and Conny Quaedflieg. As part of the program, I also spend six months (February-July 2019) at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, where I am supervised by Lorraine Hope. In my doctoral research, I focus on the effects of acute stress on eyewitness memory.

Nkansah Anakwah- Erasmus Mundus PhD Student

Email: nkansah.anakwah@maastrichtuniversity.nl

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana in 2010. In 2011, I commenced a two-year Master of Philosophy degree in Social Psychology at the University of Ghana. My Master’s thesis examined the effect of fear of prosecution and threat of physical harm on risky driving attitudes, a study that was awarded a grant by Ghana’s National Road Safety Commission.

During the second year of my Master’s programme, I served as a Graduate Assistant at the Department of Psychology, University of Ghana. Following my master thesis, I continued to work as a Teaching Assistant with the department, where I also worked on other research projects. I later served as an adjunct lecturer at the Methodist University College Ghana, where I taught undergraduate psychology courses.

In 2017 I commenced the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Legal Psychology programme, with Maastricht University as my home university and University of Portsmouth as my host university. My Supervisors are Prof. Peter van Koppen (Maastricht University), Dr. Robert Horselenberg (Maastricht University) and Prof. Lorraine Hope (University of Portsmouth). My PhD research focuses on cultural influences on eyewitness testimony.

Pamela Hanway - SC.DTP PhD Student

Email: pamela.hanway@port.ac.uk

Formerly a Detective with Merseyside Police (UK), I have many years’ experience in a diverse range of investigative roles.  My research interests extend from my police career and include all aspects of investigative interviewing.

I obtained my BSc (Hons) in Psychology in 2007 and my MSc in Psychology in 2010, both from The Open University. In 2016, I obtained my MSc in Forensic Psychology (with distinction) from the University of Portsmouth. For my recent MSc project, I explored police officers’ experiences when they interview children and vulnerable witnesses.

In 2017, the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SC.DTP) awarded me a PhD studentship at the University of Portsmouth, under the supervision of Dr Lucy Akehurst, Dr Zarah Vernham and Professor Lorraine Hope. I am currently researching the effects of cognitive load on investigative interviewers’ performance, particularly during interviews with children and vulnerable witnesses.

Sergii Yaremenko – Erasmus Mundus PhD Student

Email: sergii.yaremenko@maastrichtuniversity.nl

I hold a Master’s in Law from the National University ‘Odessa Law Academy’. Upon graduating in 2012, I continued my studies at the Odessa Mechnikov University to obtain my second Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology.

In 2016, I enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate program in Legal Psychology. I am primarily based at Maastricht University (the Netherlands), where I am supervised by Dr. Melanie Sauerland and Prof. Harald Merckelbach. In 2017, I also joined the department of Psychology at the University of Portsmouth to continue my research here under the supervision of Prof. Lorraine Hope. In my PhD, I focus on the role of time-of-day preferences in eyewitness memory.

Renan Benigno - Erasmus Mundus PhD Student

Email: renan.saraiva@port.ac.uk

I obtained my Bachelor Degree in Psychology from University of Brasilia (Brazil). During my bachelors I conducted projects on social dilemmas, conformity effects, metamemory, facial composites and schizophrenia. In September 2016 I started my PhD on the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Programme in Legal Psychology. I am supervised by Dr Lorraine Hope and Dr. James Ost at the University of Portsmouth and Dr Robert Horselenberg and Dr Peter van Koppen at the University of Maastricht. My research focuses on the use of metamemory measures as estimates of eyewitnesses’ accuracy.

Gary Dalton - PhD Student

Email: gary.dalton@port.ac.uk

I graduated from the University of Stirling in 2009 with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. As part of my degree I spent one year studying at the University of Sydney on a study abroad program. I am currently working towards my PhD at the University of Portsmouth. My research aims to provide a frontline examination of how witnesses and victims of crime actually first describe a suspect. For this project I work with Hampshire Constabulary and Queensland Police to examine what actually happens at the scene of an incident (using real life footage taken from body worn video cameras). In addition to my studies, I have held a number of research associate positions which have examined eyewitness memory, face matching and lie detection.

Click here for publications and presentations.

Charlotte Hudson – PhD student

Email: charlotte.hudson@port.ac.uk

In 2014 I graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a in BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology. For my dissertation I worked with Prof. Aldert Vrij and Dr. Sharon Leal examining the use of the Symptom Validity Test as an effective lie detection technique.

Throughout my undergraduate degree I also worked as a research assistant for Prof. Aldert Vrij.

I started working on my PhD in Psychology at the University of Portsmouth in October 2014. My research specialises in investigative interviewing and detecting deception through statement consistency analysis, supervised by Prof. Aldert Vrij, Dr. Lucy Akehurst and Prof. Lorraine Hope. My primary research interests include forensic interviewing, verbal lie detection, memory based lie detection, individual differences, and intelligence & terrorism.

Feni Kontogianni - CREST Postdoctoral researcher

Email: feni.kontogianni@port.ac.uk

I obtained my Bachelor in Psychology from Panteion University in Athens (Greece), during which time I studied as an Erasmus exchange student, in the University Paris Descartes V (France). I also hold an MSc in Forensic Psychology with distinction from the University of Maastricht (the Netherlands). I first joined the HAC Lab during my research internship in the UoP, where I was supervised by Prof. Lorraine Hope, while I conducted research for my Master’s thesis on the consequences of non-believed memories on memory reports.

My PhD was part of the National Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) and as such it provided me with an exciting opportunity to be part of an interdisciplinary research community focusing on the understanding of security threats. My research focused on the topic of “Information elicitation in intelligence gathering contexts” and examines factors that enhance recall/reporting performance along with the use of innovative tools and techniques in security contexts. My supervisory team included Prof. Lorraine Hope (UoP), Prof. Paul Taylor (University of Lancaster) and Prof. Aldert Vrij (UoP). Other research interests of mine include criminal responsibility, violence risk assessment and cognitive biases that affect decision-making.

Click here for past members