Professor Heather D. Flowe PhD

Professor Heather D. Flowe

Professor of Psychology

Contact details

Address
School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Heather Flowe is a leading expert in episodic memory, focusing on memory retrieval processes in legal contexts. She develops memory enhancing, broad reach, low-cost procedures that are integrated into legal systems around the world, such as VR 3D Interactive lineups. 

Professor Flowe is the Director of Global Engagement for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, a Member of College Board, the Univesity Leadership Group, and the Co-Director of the Centre for Crime Justice and Policing (Victims and Trauma). She member of the ESRC Grant Assessment Panel (A) and the UKRI Interdisciplinary Assessment Panel, and is a chartered psychologist.

Qualifications

PhD in Experimental Psychology, University of California, San Diego

Biography

Professor Flowe joined the University of Birmingham in 2017, bringing with her a wealth of experience and a track record of excellence in research, teaching, and academic leadership. Her PhD from the University of California, San Diego was supported by a National Science Foundation postgraduate studentship award. 

After a postgraduate University of California Faculty Fellowship, Professor Flowe held positions at the University of Leicester as a Lecturer in Forensic Psychology and at Loughborough University as a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Associate Dean (Enterprise). In these roles, she made significant contributions to research impact, including leading the development of impact case studies for REF submissions. 

Professor Flowe's research has garnered widespread media attention, featuring in outlets such as the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, The Guardian, and the BBC. Her work directly influences policy and practice in evidence-based approaches used by police and prosecutors, with her guidance featured in Crown Prosecution Service documents and international guidelines from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

A mid-career British Academy Midcareer Fellow (2019-2020), Professor Flowe's recent work has focused on rape victim-survivor memory retrieval processes during police interviews. She serves on editorial boards for prestigious journals and is a member of the ESRC Grant Assessment Panel for Geography and Psychology (Panel A), and the UKRI Interdisciplinary Assessment panel. She reviews grant proposals for various national and international research councils. 

Professor Flowe is a member of the Editorial Board for Psychology Public Policy and Law, and Applied Cognitive Psychology, as well as Consulting Editor for Cognitive Research in the Public Interest.

Teaching

Professor Flowe’s modules/courses are consistently rated very highly by students, and by peer evaluation. She holds a Distinguished Teaching award from the University of California San Diego Academic Senate. More than 55 of her MSc in Forensic and Legal Psychology students and 13 of her MSc Psychology Research Methods students have successfully completed. 

She has taught modules and supervised dozens of students on the Forensic Psychology Practice Doctorate course and on the MSc Psychology course. 

Professor Flowe has also served as sole convenor and assessor for several different undergraduate modules, including: Legal Psychology, Criminal Psychology, Criminology, Social Psychology, Introduction to Social Psychology, Introduction to Statistics, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Statistics, Research Methods, Advanced Data Analysis; Tests and Measurement; and Clinical Psychology. 

She was the Course Director for the MSc Assessment and Treatment of Sex Offenders from 2008-2012 and was appointed as the external examiner for the MSc in Forensic Psychology at the University of Gloucester from 2017-2021.

Postgraduate supervision

Professor Flowe supervises projects on episodic memory retrieval, particularly experimental research that can be applied to the context of the legal system. Past and present projects include:

  • eyewitness identification
  • forensic face matching
  • face recognition
  • remembering rape and other traumatic events
  • investigative interviewing
  • alcohol and other drugs on memory
  • rape case adjudication
  • prosecutorial decision making
  • trauma interventions
  • metacognition
  • domestic violence interventions

Professor Flowe warmly welcomes inquiries from prospective PhD students and takes great pleasure in mentoring undergraduate and MSc students. Her commitment to student development is evident in her publication record, where nearly all her papers feature student co-authors. 

The lab is also a vibrant hub for students, postdoctoral researchers, visiting faculty, and other scholars. Recent visitors have come from diverse locations including Italy, Pakistan, Australia, Kenya, and the United States, contributing to a rich, international research environment. 

Students and researchers working with Professor Flowe will have access to state-of-the-art equipment for cutting-edge research. The lab is equipped with advanced technologies including: 

  • Eye-tracking systems for precise gaze analysis
  • Virtual Reality (VR) headsets for immersive experiments
  • Police photocapture equipment for high-quality image acquisition
  • 3D capture technology for detailed spatial analysis 

This array of modern tools enables innovative research across various fields, providing students with hands-on experience using equipment at the forefront of technological advancement.

Research

Professor Flowe's research focuses on two main areas: 

  • ID Parades and Lineups: Developing innovative criminal identification procedures, such as 3D interactive virtual reality lineups, to improve eyewitness identification accuracy and reliability. 
  • Sexual Violence: Investigating memory retrieval strategies during police interviews and developing methods to preserve and protect rape survivors' memory evidence. This includes projects in the UK, US, and Australia, as well as in humanitarian contexts. 

Professor Flowe is the PI for the UKRI GCRF Rights for Time Network+ which investigates memory, trauma, and conflict via a temporal lens.

Please www.heatherflowe.com to download papers. 

Research Funding

Professor Flowe has attracted over £7.2 million ($9 million+) for her research. Current research projects are supported by the ESRC, AHRC, ARC, and the FCDO.

Other activities

Training for legal practitioners

Professor Flowe provides expert training to legal practitioners worldwide on memory, alcohol and sexual violence, and eyewitness identification. Her evidence-based training programs have been delivered to a wide range of institutions and organizations, including:

  • National District Attorney's College, United States
  • Crown Prosecution Service Regional Managers, United Kingdom
  • Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Course, United Kingdom
  • Australian Federal Police, Sydney, Australia
  • Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Kenya
  • New York State Identification Guidance (2010)
  • Manhattan District Attorney's Office, New York 

Professor Flowe's training sessions cover critical topics such as:

  • Memory processes in eyewitness testimony
  • Effects of alcohol on victim and witness memory
  • Best practices for conducting interviews with intoxicated complainants
  • Improving eyewitness identification procedures
  • Challenging rape myths and stereotypes in legal contexts 

These trainings aim to enhance the skills of legal practitioners in handling cases involving memory evidence, particularly in sexual violence cases and those involving alcohol intoxication. 

For inquiries about training sessions or workshops, please contact Professor Flowe. 

Recent Prizes and Awards

2024 'Edward Shaffer Award for Best Research Presentation' at the Society for Policing and Criminal Psychology

2023 Inaugural University Impact prize for 'Outstanding Impact in Practice Change', University of Birmingham

2023 Excellence in Doctoral Research Supervision, University of Birmingham (finalist)

2019 University of Birmingham "Light of Understanding" Public Engagement award, Co-I, with Dr Melissa Colloff (PI) and Danielle Hett for Are you a Good Eyewitness? exhibit at the Think Tank Museum, Birmingham

Publications

Highlight publications

Meyer, M, Colloff, MF, Bennett, TC, Hirata, E, Kohl, A, Stevens, LM, Smith, HMJ, Staudigl, T & Flowe, HD 2023, 'Enabling witnesses to actively explore faces and reinstate study-test pose during a lineup increases discriminability', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 120, no. 41, e2301845120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2301845120

Colloff, M, Seale-Carlisle, T, Karoğlu, N, Rockey, J, Smith, HMJ, Smith, LL, Maltby, J, Yaremenko, S & Flowe, H 2021, 'Perpetrator pose reinstatement during a lineup test increases discrimination accuracy', Scientific Reports, vol. 11, no. 1, 13830. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92509-0

Colloff, MF, Flowe, HD, Smith, HMJ, Seale-Carlisle, TM, Meissner, CA, Rockey, JC, Pande, B, Kujur, P, Parveen, N, Chandel, P, Singh, MM, Pradhan, S & Parganiha, A 2022, 'Active exploration of faces in police lineups increases discrimination accuracy', American Psychologist, vol. 77, no. 2, pp. 196-220. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000832

Flowe, HD, Mehta, A & Ebbesen, EB 2011, 'The role of eyewitness identification evidence in felony case dispositions.', Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 140-159. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021311

Humphries, J & Flowe, H 2016, 'Receiver operating characteristic analysis of age-related changes in lineup performance', Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 132, pp. 189-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2014.12.009

Recent publications

Article

Stevens, LM, Bennett, TC, Cotton, J, Rockowitz, S & Flowe, HD 2024, 'A critical analysis of gender-based violence reporting and evidence building applications (GBVxTech) for capturing memory reports', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 1289817. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1289817

Singh, A, Pope, F, Radcliffe, J, Luiu, C, Bakare, H, Bartington, S, O Bonsu, N, Bryson, J, Cheeseman, N, Flowe, H, Krause, S, Newbigging, K, Nunan, F, Reardon, L, Rogers, C, Rowlingson, K & Thomson, I 2024, 'Delivering Sustainable Climate Action: Reframing the Sustainable Development Goal', npj Climate Action.

Deering, K, Colloff, MF, Bennett, TC & Flowe, HD 2024, 'Does presenting perpetrator and innocent suspect faces from different facial angles influence the susceptibility of eyewitness memory? An investigation into the misinformation effect and eyewitness misidentification', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 1213996. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1213996

Dilevski, N, Cullen, HJ, van Golde, C, Flowe, HD, Paterson, HM, Takarangi, MKT & Monds, LA 2024, 'Juror Perceptions of Bystander and Victim Intoxication by Different Substances', Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 569-587. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241227543

Dajani, R, Bayoumi, R, Flowe, H, Rockowitz, S, Stevens, L & Awad, A 2024, 'Neocolonialism and science diplomacy: lessons learned from the field and the way forward', Frontiers in public health, vol. 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1472421

Woodhams, J, Keetch, B, Shah, P, Brett, M, Davies, K, Flowe, H, Duran, F, Galambos, S & Gregory, P 2024, 'The Incidence and Characteristics of UK Stranger Sex Offenses Fluctuated with Public Health Measures During the Covid-19 Pandemic', Psychology of Violence.

Stevens, LM, Monds, LA, Riordan, B, Hayre, RK & Flowe, HD 2023, 'Acute alcohol intoxication and alcohol expectancy effects on women’s memory for consensual and non-consensual sexual activity', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 13, 1008563. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1008563

Ghosh, A, Flowe, H & Rockey, J 2023, 'Estimating excess mortality due to female genital mutilation', Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, 13328. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-38276-6

Chapter

Bennett, TC, Smith, HMJ & Flowe, HD 2024, Advances and Future Prospects in Evolving Face Matching Technologies for Crime Prevention and Investigation. in The Impact of Technology on the Criminal Justice System: A Psychological Overview. 1 edn, Routledge, pp. 73-93. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003323112-5

Bennett, TC, Ingham, MP, Colloff, MF, Smith, HMJ & Flowe, HD 2024, Technological Advances in the Administration of Lineups. in E Pica, D Ross & J Pozzulo (eds), The Impact of Technology on the Criminal Justice System: A Psychological Overview. 1 edn, Routledge, pp. 233-252. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003323112-12

Editorial

Hagsand, AV, Flowe, H, Takarangi, M & Gawrylowicz, J 2023, 'Editorial: The impact of alcohol and drugs on suspects', victims' and witnesses' cognition and memory', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 1209406. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1209406

Preprint

Yanga, X, Schulza, J, Schmidt, K, Kenny, AR, Pfuhl, G, Gjoneska, B, Dalgar, I, Lewis, SC, Exner, A, Buchanan, EM, Lander, K, Becker, M, Du, H, Johri, A, Selcuk, E, Gallyamova, A, Calluso, C, Reggev, N, Vranka, MA, Acar, OA, Palma, TA, Kocur, M, Oliveros, JC, Montefinese, M, Wilton, LS, Zdybek, PM, Ferreira, PRS, Pfattheicher, S, Akkas, H, Autin, F, Sorokowska, A, Janssen, SMJ, March, DS, Young, DM, Valentova, JV, Taşbaş, EHO, Bükün, MF, Giammusso, I, Brandt, MJ, Couto, C, Simon, DA, Cutler, J, Prokosch, ML, Sjåstad, H, Manunta, E, Whyte, S, Marsh, AA, Papadatou-Pastou, M, Jaeger, B, Morvinski, C, Primbs, MA, Akil, AM, Kapoor, H, Barzykowski, K, Ghai, S, Moreau, D, Seehuus, M, Kowal, M, Evans, TR, Hill, KM, Calvillo, DP, Wiechert, S, Afhami, R, Hoyer, K, Korbmacher, M, Elbaek, CT, Alsuhaibani, Z, Pronizius, E, Cui, Q, Wang, Z, Cundiff, JM, Panahi, AT, Bjornsdottir, RT, Baskin, E, Ergiyen, T, Metin-Orta, I, Collins, WM, Bø, S, Marinucci, M, Baker, BJ, Özdoğru, AA, Anne, M, Standage, M, Tullett, AM, Milfont, TL, Flynn, FJ, Zidkova, R, Ruiz-Fernandez, S, Sachs, T, Bilancini, E, Verheyen, S, Massoni, S, Jiahui, W, Camargo, A, Wang, YA, Zhou, S, Peetz, HK, Grigoryev, D, Ghasemi, O, Cong, CW, Westgate, EC, Sutherland, CAM, Boucher, L, Grigoryan, L, Paltoglou, AE, Al-Hoorie, AH, Sacco, DF, Thomas, AG, Haeffel, GJ, Davis, WE, Mandalaywala, TM, Cruz, F, Ross, RM, Jiang, X, Studzinska, A, Dumbravă, A, University, IC, Misiak, M, Tran, US, Felisberti, FM, Nagy, T, Gunaydin, G, Buchanan, EM, Miranda, JF, Behnke, M, Akin, K, Berkessel, JB, Johnson, DC, Wu, Y, Godbersen, H, Edlund, JE, Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, A, Martin, D, Norman, JB, Batres, C, Kütük, B, Szumowska, E, Storage, D, Bouguettaya, A, Lins, S, Voracek, M, Trémolière, B, Cyrus-Lai, W, Alzahawi, S, Tavel, P, Anderson, LD, Röer, JP, Malinakova, K, Varella, MAC, Karababa, A, Walczak, RB, Ribeiro, G, Sarı, E, Pypno-Blajda, K, Paruzel-Czachura, M, Travaglino, GA, Neta, M, Vaidis, DC, Lu, JG, Tatachari, S, Camgöz, SM, Lockwood, PL, Panagiotis, M, Lin, W, Rathje, S, van Lent, T, Greijdanus, H, Faure, R, Lamm, C, Brick, C, Zhao, X, Aquino, SD, Ulloa, JL, Walker, B, Malecki, WP, Lou, NM, Pizziol, V, Kuzminska, AO, Michael, S, Adıgüzel, A, Karadeniz, G, Yücel, E, Isloi, C, Chwiłkowska, P, Yu, Z, Fay, N, Papaioannou, K, Peker, M, Huang, G, El-Haddad, RW, Verschuere, B, Meier, Z, Vaughn, LA, Albayrak-Aydemir, N, Stieger, S, Çoksan, S, Bijlstra, G, Alves, SG, Hartanto, A, Mallik, PR, Jami, WA, Chen, R, Fellnhofer, K, Marcu, GM, Batalha, L, Kocalar, HE, Vieira, L, Gleibs, IH, Sharifian, MH, Hadjisolomou, SP, Riva, P, Sirota, M, Novak, L, Sorokowski, P, Li, Y, Elsherif, M, Carvalho, CL, de Lima, TJS, Baker, A, Ishii, T, Mifune, N, Miura, A, Ohtsubo, Y, Takahashi, R, Szala, A, Wolfe, K, Özdemir, F, Komyaginskaya, E, Wu, Q, Boncinelli, L, Lin, J, Gupta, R, Vazirian, MH, Hajighasemi, M, Sepehri, A, Peters, K, Emery, C, Collis, H, Henningsen, L, Aglioti, SM, Mirisola, A, Manriquez-Robles, D, Baeza-Rivera, MJ, Salazar-Fernández, C, Paydarfard, S, Dorfman, A, Katzir, M, Ram, H, Butt, MM, Jia, L, Chua, KQ, Ismail, I, WIllinger, D, Siebenhandl, A, Kaminski, G, Bennett, T, Kohl, A, Stevens, L, Flowe, HD, Colloff, MF, Scott, K, Wagner, K, Ingham, MP, Krishnappa, SM, Fabbri, M, Limata, P, Smalarz, L, Eerdmans, RE, Garza, PB, Gaviria, A, Espín, AM, Kovářík, J, Benito-Ostolaza, JM, Galang, RMN, Denzon, EES, Taborda-Osorio, H, Otálora, Y, Aminnuddin, NA, Kaça, G, Boğa, M, Solescu, DM, Balım, S, Bürhan, P, Bilger, D, Liu, L, Kruse, E, Solak, Ç, Akpınar, B, Coşkun, B, Gül, D, Muftareviç, S, Deschrijver, E, Zigdon, I, Krosch, AR, Ilchovska, ZG, Dokovova, M, Daryani, Y, Tome, NL, Görzig, A, Rhoads, SA, Kountouriotis, G, Özçakan, S, Gökdağ, C, Freira, L, Spasovski, O & Dunham, Y 2024 'Large-scale cross-societal examination of real- and minimal-group biases' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/5gpr4

Christie, C, Rockey, JC, Bradbury-Jones, C, Bandyopadhyay, S & Flowe, HD 2023 'Domestic Abuse links to Suicide: Rapid Review, Fieldwork, and Quantitative Analysis Report' OSF Preprints, pp. 1-126. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/4t9ab

Review article

Rockowitz, S, Wagner, K, Cooper, R, Stevens, L, Davies, K, Woodhams, J, Kanja, W & Flowe, HD 2024, 'A Systematic Review of Criminal Justice Initiatives to Strengthen the Criminal Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Violence in East Africa', Trauma, Violence and Abuse, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 813-827. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231165694

Singh, A, Pope, FD, Radcliffe, J, Luiu, C, Bakare, H, Bartington, SE, Bonsu, NO, Bryson, JR, Cheeseman, N, Flowe, H, Krause, S, Newbigging, K, Nunan, F, Reardon, L, Rogers, CDF, Rowlingson, K & Thomson, I 2024, 'Delivering sustainable climate action: reframing the sustainable development goals', npj Climate Action, vol. 3, 110. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00194-2

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