People in the Forensic Psychology Unit
The Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths has growing research strength in Forensic Psychology. The unit includes internal staff members, research students, and a number of external members from the UK and around the world.
Primary page content
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Forensic Psychology Unit, please get in touch with Professor Fiona Gabbert (f.gabbert@gold.ac.uk).
Staff Members
Professor Fiona Gabbert
Professor Fiona Gabbert is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Forensic Psychology Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. She also chairs the Scientific Committee of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group. Fiona’s research has had an international impact on operational procedures via introducing evidence-based investigative interview tools and training resources to the field.
Dr Adrian Scott
Dr Adrian Scott is a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is the Co-Director of the Forensic Psychology Unit and Co-Director of an accredited MSc programme in Forensic Psychology. Adrian is a chartered psychologist with associate fellow status within the British Psychological Society and has a broad interest in forensic psychology, specialising in the areas of stalking, non-consensual image sharing, investigative interviewing and eyewitness testimony.
Dr Alexandra Bailey
Dr Alexandra Bailey is a Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she is a member of the Forensic Psychology Unit. Alexandra is a Registered Forensic Psychologist, working within the field of child sexual abuse prevention. She has also worked within the prison service and forensic secure hospitals. She has a broad interest in forensic psychology, specialising in the areas of offline and online sexual offending, and women who commit offences.
Emma Davies
Emma Davies PhD SFHEA is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at Goldsmiths. She currently leads research and development on trauma-informed practice in Higher Education. Her forensic research has focused on victims, adverse childhood experiences, rape and child sexual abuse, and domestic violence. She’s interested in the relationship between research, policy, and practice, combining her experience in the academy with previous policy analysis roles in government agencies.
Dr Caoimhe McAnena
Dr Caoimhe McAnena is a Chartered Forensic and Clinical Psychologist and a Senior Lecturer in the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths. She is the co-director of the MSc Forensic Psychology and her teaching focuses on forensic practice. Caoimhe's research interests are in the area of public perceptions of offenders and the influence of media on public attitudes to offending and rehabilitation. She is particularly interested in developing research and other practice-based projects in collaboration with forensic organisations.
Dr Gordon Wright
Dr Gordon Wright examines the psychology and behaviour of liars from a social cognitive and communicative perspective. His research is based on the notion that by better understanding how liars act and interact with their victims, more effective applications of lie detection and credibility assessment may be developed. This work finds very real application in the interviewing of suspects. Gordon is particularly passionate about bringing theory and research to real-world application.
PhD students
Celine Brouillard
Celine Brouillard is researching the relationship between rapport and trust as well as the contextual impact of remote interviews on such constructs. She is particularly interested in understanding what contributes to the benefits of building rapport: the behaviours, the feeling of rapport, or both. Celine will review current literature to develop and validate measures of trust and rapport before comparing different remote interview contexts according to accuracy, rapport, trust, and different levels of self-disclosure. Supervisors: Prof Fiona Gabbert and Dr Adrian Scott.
Gabriela Georgescu
Gabriela Georgescu is researching psychopaths. Psychopaths are assumed to be skillful manipulators, although limited research evidence supports this claim. An alternative hypothesis is that psychopaths are better able to accurately identify and target vulnerable victims (The Target Selection Hypothesis). Gabriela’s research aims to examine the cognitive and social mechanisms underlying manipulative behaviours employed by Psychopaths, with a view to estimating their abilities in this area. In parallel, Gabriela shall be expanding on research examining aspects of vulnerability to manipulation (e.g., gullibility) and the extent to which this is a personality trait. Supervisor: Dr Gordon Wright.
Amy van Langeraad
Amy van Langeraad is starting her PhD Forensic Psychology in January 2022. She will be examining the effectiveness of missing person appeals and additional barriers to memory recall in disadvantaged missing populations. During her MSc, she had researched BAME overrepresentation in the missing population by studying police decision-making in missing person investigations. Amy also an interest in missing persons investigations in general and is a core founding member and senior reviewer in the Cold Case Investigations Team at Goldsmiths. Supervisors: Dr Adrian Scott and Prof Fiona Gabbert.
Chelsea Mainwaring
Chelsea Mainwaring is researching the role of bystanders in the context of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). She is particularly interested in how bystanders respond to incidents of IBSA and what factors are related to the likelihood of intervention in these contexts. By addressing these research questions, Chelsea hopes to have practical, real-world implications in preventing IBSA and minimising the impacts upon victims. Alongside her research endeavours, Chelsea is also an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Supervisors: Dr Adrian Scott and Prof Fiona Gabbert.
Gabriela Morris
Gabriela Morris is researching subclinical female psychopaths and the deception tactics they use to manipulate and gain the advantage in their social and sexual environments. Her research is primarily focusing on superficial charm, a key component of the psychopathic personality construct, and its mechanisms and antecedents, including how it manifests according to relationship power dynamics, societal norms and gender. Supervisors: Dr Gordon Wright and Dr Alice Jones.
Katie Toolin
Katie Toolin begins her PhD in psychology in January 2022. She will be researching rapport-based investigative interviewing techniques, with a special interest in those used with reluctant and non-cooperative interviewees. Prior to this she completed her MSc forensic psychology at Goldsmiths with a thesis investigating risk factors in politically motivated collective violence. She also has an interest in missing persons investigations and is a core founding member and senior reviewer in the Cold Case Investigations Team. Supervisors: Prof Fiona Gabbert and Dr Adrian Scott.