{"id":553,"date":"2016-05-31T10:11:02","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T10:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/psynaps\/?page_id=553"},"modified":"2016-05-31T10:11:02","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T10:11:02","slug":"super-recogniser-conference","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/psynaps\/super-recogniser-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Super-Recogniser Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SuperRecogniserConf-45\"<\/a>Super-Recognisers are a rare group of people who can remember and match huge numbers of different faces. Psychologists are increasingly working with police forces to help develop and understand this ability and the role it can play in fighting crime.<\/p>\n

On 27th\u00a0and 28th\u00a0May 2016,\u00a0Dr Faye Skelton<\/a>\u00a0(Edinburgh Napier University<\/a>) and\u00a0Dr Hayley Ness<\/a>\u00a0(The Open University<\/a>)\u00a0joined forces to host a Super-Recogniser workshop and conference. This event brought together psychologists, legal experts, police authorities and other invited specialists for presentation, discussion and networking around the cutting edge of this newly forming field.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0public engagement event\u00a0also contributed to increasing\u00a0awareness of the\u00a0Metropolitan Police<\/a>\u2019s Super-Recogniser Unit. This is a unique\u00a0unit of officers dedicated to\u00a0identification of offenders,\u00a0who have had extraordinary success\u00a0doing so\u00a0from CCTV images. The event brought together officers from this unit and\u00a0those\u00a0from\u00a0Police Scotland<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0Police Scotland college<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Tulliallan.<\/p>\n

\"SuperRecogniserConf-17\"<\/a>The pre-conference workshop, held at the Open University in Edinburgh, explored issues of expertise and expert evidence, presentations from\u00a0Dr Martin Thirkettle<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dr Ailsa Strathie<\/a>\u00a0of The Open University, along with\u00a0Prof. Jim Fraser<\/a>\u00a0(University of Strathclyde) and\u00a0Dr Michael Bromby<\/a>\u00a0(Glasgow Caledonian University).\u00a0Post-workshop discussions continued over dinner at\u00a0Bonham\u2019s<\/a>, and a few whiskies at\u00a0Teuchter\u2019s<\/a>!<\/p>\n

The super-recogniser conference continued the following day\u00a0at Edinburgh Napier University\u2019s\u00a0Craiglockhart<\/a>\u00a0campus. Theday\u00a0saw\u00a0presentations from the Metropolitan Police Super-Recogniser Unit, plus academic presentations\u00a0on research with super-recognisers\u00a0from\u00a0Dr Josh Davis<\/a>\u00a0(University of Greenwich),\u00a0Anna Bobak<\/a>\u00a0(Bournemouth University),\u00a0with\u00a0Dr Gini Harrison<\/a>\u00a0(The Open University)\u00a0and Dr Hayley Ness\u00a0presenting\u00a0data from a collaborative project with Dr Faye Skelton.\u00a0The day concluded with a panel discussion led by\u00a0Prof.\u00a0Jim Fraser and Dr Michael\u00a0Bromby\u00a0around\u00a0issues\u00a0of\u00a0expertise and the provision and interrogation of expert evidence in Scottish courts.<\/p>\n

The event hopes to lead to further collaborations between researchers and police authorities, and\u00a0\u00a0implementation of some of the Super-Recogniser unit\u2019s proactive practices across Scotland.<\/p>\n

Thanks go to\u00a0The Open University in Scotland<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Edinburgh Napier University\u00a0for providing financial\u00a0and administrative\u00a0support for this event and to\u00a0Dr Jason Rutter<\/a>\u00a0for photography.<\/p>\n

Dr Faye Skelton<\/p>\n\n\t\t