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Dr Laura Stevens

Research Fellow

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Email
l.stevens@uos.ac.uk
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Research Directorate
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Dr. Laura Stevens graduated her Bachelors in Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Cambridge in 2018, where she focused on the experiences of child sexual abuse victims in the criminal justice system. Following this, she joined the Applied Memory Lab at the University of Birmingham, supervised by Professor Heather Flowe, where she completed both her MSc and PhD in Psychology. Laura's thesis focused on innovative methods of documenting memory evidence from victim-survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, including using digital platforms (i.e., mobile phone apps and websites), training non-police first responders to use evidence-based interviewing skills, and behaviourally informed interview techniques. Laura's research is relevant domestically but has a focus on violence in humanitarian areas, as her thesis was co-developed with the Wangu Kanja Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that supports victim-survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Kenya.

Following her PhD, Laura has worked as a post-doctoral researcher where she has applied her expertise in cross-cultural interviewing of vulnerable applicants within the context of asylum seeking at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. Laura has received the American Psychology-Law Society Dissertation prize for her thesis and the Association for the Treatment & Prevention of Sexual Abuse Student Publication Award for her research training non-police first responders to document cases of sexual and gender-based violence using best-practice interviewing skills. Laura currently co-supervises PhD and masters students and welcomes the opportunity to supervise projects.

PhD Psychology. University of Birmingham, UK.

MSc Psychology. First Class (Distinction). University of Birmingham, UK.

BA Psychological and Behavioral Sciences. 2:1. University of Cambridge, UK

Teaching

Undergraduate

Anti-Social Behaviour and Crime, University of Birmingham (Third Year Undergraduates). Seminar on Eyewitness memory. (180 students).

Postgraduate

Forensic Doctorate Lecture, University of Birmingham. Eyewitness Identification and Memory Recall. (25 students).

Forensic Doctorate Lecture, University of Birmingham. Child Victims and the Courts. (30 students).

Forensic Doctorate Lecture, University of Birmingham. Academic Writing Skills. (30 students).

Forensic Doctorate Lecture, University of Birmingham. Vulnerable and Intimidated Witnesses. (30 students).

Research supervisor for 2 PhD candidates, Åbo Akademi University, Finland (Lead supervisor Prof. Jan Antfolk).

Research supervisor for 2 MSc candidates, Åbo Akademi University, Finland (Lead supervisor Prof. Jan Antfolk).

Research supervisor for 5 MSc candidates, University of Birmingham. (Lead supervisor Prof. Heather Flowe).

Research supervisor for 3 MSc candidates, Bournemouth University. (Lead supervisor Dr. Kari Davies).

Research supervisor for 4 Research Interns, Nuffield Research Placements, University of Birmingham. (Lead supervisor Prof. Heather Flowe).

Other

Research supervision of over 30 research assistants. 2019-current. University of Birmingham.

Private Tutoring, MyTutor. 2019-current. Tutored students from A-Level Psychology to master’s students in Psychology.

Teacher of Psychology, Criminology and Health and Social Care (16–19-year-olds). 2019-2020. Joseph Chamberlain College. Module lead for Equality and Diversity. Led an extra-curricular group in mental health initiatives on campus.

Investigative Interviewing Training. 2021-current. Trained over 100 individuals to conduct interviews using best practice in Kenya, Birmingham, Lancaster, and Sydney.

Publications

Skrifvars, J., Ilmoni, A., Siegfrids, L., Galán, M., Stevens, L., Selim, H., Korkman, J., & Antfolk, J. (2025). Experiences of Asylum Interviews by Asylum Officials, Interpreters and Asylum Seekers in Finland. Journal of Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/mr892

Dajani, R., Bayoumi, R., Flowe, H. D., Rockowitz, S., Stevens, L, M., & Fakhoury, T. (2024). Neocolonialism and Science Diplomacy: Lessons Learned from the Field and the Way Forward. Frontiers in Public Health.

Ingham, M. P., Gibbs, B. D., Colloff, M. F., Stevens, L. M., Rockowitz, S. R., Hayre, R. K., Butt, M., & Flowe, H. D. (Accepted). Probing Participants who were Alcohol Intoxicated during a Hypothetical Rape Scenario to Remember More Details Impairs Recall Accuracy. Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Stevens, L. M., Bennett, T., Cotton, J., Rockowitz, S., & Flowe, H, D. (2024). GBVxTech: Systematic Review of Gender-Based Violence Reporting Apps in Capturing Memory Evidence. Frontiers in Psychology – Forensic and Legal Psychology (Impact Factor 3.91).

Buchanan, E. M., Cuccolo, K., Coles, N. A., Heyman, T., Iyer, A., Lewis, N. A., Jr., … Lewis, S. C. (2024). Measuring the Semantic Priming Effect Across Many Languages. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/q4fjy (Impact Factor 18.24).

Stevens, L. M., Monds, L. A., Riordan, B. C., Hayre, R. K., & Flowe, H. D. (2023). Acute alcohol intoxication and alcohol expectancy effects on women’s memory for consensual and non-consensual sexual activity. Frontiers in Psychology - Forensic and Legal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1008563 (Impact Factor 3.91).

Stevens, L. M., & Morris, C. A. (2023). The Intersections of Family Violence and Sexual Offending, by Gemma Hamilton and Patrick Tidmarsh, Routledge, 2023, 108 pp, ISBN 978-0-367-50888-3. Current Issues in Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2023.2245096 (Impact Factor 2).

Rockowitz, S., Rockey, J. C., Stevens, L. M., Colloff, M. F., Kanja, W., & Flowe, H. D. (2023). Evaluating case attrition along the medico-legal case referral pathway for sexual and domestic violence survivors in Kenya: A secondary data analysis. Victims & Offenders. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2023.2214550 (Impact Factor 3.06).

Rockowitz, S., Wagner, K., Cooper, R., Stevens, L., Davies, K., Woodhams, J., Kanja, W., & Flowe, H. D. (2023). A Systematic Review of Criminal Justice Initiatives to Strengthen the Criminal Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Violence in East Africa. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231165694. (Impact Factor 10.05).

Meyer, M., Colloff, M. F., Bennett, T. C., Hirata, E., Kohl, A., Stevens, L. M., Smith, H. M., Staudigl, T., & Flowe, H.D. (2023). Enabling witnesses to actively explore faces increases discrimination accuracy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Impact Factor 9.68).

Yang, X., Schulz, J., et al. (Stage 1 Registered Report). Large-scale cross-societal examination of real- and minimal-group biases. Nature Human Behaviour. (Impact Factor 18.24).

Stevens, L. M., Reid, E., Kanja, W., Rockowitz, S., Davies, K., Dosanjh, S., ... & Flowe, H. D. (2022). The Kenyan Survivors of Sexual Violence Network: Preserving Memory Evidence with a Bespoke Mobile Application to Increase Access to Vital Services and Justice. Societies, 12, 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12010012 (Impact Factor 2.5).

Hope, L., Anakwah, N., Antfolk, J., Brubacher, S. P., Flowe, H., Gabbert, F., ... & Anonymous. (2022). Urgent issues and prospects at the intersection of culture, memory, and witness interviews: Exploring the challenges for research and practice. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 27, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12202 (Impact Factor 2.8).

Gordon, R., Cheeseman, N., Rockowitz, S., Stevens, L., & Flowe, H. (2022). Government Responses to Gender-Based Violence during COVID-19. Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 98. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.857345

Ji, Z., Rockowitz, S., Flowe, H. D., Stevens, L. M., Kanja, W., & Davies, K. (2022). Reflections on Increasing the Value of Data on Sexual Violence Incidents against Children to Better Prevent and Respond to Sexual Offending in Kenya. Societies, 12(3), 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12030089 (Impact Factor 2.5).

Winsor, A., Flowe, H. D., Seale-Carlisle, T. M., Killeen, I. M., Hett, D., Jores, T., Ingham, M., Lee, B., Stevens, L., & Colloff, M. F. (2021). Children’s expressions of certainty are informative. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 150(11), 2387–2407. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001049 (Impact Factor 4.32).

Stevens, L. M., Rockey, J. C., Rockowitz, S., Kanja, W., Colloff, M. F., & Flowe, H. D. (2021). Children's Vulnerability to Sexual Violence During COVID-19 in Kenya: Recommendations for the Future. Frontiers in Global Women’s Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2021.630901

Stevens, L. M., Henderson, H. M., & Lamb, M. E. (2021). Linguistically complex recognition prompts in pre‐recorded cross‐examinations. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 39(3). 369-382. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2504 (Impact Factor 1.44).

Jones, B., et al. (2021). To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply? Nature Human Behaviour [Registered Report], 5, 159–169. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2 (Impact Factor 18.24).

Rockowitz, S., Stevens, L., Colloff, M. F., Smith, L., Rockey, J., Ritchie, J., … Flowe, H. D. (2021). Patterns of Violence Against Adults and Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya. BMJ Open https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/265nq (Impact Factor 4.5).

Conference Presentations

2024: Stevens, L. M., Davies, K., Wagner, K., Kanja, W., George, A., Rockowitz, S., Kohl, A. T., & Flowe, H. D. Using Behavioural Crime Linkage to Improve Memory Documentation with Survivors of Sexual Violence in Kenya - A Randomised Control Trial. Paper Presented at European Association of Psychology and Law, Portugal.

2024: Stevens, L. M., Bennett, T., Cotton, J., Rockowitz, S., & Flowe, H, D. GBVxTech: Systematic review of sexual violence reporting apps in capturing memory evidence. Paper Presented at Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing, University of Birmingham, UK.

2024: Stevens, L. M., Walsh, R., Kuhn, E., Kanja, W., Cosnett, W., Kim, E., Rockowitz, S., & Flowe, H, D. Evaluation of Innovative Interviewing Training to document cases of SGBV in Humanitarian Contexts. Paper Presented at American Psychology-Law Society, Los Angeles, USA.

2023: Stevens, L. M., Walsh, R., Kuhn, E., Kanja, W., Cosnett, W., Kim, E., Rockowitz, S., & Flowe, H, D. Evaluation of Innovative Interviewing Training to document cases of SGBV in Humanitarian Contexts. Paper Presented at Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Nagoya, Japan.

2023: Stevens, L. M., Bennett, T., Cotton, J., Rockowitz, S., & Flowe, H, D. GBVxTech: Systematic review of sexual violence reporting apps in capturing memory evidence. Paper Presented at European Association of Psychology and Law, Cluj -Napoca, Romania.

2023: Stevens, L. M., Reid, E., Kanja, W., Rockowitz, S., Davies, K., Dosanjh, S., Findel, B., & Flowe, H. D. The Kenyan Survivors of Sexual Violence Network: Preserving Memory Evidence with a Bespoke Mobile Application to Increase Access to Vital Services and Justice. Paper Presented at Behavioural and Social Sciences in Security, Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats, University of Bath, UK.

2023: Stevens, L. M., & Flowe., H. D. Impact of Misinformation, Retention Interval and Repeated Interviews on Eyewitness Memory for Sexual Violence- a Partial Replication of Ebbesen and Reinick (1998). Paper Presented at Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing, University of Birmingham, UK.

2023: Stevens, L. M., Reid, E., Kanja, W., Rockowitz, S., Davies, K., Dosanjh, S., Findel, B., & Flowe, H. D. The Kenyan Survivors of Sexual Violence Network: Preserving Memory Evidence with a Bespoke Mobile Application to Increase Access to Vital Services and Justice. Paper Presented at American Psychology-Law Society, Philadelphia, USA.

2022: Stevens, L. M., Reid, E., Kanja, W., Rockowitz, S., Davies, K., Dosanjh, S., Findel, B., & Flowe, H. D. The Kenyan Survivors of Sexual Violence Network: Preserving Memory Evidence with a Bespoke Mobile Application to Increase Access to Vital Services and Justice. Paper Presented at (Re)Connecting on Gender-Based Violence Conference, University of Liverpool, UK.

2022: Stevens, L. M., Walsh, R., Kuhn, E., Kanja, W., Cosnett, W., Kim, E., Rockowitz, S., & Flowe, H, D. Evaluation of Innovative Interviewing Training to document cases of SGBV in Humanitarian Contexts. Paper Presented at Talking about Memory and Cognition, University of Portsmouth, UK.

2022: Rockowitz, S., Stevens, L., Ingham, M., Flowe, H.D., and Phillimore, J. An analysis of Home Office interviews with asylum seeking sexual and gender-based violence survivors. Project presented at International Investigative Interviewing Research Group Annual Conference, Winchester University, UK

2022: Stevens, L. M., Reid, E., Kanja, W., Rockowitz, S., Davies, K., Dosanjh, S., Findel, B., & Flowe, H. D. The Kenyan Survivors of Sexual Violence Network: Preserving Memory Evidence with a Bespoke Mobile Application to Increase Access to Vital Services and Justice. Paper Presented at Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing, University of Birmingham, UK.

2022: Stevens, L. M., Walsh, R., Kuhn, E., Kanja, W., Cosnett, W., Kim, E., Rockowitz, S., & Flowe, H, D. Evaluation of Innovative Interviewing Training to document cases of SGBV in Humanitarian Contexts. Paper Presented at Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing, University of Birmingham, UK.

2022: Stevens, L. M., Reid, E., Kanja, W., Rockowitz, S., Davies, K., Dosanjh, S., Findel, B., & Flowe, H. D. The Kenyan Survivors of Sexual Violence Network: Preserving Memory Evidence with a Bespoke Mobile Application to Increase Access to Vital Services and Justice. Paper Presented at Economic and Social Research Council - Midlands Graduate School - Doctoral Training Partnership Annual Conference (Virtual).

2021: Stevens, L. M., Monds, L. A., Riordan, B. C., & Flowe, H. D. Acute alcohol intoxication and alcohol expectancy effects on women’s memory for consensual and non-consensual sexual activity. Paper Presented at Economic and Social Research Council - Midlands Graduate School - Doctoral Training Partnership Annual Conference (Virtual).

2021: Stevens, L. M., Monds, L. A., Riordan, B. C., & Flowe, H. D. Acute alcohol intoxication and alcohol expectancy effects on women’s memory for consensual and non-consensual sexual activity. Paper Presented at Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition Annual Conference (Virtual).

2021: Stevens, L. M., Monds, L. A., Riordan, B. C., & Flowe, H. D. Acute alcohol intoxication and alcohol expectancy effects on women’s memory for consensual and non-consensual sexual activity. Paper Presented at American Psychological Association Annual Convention (Virtual).

2018: Stevens L, Henderson, H & Lamb, M. The use of special measures to reduce linguistically complex prompts against children in court. Paper Presented at American Psychology-Law Society, Memphis, US.

 

Laura Stevens is currently the Student President of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition and is a member of the American Psychology Law Society and the European Association of Psychology and Law.