Dr Kendra Meyer

Undergraduate courses taught

• Criminology and Forensic Psychology BSc (Hons)
• Forensic Psychology BSc (Hons)
• Psychology BSc (Hons)
• Psychology with Criminology BSc (Hons)

Postgraduate courses taught

• Forensic Psychology MSc

My research interests cover various topics within psychology. During my PhD, I studied the gestural misinformation effect in investigative child interviews, or simply speaking, the influence of misleading gestures by an interviewer in forensic child interviews. I have conducted the gestural misinformation effect in experiments with children in both England and Switzerland. My research is important, as gestures are (as of yet) not mentioned in child interviewing guidelines, such as the Achieving Best Evidence and the NICHD protocol and they seem to have a negative effect on children's memory and eyewitness testimonies. 

I have further conducted research on the influence of gender congruence of offenders on the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies for a non-violent crime. An offender's gender typicality can influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies and further affect eyewitnesses' perceived severity of a crime. 

My additional research interests are: 

• Police interviewers' knowledge of gestures
• Investigative interviewers' use of gestures in child interviews
• Gender congruence of offenders in eyewitness testimony
• Historical Homicides
• Female sex offenders

Publications:

Meyer, K.R., Blades, M. & Krähenbühl, S. The Gestural Misinformation Effect in Child Interviews in Switzerland. J Nonverbal Behav 47, 99–114 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-022-00419-0

Research Grants:

£2967.56 CResCID grant, Kingston University - project title: ‘Eyewitness Testimony for a Violent Crime Committed by Male and Female Offenders with Consistent or Inconsistent Gender-Role Characteristics'.

Areas of specialism

• Eyewitness Testimony
• Investigative interviewing
• Gestural misinformation effect
• Attitudes towards female sex offenders
• Historical Homicides

Business:

Through my involvement in international conferences, my growing research output, and my work history as a Fraud investigator for Amazon and Head of Customer support and team member of Prolific Academic, I have gained extensive knowledge in both academia and business, which I extend, transform and apply on a daily basis, in both my teaching and research. 

Knowledge Transfer:

I extend, transform and apply my extensive knowledge of forensic psychology to a wider audience; I have curated a forensic psychology media playlist for Learning on Screen- The British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council (https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/bob-curated-playlists/forensic-psychology/). 

Areas of interest

• Investigative interviewing
• Gestural misinformation effect
• Eyewitness Testimony

I maintain strong partnerships and networking opportunities as a member of the following group:

The Deception Diaries (a space dedicated to deception detection, investigative interviews, information gathering and more).The Deception Diaries (a space dedicated to the world of deception detection, investigative interviews, information gathering and more).

Qualifications and expertise

• Fraud investigation specialist, Amazon (London, UK)
• Team member and Customer Support Manager, Prolific (Oxford, UK)
• Research Tester and Assistant, University of Oxford (Oxford, UK)
• Research Consultant, University of Bedfordshire (Luton, UK)

I am currently the module leader for PS5010 Forensic Mental Health and Criminal Behaviour