Draft Application Letter October 021009

October 2009 Dear XXX I wish to be considered for promotion to the position of Reader at the University of Portsmouth. My experience, leadership and achievements to date demonstrate that I have made (and will continue to make) a significant and internationally-competitive research contribution to both theory and practice within the field of applied cognitive psychology. Since 2006, I have been a successful, with my collaborators, in the acquisition of almost £400,000 of research funding and the execution of an extensive programme of dissemination activities nationally and internationally. I believe that I am now at a stage in my career where a promotion to Reader would be appropriate. Firstly, this promotion will not only acknowledge my achievements but will also convey an important degree of credibility when working with the high profile stakeholders in policing (and going forward, medical error) contexts who are potential sources of research funding. Secondly, a promotion to Reader will also entail important benefits for the University as this title would not only recognise my international reputation but also enable me to represent the university on external bodies as a member of senior staff. To support my application, I provide below a summary of relevant evidence of meeting the appointment criteria for the position of Reader. Furthermore, my competitive nature and determination to enhance not only my own research goals but also those of my department and institution, place me in an ideal position to play a significant role in the future strategic development in line with the Strategic Plan. Current Research Profile & External Recognition My research passion lies in applied research premised on a sound theoretical footing that addresses important real-world questions through a rigorous scientific approach. I have extensive experience in applying theory from the social cognition and memory domains to important questions relating to issues such as the reliability of eyewitness evidence but also more diverse issues such as decision-making errors in both forensic and occupational settings. Recent projects, with high profile UK-based and overseas collaborators, have focused understanding the effects of discussion between co-witnesses, be they expert firearms officers or civilians, on subsequent memory accuracy; developing innovative methods to obtain witness statements; identifying and testing ways to examine identification processes using novel approaches (including eye-tracking technology) and exploring the efficacy of different line-up 1

procedures. My research activities have been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, British Academy, Nuffield Foundation, Australian Research Council, Metropolitan Police Service, Higher Education Investment Fund, Royal Society (travel award). Since 2006, I have been a either a PI or significant CI in the successful acquisition of research funding totalling almost £400k (with over half that coming directly to Portsmouth in the past three years and further monies accruing from overheads). This funding has been achieved under highly competitive conditions – for instance, with respect to our Research Council award under the Bilateral Scheme, the ESRC confirmed that only 2 of 19 applications to this scheme were funded. Below I provide an over-view of two of my current on-going research lines to illustrate my current standing in the field. Development of the Self-Administered Interview: In direct response to the problem of obtaining high quality witness evidence quickly, efficiently, and with minimal police resources available, our research team developed a recall tool called the Self-Administered Interview (SAI) that can be used to elicit a comprehensive initial statement from witnesses at the scene of a crime. The SAI is a protocol of instructions and questions that support eyewitnesses when recollecting and recording their memories of an incident. The SAI recall tool has been developed and tested over the past four years, supported by two competitive grant awards from the British Academy and, most recently, an award for more theoretical research involving the SAI (ESRC Project). To date, in a systematic programme of laboratory based research underpinned by a significant body of empirical and theoretical literature, we have successfully developed and tested the SAI. Our research findings demonstrate that the SAI facilitates enhanced recall of witnessed events and strengthens episodic memory such that forgetting is reduced and reports are less susceptible to misleading information. This work has made a significant contribution to the field of eyewitness memory – not only in what it can tell us about the functioning of memory but also because it is already being tested in field trials by a number of UK police forces and has just been adopted as an official form by a sizeable city force. We are currently disseminating the findings of this applied research project widely as the forensic implications for police practice are considerable. To this end, our initial experiments have been published in the leading psychology-law journal, Law and Human Behavior. These, and more recent findings, have also been presented to academic, and practitioner, audiences world-wide and two further manuscripts will by the end of 2009. Press coverage of this research attracted significant international media interest, including coverage by the BBC, Telegraph, Times in a variety of media formats, including live interviews. Feedback and engagement from both leading academics and police-practitioners has been extremely positive. Furthermore, the SAI has been endorsed for field testing by the Association of Chief of Police Officers (ACPO). This is a major achievement and my ultimate goal is that the SAI forms an official part of policy and procedure within UK police practice by 2010.

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Although the SAI was developed for use by the police, it has clear benefits for use in any situation where it is important to obtain information from potential witnesses and I am currently exploring the extent to which the SAI (or an revised form of it) might be used to collect evidence about incidents in occupational, or indeed, medical contexts. This exploration will constitute the next phase of this programme of research. Also, funding from the Higher Education Investment Fund is currently engaged in exploring the commercial possibilities of the SAI. I am also the Lead Researcher on a new related project, sponsored under the ESRC and ARC Bilateral Scheme, which drives this research stream forward in the development of other novel techniques and procedures (Interviewing eyewitnesses: Enhancing output quantity and diagnosing accuracy. Police & Civilian Post Incident Conferring In a parallel stream of research, I have examined the phenomenon of memory conformity in different groups. This research has important implications for forensic investigations, as witness statements that appear corroborative may actually be distorted during interaction, and hence unreliable. I secured funding for a high profile (and potentially high impact) project in January 2009 when the current Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne (Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism) within the Metropolitan Police approached me directly and commissioned a piece of research to examine the practice of conferring between firearms officers prior to writing a statement. This issue has, and will continue to, attract significant interest in legal and indeed media circles. The research involved over 300 authorised firearms officers (AFO’s) responding to a live simulated crime-event. I am currently working on the final report for this project and anticipate that our results will generate a number of publications and new research strands. Further Esteem Indicators & Impact in the Field Other indices of my international profile and recognition include: •

Many recent invitations to deliver an invited address or lecture at high profile events (e.g. Risky Business, September 2009; Invited Plenary Symposium at the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, July 2009).

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Invited chapters and handbook entries.

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Elected by the board of SARMAC to the society’s Publications Committee.

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Frequent grant and manuscript reviewing activities for high quality journals (e.g. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied) and grant bodies (e.g. ESRC, NSF, Nuffield Foundation)

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Approaches from legal practitioners requested expert opinion relating to eyewitness issues.

Internal Activities within University of Portsmouth 3

My CV demonstrates that I have delivered comprehensively across teaching and research activities in addition to contributing to the development of both research and teaching strategy through my administrative roles and academic leadership activities. I am currently an Academic Mentor to three members of the department which is an unusual level of responsibility for my current level. I also serve on the departmental Research Committee and worked closely with a sub-group of this committee during the preparation of our recent RAE submission and made a considerable contribution to the final document. I am also working to develop inter-disciplinary links within the university – to this end, I have on-going projects with Dr Becky Milne at the Institute for Criminal Justice Studies and have been invited by Professor Steve Savage to join the Forensic Forum. I have undertaken a number of other activities to enhance the research culture of the department to the benefit of both staff and students. With a colleague in the department, I developed and progressed through the HERA process to develop a new junior research role for undergraduate students who can now work as a Project Support Assistant for members of the department. This role allows students to learn and develop basic research skills while gaining invaluable experience in a formal research role. The availability of this role also facilitates the employment of an assistant to help with research tasks by staff with limited financial resources. Furthermore, as a passionate advocate of the research apprentice model, I have co-ordinated several research volunteer programmes during the summer months for undergraduate students since joining the department, including Summer 2009. Student researchers are typically trained in a variety of research activities (recruitment, testing, coding etc) and take an active role in research activity in my lab. I have also hosted student volunteers who have applied to work with me from other UK institutions. This is in addition to supervising two successful Nuffield Foundation Summer Bursary candidates. Over the years, there appears to be evidence that experience of this nature is highly beneficial for students (as well as the academic member of staff) as several previous volunteer research assistants who have worked with me are now employed in salaried academic research posts. Should i mention PhD students here? Plans for the Future Were I successful in my application, my new status as a promoted member of staff would allow me to lift my research activity to the next level by applying for larger and more prestigious international grants such as the EC Framework 7 programme or (ALDERT – is this a reasonable assertion?). These awards are highly competitive, and I am keenly aware that my chances of success will be higher if my research expertise and ability was officially recognised by means of holding a Reader position. Furthermore, there is currently a disparity between my seniority and that of academics that I collaborate with, the majority of whom hold senior professorial appointments. Increasingly, I also collaborate with non-academic practitioners, many of whom 4

hold high ranking positions within their organisations. If promoted, my enhanced status will afford me advantages in both collaboration and negotiation associated with my research and knowledge transfer activities to the benefit of the University of Portsmouth. I am also ready to take on the added responsibilities associated with being a Reader and specifically, I am keen to play a more prominent role in formulating, monitoring and delivering research-related strategies to increase our income, output and research culture. In particular, I am keen to increase our international profile for research. To this end, I have already had some preliminary discussions with a prominent U.S. forensic institute with a view towards discussing a formal and mutually beneficial association. To summarise, I am confident that I meet the criteria for promotion to Reader. My application and CV demonstrate a strong and committed all-round performance with respect to research and pedagogic activities. A promotion to Reader would not only confirm my achievements so date but empower me to achieve further to the benefit of both my department and the University of Portsmouth. Yours sincerely,

Dr Lorraine Hope

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