Prof Coral Dando
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 University of Wolverhampton before joining the University of Westminster as a Professor of Psychology.
I am a Health and Care Practitioner 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, 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 forensic and security contexts.
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).