Photo of Dr Sara Waring

Dr Sara Waring PhD, C.Psychol, FHEA, PGCert L&T

Senior Lecturer in Investigative and Forensic Psychology Psychology

About

Personal Statement

I am a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology. As Impact Lead for the Institute of Population Health, I am responsible for supporting the development and evidencing of impact across the Institute. I am also Deputy Programme Director for the MSc in Investigative and Forensic Psychology. In addition, I am a member of both the Risk Institute and the Centre for Autonomous Systems Technologies, two research groups that focus on solving complex problems through interdisciplinary collaborations. I received a BSc (Hons) in Psychology in 2006 (First), MSc in Investigative and Forensic Psychology in 2008 (Distinction), PhD in 2012, and PGCert in Learning and Teaching in 2014 (Distinction), all from the University of Liverpool.

My research expertise includes i) decision-making, multi-agency information sharing, and teamwork in risky and uncertain environments, ii) training design and delivery, and iii) evaluation (process, outcome, economic). My research is predominantly conducted alongside law enforcement and emergency services nationally and internationally. I have been involved in debriefing a number of critical and major incidents, and have produced several practitioner reports for a variety of agencies, including the National Fire Chiefs Council, Home Office, the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme, and the European Commission. I am also regularly involved in delivering incident command and investigative decision-making training for a variety of emergency services. I am a member of the National Fire Chiefs Council Academic Collaboration, Evaluation and Research Group, helping to coordinate and maximise the benefits of academic research for fire and rescue services.

Prizes or Honours

  • Individual Contribution to Student Experience Award (Institute of Population Health, 2023)
  • National Fire Chiefs Council contract to evaluate the national fire and rescue service response to the Covid-19 pandemic (National Fire Chiefs Council, 2020)
  • Missing People contract to evaluate an online child exploitation intervention (Missing People, 2020)
  • Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Development (Royal Academy of Engineering, 2019)
  • Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Development (Royal Academy of Engineering, 2019)
  • Research England Participatory Research Fund (University of Liverpool, 2022)
  • Research England Policy Support Fund (University of Liverpool, 2022)