Professor Coral Dando

Dando, Coral's profile photo

Professor of Psychology

Social Sciences

(United Kingdom) +44 20 7911 5000 ext 67213
115 New Cavendish Street
London
GB
W1W 6UW
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About me

Having served almost 10 years as a London Police Officer, I returned to education and completed a BSc. (Hons) Psychology followed by a PhD in Applied Forensic Cognition. I have held academic posts at the University of Leicester, Lancaster University, and the University of Wolverhampton before joining the University of Westminster as a Professor of Psychology. 

I am a Health and Care Professions Council Consultant Forensic Psychologist (Rg. No. PYL28287), a British Psychological Society Chartered Psychologist (177597), Chartered Scientist, and Associate Fellow. I am a Restorative Justice practitioner and a National Teaching Fellow.

My area of research is best described as forensic cognition and how complex cognitive processes such as eyewitness memory, decision-making, verbal deception, and human intelligence gathering are impacted by the forensic contexts in which they occur. I am concerned with how environments and behaviours can be managed and manipulated to best effect. I have a particular interest in investigative interviewing in information gathering security contexts.

 

Teaching

I am the Course Director for the MSc Forensic Psychology course, and I am Module Leader for three of the Level 7 Forensic Psychology modules:

  • Forensic Investigative Psychology
  • Vulnerability,Neurodiversity and Criminal Justice
  • Forensic Professional Ethical Practice. 

I currently supervise PhD students, who are completing programmes of PhD research in the following areas:

  • Neurodivergent deception and credibility judgements
  • Insider threats
  • Cross-cultural  ruth and lies 

I supervise MSc dissertation research students interested in Forensic and Applied Cognitive Psychology.

I teach Psychology of Interviewing to professionals from various UK Police Forces; UK and US security and investigation agencies; EU police and security, and Non-Governmental organisations.

Research

Example Research funding 

2024 -  COST research and knowledge exchange:  97,000 Euros. Implementing the Mendez Principles for best investigative interviewing practice. 

2021 - Quintin Hogg Fund: £24,000. Psychology of effective communication bitesize information videos: Interviewing for research and beyond.  

2020 - Home Office Police STAR Board fund: £89,000. Understanding the impact of county lines: Enhancing investigative methods, sentencing deterrents and evidence based analysis

2019 - University of Westminster Research Communities. £12,953.County lines exploitation: Being a victim and an offender and reintegrating back into society.

2018 - British Academy/Leverhulme £9,947 (with Dr. Donna Taylor) Rapport building in Virtual Environments for information gain. 

2017 – UK MoD for £27,000. Cross-cultural cognition in context.

2016 - US Dept. of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) High Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), for $469,000. Intelligence Interviewing: Controlled Cognitive Engagement, Cross-cultural Persuasion, & Cognitive Style

2016 - Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), for €67,500. Cognition in Context: Applying CCE to amplify behaviour change and detect deception in aviation security settings.

2014 - UK Development, Science, and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Research Project Grant for £90,000.  

2011 - US Department of Homeland Security, Transport Security and Administration. Research grant for £299,000. Interviewing to detect verbal deception in an aviation security setting.

2012 - Security-Lancaster, research project grant for £1875. Human inference and professional domains in which inference arises as a central task: Decision-making in time-critical environments.

2010 - Centre for the Protection of National Infra Structure (CPNI) project grant for £251,000, Detecting Insider Threats: Techniques, Simulations and Observations (DITTOS).

2010 - EPSRC Pathways to Impact grant. £6000.

2009 - Centre for the Protection of National Infra Structure (CPNI) project grant for £145,000. Controlled Cognitive Engagement: Evaluation of a behaviour based method for aviation screening. With Prof. Tom Ormerod (University of Sussex). 

2009 - Centre for the Protection of National Infra Structure (CPNI) project grant for £722,714.00, Development of FCT and Cognitive Interview methods in Native and Non-native Populations with Prof. Paul Taylor (Lancaster); Dr. Gary Hazlett, Woodard- Cody, Prof. Andy Morgan (Psychiatry, Yale); Dr. Yaron Rabinowitz (Psychology, Texas); Prof. Tom Ormerod (University of Sussex)

 2009 - Higher Education Innovation Fund Grant for £147,000. Disseminating Investigative expertise with Prof. Paul Taylor (Lancaster) & Prof. Tom Ormerod (University of Sussex).

Publications

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.