Jessica Woodhams' Inaugural Lecture - To Catch a Criminal: The Role of Psychology in Apprehending Serious Offenders

Professor Woodhams will present on her research on using crime scene behaviour to detect serial sex offenders and other criminals. She will discuss how her research has informed legal decision-making and the creation of legal precedent, and her recent design of research and operational work to better exploit opportunities to detect serial rapists by combining crime linkage analytical products with other police intelligence. Finally, she will present on research by herself and colleagues on supporting practitioners exposed to traumatic material through their efforts to detect the most serious of offenders.

Professor Jess Woodhams is a chartered psychologist and an HCPC registered forensic psychologist. Her primary areas of research are policing and sexual offending. She is the Director of the Centre for Applied Psychology, founder of the international academic-practitioner C-LINK network (Crime Linkage International NetworK), Co-Director of the Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing at the University, and a workstream lead for the 21st Century Transnational Crime theme of the Institute of Global Innovation.

Before becoming an academic she worked for the Metropolitan Police in London as a crime analyst. Since moving into academia 18 years ago, she has continued her close collaborations with police and law enforcement in the UK and overseas.

She has received awards and been shortlisted for others for the translation of her research into real world impact and in recognition for her role in facilitating police-academic co-working.