PhD Studenthsip in Vulnerability in the Justice System: Developing Evidence-Based Best Practice

This project is being advertised as one that is in competition for a fully funded studentship. The successful candidate would work with the proposed supervisor to put forward an application to the ESRC South-West Doctoral Training Partnership.

Vulnerable individuals, including those with neurodivergent conditions, such as autism, ADHD, and speech and language disorders, are overrepresented in the Justice System as victims/claimants and suspects/defendants. An accumulating body of evidence demonstrates the difficulties that individuals with autism experience in the Criminal Justice System, but a number of key evidence gaps remain – both with regards to autistic individuals specifically as well as other neurodiverse groups more broadly. These include (but are not limited to):

• - Vulnerability to exploitation, grooming and radicalisation
• - Interviewer-interviewee pairings and dynamics
• - Effective training for interviewing neurodiverse interviewees (e.g., through the use of VR)
• - Experiences and issues in other areas of the justice system, such as parole board hearings and the family courts

The candidate will work with Dr Katie Maras to develop an original, theoretically-informed PhD research proposal that takes a holistic approach (e.g., considering the individual, interpersonal and environmental levels) to address one of these key evidence gaps.

The successful candidate will join the Centre for Applied Autism Research (CAAR) within the Department of Psychology. With state-of-the-art facilities and a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, CAAR actively translates scientific insights into practical interventions, involving the autistic community to ensure relevance and impact.

The Department of Psychology is world-renowned for its excellence in research and teaching. The Department of Psychology has more than 50 academic staff and 600 undergraduates and postgraduates. In recent years, we have recently ranked in the top 5 in the Guardian league table, the Complete University Guide (in association with The Independent), and The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide. 

Research in the department occurs across more than six major subdisciplines in psychology, including clinical, cognitive, developmental, environmental, health, and social, using diverse methods from psychology and neuroscience in a new purpose-built five-level building, containing two floors of state-of-the-art labs for interview, group observation, EEG/ERP, virtual reality, psychobiology, eye-tracking, pain, cross-modal and computerised testing.

Please contact Katie Maras for more information (k.l.maras@bath.ac.uk).

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