
Prof Graham Pike
Professor Of Forensic Cognition
Biography
Professional biography
I am Professor of Forensic Cognition at The Open University. Below are a selection of professional links and affiliations:
- Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of The British Psychological Society
- Founding member of the Centre for Policing Research and Learning
- Member of the European Association of Psychology and Law
- Member of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
Research interests
I research in forensic psychology (mostly on eyewitness identification) and applied cognition (mostly in face perception). I have a particular interest in developing technology, policy and procedures designed to improve police investigations. Much of my current research is conducted as part of the Centre for Policing Research and Learning, which is a collaboration between The Open University and 26 UK Police Forces and Agencies.
I am also a founding member of the Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative (HERC), and part of the Forensic Cognition Research Group where I work closely with Gemma Briggs, Lee Curley, Camilla Elphick, Lara Frumkin, Gini Harrison, Trina Havard, Helen Kaye, Hayley Ness, Ailsa Strathie, Jim Turner and Zoe Walkington.
Teaching interests
Since coming to the university in 2000, I have worked on a wide range of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Recently this has included designing and directing the following qualifications:
as well as supporting the development of the following degrees:
- BSc (Honours) Psychology (Q07)
- BA (Honours) Criminology and Psychology (Q98)
- BA (Honours) Criminology and Law (Q92)
modules:
- Investigating Psychology 1 (DE100)
- Investigating Psychology 3 (DE300)
- Counselling and Forensic Psychology (DD310)
and MOOCs:
Projects
Citizen Forensics
The Citizen Forensics project reframes key challenges that underlie modern policing in a socio-technical world; a world instrumented with mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies, in which many citizens and communities live, work and play, but which must also manage threats to their wellbeing and their rights. The project aims to support a new engagement between authorities (such as the police) and communities of citizens in order to better investigate (and in the long term reduce) potential or actual threats to citizen security, safety, and privacy. This includes both empowering the police by opening up new ways of citizens providing data in ways that protect privacy and anonymity, and empowering citizens by using these new technologies to also hold the police to account. We will be harnessing many of the so-called Internet of Things, Smart City and Smart Home technologies to encourage and allow citizens to help the police collect and analyse disparate data to improve public safety at both local and ultimately national levels. This multidisciplinary investigation draws upon expertise in computing, policing, psychology and organisational theory. For more information, see https://www.citizenforensics.org/
Publications
Book
An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology: Processes and Disorders (4th Ed.) (2021)
Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology (2017)
An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology: Processes and Disorders (2013)
Book Chapter
Facial Composite Technology and Eyewitness Identification (2024)
The Challenges of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) (2018)
Identification Evidence (2018)
Journal Article
Towards Efficient AI Solutions for Facial Recognition in the Wild (2024)
An international survey of applied face-matching training courses (2021)
Games for health & mHealth apps for police & blue light personnel: A research review (2021)
Digital detectives: websleuthing reduces eyewitness identification accuracy in police lineups (2021)
Eyewitness identification procedures: Do researchers and practitioners share the same goals? (2021)
Building trust in digital policing: a scoping review of community policing apps (2021)
You can believe your eyes: measuring implicit recognition in a lineup with pupillometry (2020)
Entitlement to Tell on Police Facebook Sites (2019)
Are you talking to me? How identity is constructed on police-owned Facebook sites (2018)
Are two views better than one? Investigating three-quarter view facial composites (2015)
Holistic facial composite systems: are they compatible with witness recall? (2008)
Identifying composites of famous faces: Investigating memory, language and system issues (2006)
Does the presentation of multiple facial composites improve suspect identification? (2006)
Making faces with computers: Witness cognition and technology (2005)
Presentation / Conference
The Psychology of our Relationship with Fictional Villains (2024)
Are you talking to me? A qualitative study of Facebook use by two police forces (2024)
How Do People Use a Public Gratitude Platform in the Wild? (2024)
Towards a Socio-Technical Understanding of Police-Citizen Interactions (2023)
Charity sector wellbeing support for UK police (2021)
Designing Technologies for Community Policing (2020)
Towards Citizen Forensics: Improving Citizen-Police Collaboration (2020)
Emergency Responders Mental Health & Wellbeing Project (2020)
Exploring charity sector wellbeing support for police (2019)
The use of Facebook in creating police identity (2018)
Public and police perceptions of policing ethics (2018)
Testing the weapon focus effect: change blindness and eyewitness identification (2016)
Identity, citizenship and engaging with the criminal justice system (2015)
Police perceptions of eyewitness evidence and research (2015)
Investigating eye movement patterns for sequential video VIPER line-ups (2011)
Violent, realistic and unexpected staged crimes: do participant-witnesses behave differently? (2011)
Can composite construction contaminate witness memory? (2009)
Change blindness during an identification parade (2009)
Improving the accuracy of visual and eyewitness evidence (2009)
Comparing types of sequential lineups (2009)
Do array-based composite construction systems interfere with witness recognition memory? (2005)
Do PCA compositing systems make better use of witness cognition than traditional systems? (2005)
The eyes have it: Feature saliency and facial composite construction (2001)
Applying perceptual research to E-FIT construction: A minimal face experiment (2000)
Report
Assessing the mental health and wellbeing of the Emergency Responder community in the UK (2020)
A glimpse into the realm of police wellbeing charities (2020)
The Visual Identification of Suspects: Procedures and Practice (2002)