CSEL Current Projects Blog

Frontline Capacity Building - CSEL Serving the Voluntary Sector

2015-07-09T11:00:00.001+01:00

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By Dr. Jane Herlihy

CSEL plays an important ‘back-office’ role to the many professionals who are working directly with people asking for protection in Europe. An example of this is our training sessions for the Freedom from Torture medico-legal report team. When a doctor assesses an individual asylum-seeker they gather important clinical evidence about that person, and psychological research evidence can complement and support this clinical evidence by giving a broader picture of what effects are likely, or possible. For example, a man might have inconsistent memories of his torture in detention, and research shows reasons for inconsistencies in people’s memory for traumatic experiences.

Earlier this month I was invited to run a workshop on research evidence for doctors and psychologists writing medico-legal reports in The Netherlands.

iMMO is the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights and Medical Assessment (Instituut voor Mensenrechten en Medisch Onderzoek). iMMO consists of volunteer doctors and psychologists who contribute to the protection of human rights, especially by making medical assessments of suspected victims of torture and inhumane treatment. The 45 assessors are trained by iMMO and perform assessments working independently within the framework of the Istanbul Protocol.


Dr. Jane Herlihy at iMMO

I was invited to attend iMMO’s regular study day in the beautiful medieval city of Utrecht. I spoke briefly about the notion of using the breadth of psychological evidence to support medico-legal assessments. I then ran quickly through CSEL’s existing research studies, outlined our recent studies (on overgeneral memory, and on credibility judgments about people with PTSD & Depression), and discussed potential new studies. We then spent some time thinking about different types of autobiographical memory in different cultures, working from a paper by Markus & Kitayama (1991), which reviews the robust evidence for differences between individualist, or independent cultures and collectivist, or interdependent cultures in terms of how events are described and recalled.

It was great to work and think together with these dedicated professionals, and to hear about the pressures of policy changes that they have to contend with. We talked about how these pressures interact with their focus on ensuring that individuals seeking protection get the best possible decisions in their cases, taking into account their medical and psychological needs and difficulties. We had a very fruitful exchange – they were very interested in encouraging our research – and I do hope that we will find ways to continue this connection.

Children's Credibility - a Multidisciplinary Approach

2015-07-08T10:45:00.003+01:00

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Last week Dr. Zoe Given-Wilson presented her chapter in the second multidisciplinary training manual of the Credo project, at the joint launch at No. 5 Chambers with Asylum Aid and UNHCR London. Thanks to the Credo project Zoe has been able to complete a thorough review of the psychology literature on issues facing young people seeking asylum, including the development of autobiographical memory (some aspects don’t develop until as late as our 20s!), the effects of trauma on children, and how depression and anxiety can affect how they present in the asylum procedure. This work underpinned her contributions to UNHCR’s final report of the project and her chapter in the training manual.

Pink Sherbert, Creative Commons

CSEL’s research initially focused only on adults seeking asylum, but over the years we often had requests for equally sound research about children. Thanks to the Credo project we were able to engage Zoe, a specialist in children and young people, to allow us to cover this less well understood group.

Zoe’s re-appearance from her maternity leave last week also marked our successful bid for funding for Zoe to write up and submit her work for peer-review and publication in the scientific literature. Once her two papers have been published in high-impact scientific journals they will be available for citing and using in decision-making, case-work, training, and support work for young people in need of protection from persecution.

As with our adult research, through the Evidence into Practice training workshops and other presentations and ad hoc training, it will be crucial for us to be able to disseminate this work on unaccompanied children seeking asylum as widely as possible - to ensure that decision making for them is also based on the best quality evidence available. We will need to secure support to maintain our capacity to do this. If you can help us undertake and maintain this work, please get in touch.

Providing International HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals)

2015-06-29T12:56:00.003+01:00

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by Jane Herlihy

At CSEL we emphasise the importance of taking an interdisciplinary approach to decision making, in order to bring together the best knowledge from the relevant fields. Through our work with authorities internationally, we’ve been glad to see that the value of the interdisciplinary approach is being increasingly widely understood by decision makers, too. Early in June I travelled to Strasbourg to contribute to a Council of Europe (CoE) event bringing legal and non-legal professionals together to extend practical skills for lawyers working on human rights cases.

by zack lee @ flickr.com

HELP, the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) is a project of the CoE that aims to support EU member states’ implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) by ensuring adequate training in Convention standards for legal professionals. HELP also promotes the dissemination across member states of relevant case law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). HELP aims to ensure that is embedded in the training for all legal professionals, to ensure that national human rights legislation is appropriately implemented, and the programme targets the key legal actors in European asylum processes: judges, prosecutors and lawyers.

I was invited to bring CSEL’s expert knowledge of the psychological issues relevant to credibility assessment into the HELP knowledge exchange process. Working with human rights lawyer Flip Schuller, I gave a presentation on the breadth of scientific psychological evidence available to lawyers and decision makers considering claims for protection from human rights abuses to 200 legal trainers from across the 47 EU member states. The audience included judicial trainers, all attending in order to consider how to incorporate other disciplines in their legal training.

With so many high-level legal trainers in one room, the conference provided an excellent dissemination opportunity - and a chance to address lawyers and decision makers who are considering not just the refugee convention, but the wider world of protecting people from abuses of their human rights. I’m looking forward to further work with the HELP network, and more opportunities to take CSEL’s research findings to human rights defenders across European jurisdictions.

Considering children's credibility at IGC

2015-06-18T16:10:00.001+01:00

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In June, Zoe Given-Wilson was invited to speak at a meeting of the IGC, an international, intergovernmental group of immigration policy makers who meet regularly to develop strategic thinking and share knowledge and best practice about migration around the world.

At their latest meeting, the group were particularly concerned to address the increasing numbers of children arriving in North America and Europe, fleeing conflict and other dangers such as gang violence or persecution. Many are trafficked, and some travel ahead of parents. All are vulnerable because of their age. Most protection mechanisms developed by governments to assess asylum applications and provide sanctuary are designed primarily to deal with adults, and have to be adapted to meet the needs of children.

by monique kittan @ flickr.com

Zoe was invited to speak after her review of the literature on child and adolescent psychology and child development was published as a chapter in the CREDO report Heart of the Matter. The report examines the key issues to take into account when assessing the credibility of children and young people making applications for asylum. Zoe’s research is being recognised at high levels as an important reminder of the need to take an interdisciplinary approach to protecting unaccompanied children seeking asylum. In her presentation, Zoe talked about the key factors that need to be taken into consideration when making credibility assessment in children – both those relating to the child, including both normal child development and autobiographical memory; and those relating to decision making, the assumptions that underlie the judgements of decision makers, and the need to ensure that these are in line with scientific evidence for what we know about child development, and memory.

Zoe will be speaking at the London launch of Heart of the Matter on 25 June, with fellow contributors S Chelvan of No 5 Chambers, and Debora Singer of Asylum Aid.

Meaningful and Credible: Researching With Refugee Women

2015-06-11T17:23:00.002+01:00

At CSEL we're not only interested in conducting and disseminating research, to improve the fairness of decision making, but also in exploring ways to ensure the quality of research findings, and the integrity of research processes. As part of this enquiry, the Evidence into Practice project is exploring the issue of participation of refugee women in research projects.

How can researchers involve refugee women more in the development, design and delivery of research into refugee women’s experience? Why should they? What challenges do participatory approaches pose to the need to balance meaningful involvement by marginalised stakeholders, with the production of reliable, credible research findings? What can be learned from the community sector to help find answers to these questions? These are some of the questions that have emerged through the preparation for our roundtable on Researching With Refugee Women, to be held later this year.

Photo from Participate2015

To explore these questions I’ve been reading some of the literature evaluating the vast experience of participation in the community sector, the user involvement movement, and the international development field. Grassroots community activists have been using participatory methodologies for many decades to support marginalised people to be meaningfully involved in decision making and research that affects their lives. What can more conventional academic researchers learn from this literature?

In May I presented these questions and some of this learning from the community sector at a conference in Paris on Producing Knowledge on Migration. It was an exciting chance to raise these issues with migration researchers, and hear their concerns about ‘participation’ and participatory approaches. These included worries about the integrity of the 'participation'; differences in objectives of researchers and stakeholders; and a loss of objectivity and quality of findings. Many of these concerns have been explored in depth in the community sector - it seems to me there’s a real need to share the knowledge gained outside academia with those working within.

The questions we are exploring in this strand of work raise exciting challenges for conventional researchers. They also open up space to suggest possibilities for new ways of working, and opportunities to support the empowerment of refugee women. This is an important objective for those working on refugee women’s issues, whether as practitioners or researchers, and I’m looking forward to convening the roundtable in October to discuss it further. To find out where we get to, watch this space! c.cochrane@csel.org.uk

The Heart of the Matter: credibility assessment of child asylum seekers in the EU

2015-03-12T19:33:00.000+00:00

Today we are pleased to announce a new and exciting multidisciplinary report under the auspices of the CREDO 2 project. The Heart of the Matter: Assessing Credibility when Children Apply for Asylum in the European Union, published by UNHCR, and funded by the European Commission's European Refugee Fund, brings expertise from across a range of disciplines to bear on the complex question of how the credibility of unaccompanied children and adolescents can best be assessed in the context of the EU asylum process.

CSEL's Child Psychology Researcher Zoe Given-Wilson contributed a chapter on 'The Importance of a Multidisciplinary Approach', having spent 2014 working on a rigorous and wide-ranging review of the current literature relating to child credibility assessment, both in the context of asylum proceedings, and also other legal processes such as child protection cases. Zoe looked at a variety of aspects of child psychology, such as memory, fear, trust and shame, alongside studies and papers focusing on the psychology of decision-makers, ranging from the assumptions decision-makers hold about children from other cultures, to how such decision-makers attempt to deal with the emotional impact of hearing distressing or traumatic testimonies from children.

If this sounds vaguely familiar to you, that's because it is: in 2013, UNHCR and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee deployed a similar multidisciplinary methodology for the CREDO 1 project. CREDO 1 aimed to promote best practice across the EU for credibility assessment of adults through its report, Beyond Proof: Credibility Assessment in EU Asylum Systems, a training manual, to which CSEL Director Jane Herlihy and co-founder Stuart Turner contributed a chapter on 'Memory and its Limitations', and EU-wide training for state decision-makers and asylum judges, which is still ongoing.

As the introduction to this new report makes clear:

"The Heart of the Matter aims to help decision-makers assess the credibility of children’s claims in a fair, objective and consistent manner. It sets out a number of observations that could serve as the foundation for guidance on the subject. It is hoped that this research will contribute towards strengthening practice in the difficult area of child asylum claims, and towards UNHCR’s elaboration of globally applicable Guidelines on Credibility Assessment."

We will keep you updated as CREDO 2 moves into the training and dissemination phase. In the meantime, feel free to send any comments or questions you have about CSEL's contribution to The Heart of the Matter to our Director Jane Herlihy at j.herlihy@csel.org.uk.

Continuing our work in Europe

2015-02-26T18:07:00.001+00:00

We are delighted to have been invited to join the Prague Process Targeted Initiative of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). I attended a kick-off meeting in Vienna this week for the “Pilot Project 7: Quality in Decision-making in the Asylum Process” – a training and ‘train the trainer’ project which will continue ICMPD’s work implementing the EU pan-European approach to migration and asylum, particularly in eastern and south-eastern regions of Europe. We are looking forward to working with decision makers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Turkey and other Prague Process member states.

Experienced judges from Austria, Germany and the UK and myself have joined the project as experts, bringing not only training expertise but also deep knowledge of the intricacies of hearing claims for protection and making decisions based often on very little corroborated evidence – or sometimes even none.

It seems to me that this project is well placed to carry forward the work of the Credo project, drawing on and further disseminating the multidisciplinary and evidence-based training manual: Credibility Assessment in Asylum Procedures. I’m looking forward to our first seminar, and another opportunity to take psychological research findings to decision makers. Watch this space!

Our Director Jane Herlihy reflects on multidisciplinary asylum interviewing and decision making

2015-01-16T17:14:00.002+00:00

I'm back home from Hungary today and reflecting on my first international meeting of 2015 with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the UNHCR Division of International Protection and UNHCR’s Global Learning Centre, in Budapest.

Image by: Edgar Barany C

The CREDO project documented credibility assessment and brought together best practice from all over Europe, and CSEL contributed scientific evidence on memory and decision making for the final report, Beyond Proof. The second report is due out soon, with a contribution from our Zoe Given-Wilson on the psychological factors important to making decisions about unaccompanied children. In the meantime, in the course of training sessions, meetings and discussions over the years, it has become increasingly clear that the multidisciplinary approach and the methodology which UNHCR, through Beyond Proof, is proposing, are applicable beyond the bounds of Europe.

So the meeting in Budapest this week brought some of the most experienced and most thoughtful minds in the business of asylum decision making, from judges to academics to those responsible for training state decision makers. They came from across Europe, but also from Canada and New Zealand, together with those in UNHCR whose remit is global, to share experience, evidence and research literature on some of the more complicated and nuanced issues in credibility assessment.

It was a fascinating two days and a privilege to be in such company, and to see such breadth to the potential contribution that empirical scientific evidence can make to decisions about protection. Look out for the next CREDO report, and volume 2 of the accompanying training manual. We'll publish links here as soon as we have them.

Guest post: 'Your Grandmother's Middle Name was Rose'

2014-10-09T15:22:00.002+01:00

CSEL friend and colleague Jennifer Verson of Migrant Artists Mutual Aid writes below on the impact attending a CSEL session on psychology and memory had on her work as an artist...

In September this year, the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, London South Bank University and the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance, Open University hosted an international conference: Migrant mothers caring for the future: creative interventions in making new citizens. The conference was funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council, welcoming over 70 delegates and attendees from around the world with two days of papers, panels, keynote speeches and performances.

As a migrant mother artist whose work addresses issues of citizenship and belonging, I was invited to participate in the conference. I took the opportunity to develop a new autobiographical one-woman performance that explores the intersections between cultural transmission and trauma.

In December 2013 I attended CSEL Evidence into Practice training events for the voluntary sector as part of my role as a member of Migrant Artists Mutual Aid.

The training ushered in a period of deep reflection on how I share memories with my daughter.

Almost a year later, the conference afforded me the opportunity to enter the public domain with an exploration of how trauma affects cultural transmission, and to ‘perform’ some of the adaptive strategies I use to help my daughter understand her identity.

All migrants tell stories about their country of origin and their families of origin. In professional and social settings we are often asked to ‘tell our stories’. Every migrant must develop coping strategies to tell these stories, especially when the assumption is that these should be happy stories, and the teller is not expected to recount traumatic memory.

‘Your Grandmother’s Middle Name was Rose’ exposed these tensions and performatively explored their intersection with the dual representational theory of posttraumatic stress disorder that was discussed in CSEL’s dissemination workshop.

The 45-minute performance was a fragmented journey of songs, stories and prayers interspersed with poetry, video and educational explanations of the Dual Representational Theory of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The result was a bittersweet demonstration through song of how public narratives are used to replace personal narratives and memories when these personal narratives are ‘irretrievable’.

As an activist working with women seeking asylum, daily I bear witness to the implementation of Theresa May’s pledge to 'reduce net migration' and its effects on women and mothers seeking sanctuary who are survivors of female genital mutilation, rape, trafficking and other forms of domestic and sexual violence. The disappearance from public discourse of narratives that are simply too difficult affects our society in a systemic and dangerous way. Externalised, it enables negative credibility decisions for survivors of gender-based violence in the asylum system, as well as their social alienation. The internalisation of this disappearance is what I explore through live performance

‘Your Grandmother’s Middle Name was Rose’ was a symphonic journey through the mal/adaptive strategies used to tell difficult stories and transmit culture. Through this journey, I was able to bear witness to the reality that millions of stories are erased from public discourse by migrant mothers struggling with the effect that trauma has had on their autobiographical memory.

The views expressed in this guest post are the author's own. CSEL is not a campaigning organisation and does not carry out campaigning or lobbying activities.

Digested: The importance of looking credible: the impact of the behavioural sequelae of post-traumatic stress disorder on the credibility of asylum seekers

2014-10-07T11:53:00.000+01:00

Behaviours such as averting one’s gaze, fidgeting, and hesitant speech are commonly interpreted as signs of dishonesty, yet they are also symptoms of PTSD. What, if any, are the effects of this overlap on credibility assessment in the asylum process?

Associate Researchers Hannah Rogers and Simone Fox, and CSEL Director Jane Herlihy have recently published a new study in Psychology, Crime and Law, investigating whether observable symptoms of PTSD can be confused with perceived cues to deception, and how such confusion, where it arises, affects the assessment of an individual’s credibility in the context of a mock asylum interview. You can read through our digest below. If you would like more detail or to cite the paper in the future, click here to access the full paper (£), or here for a pre-print copy. (Image credit: Tori Rector)

It is widely recognised that PTSD is common in refugees and asylum seekers. The scientists behind this study realised, however, that the effects of observable PTSD symptoms on credibility assessment in the asylum process have rarely been empirically investigated. At the same time, scientific studies have shown that PTSD symptoms and visible signs that someone might be lying, also known as ‘cues to deception’, can often overlap. The researchers therefore set out to investigate how a person’s credibility is perceived in four simulated asylum interview scenarios:

when only trauma-specific behaviours are exhibited;
when only deception-specific behaviours are exhibited;
when neither kind of behaviour is exhibited;
when both kinds of behaviour are exhibited.

Credibility in each scenario was assessed by four groups of students (118 in total), and quantitative and qualitative data on their decisions were analysed.

Generally, the trauma-related behaviours were easily identified in scenario 1, with a positive credibility assessment given accordingly. However, contrary to expectations, scenario 2 was not the one given the lowest credibility rating, as might be hoped. It was the mixture of trauma and deception-related behaviours described in scenario 4 that was interpreted primarily as evidence of dishonesty, rather than as the co-existence of trauma and dishonesty. Where the actor’s presentation was confusing, rather than clearly traumatised, the students tended to recognise only cues to deception, rather than potential trauma symptoms too, giving a negative credibility assessment as a result.

Of particular interest was the researchers’ finding in their analysis of the qualitative data that behaviours common to PTSD and deception were not systematically interpreted in the same way. What appeared to be key in the students’ decision-making was emotional congruence: whether the actor’s observable behaviours matched up, in the students’ view, with the story he was telling. In scenario 1 for example, the actor’s hesitant speech was cited in support of a positive credibility assessment; in scenario 4 the same hesitant speech was cited to support a negative credibility assessment.

This is a pilot study that would benefit from being replicated in more lifelike conditions; for example with real asylum decision-makers, and real asylum claimants. The researchers therefore recognise that it is difficult to generalise the results.

Nevertheless, the findings can be interpreted as a preliminary indication that people with less easily recognised PTSD symptoms such as dissociation and numbing may be less likely to be believed by asylum decision-makers. This might include, for example, survivors of sexual assault who may have less obvious anxiety-like symptoms. Similarly, traumatised people with legitimate reasons for lying; people who have been trafficked, for example, who present in a ‘confusing’ manner, may also be disbelieved. These vulnerable groups may have as legitimate a claim to protection, however, as people displaying behaviours associated with fear, desperation and distress that are perceived by a lay audience to be more emotionally congruent with trauma.

Roundtable: Child psychology in asylum and immigration cases

2014-06-25T19:02:00.000+01:00

Academic research is normally advanced by researchers performing a systematic review of existing literature, identifying gaps, or questions still unanswered, and then designing new research studies to fill those gaps. At CSEL we want to go further. We need to know that our research is not just interesting academically, but useful in practice.

To this end, CSEL and the Migrant & Refugee Children’s Legal Unit (MiCLU), based at Islington Law Centre co-hosted an exciting, innovative roundtable with the aim of identifying key research questions about child psychology in asylum and immigration cases. We wanted to consult practitioners and decision makers working daily with young immigrants in the UK. The event was attended - by invitation - by experts working with migrant and asylum seeking children and adolescents, presenting an unprecedented opportunity for academic researchers to climb down from their ivory towers and collaborate with practitioners from a range of fields.

The event took the form of a series of panels throughout the day, aimed at igniting cross-disciplinary discussions to help shape future questions for researchers working in the domain of child psychology, ultimately improving the use of psychological evidence in children’s immigration cases to ensure fairer outcomes. Director of MiCLU, Baljeet Sandhu opened the discussion with an overview of the current difficulties faced by lawyers representing young people in the immigration system, and the role of government policy within this. Baljeet was followed by CSEL’s Jane Herlihy, who gave participants a brief but informative introduction to psychological research methods, and valuable insight into CSEL’s work to develop a breadth of psychological evidence in legal decision making. CSEL’s post-doctoral child psychology researcher, Zoe Given-Wilson rounded off the discussion before lunch by presenting a recent CSEL review of psychological literature relating to child psychology and asylum, and the gaps and unanswered questions that remain uninvestigated by current studies.

The afternoon panel began with a presentation by Ravi Kohli, who explored the discourses within professionals are responsible for the care, protection and support of young migrants and the ways in which these all interact in the complex context of the young person’s life and development. Amanda Weston reflected further on the nature of research in practice with an engaging presentation on the treatment of medical evidence and research in legal proceedings. Each of the presentations was followed by lively discussion and the final session was chaired by Matthew Hodes, who guided us towards the development of research questions that ‘make the difference’.

Zoe will be working hard over the next few weeks and months to clarify the research areas we identified, designing methodologically rigorous studies and applying for grant funding in order that CSEL can bring research findings that will complement the incredibly difficult work being done for migrant and asylum seeking children and help to further inform the process and support high quality decision making for young people seeking safety and the chance to rebuild their lives.

Digested: Overgeneral memory in refugees and asylum seekers

2014-06-04T11:02:00.000+01:00

Have you ever wondered whether the effects of trauma on memory are the same across all cultures?

Image by: Dierk Schaefer

CSEL Trustee Chris Brewin, Associate Researcher Belinda Graham and Jane Herlihy have recently published a new study in the Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, to investigate the link between PTSD and overgeneral memory in refugees and asylum seekers from 18 different countries. Click here to access the full paper (£), here for a pre-print copy of the paper, or read through our digest below.

Overgeneral memory (OGM) is a phenomenon whereby a person recalls general memories of their personal experiences, or categories of events, rather than specific memories for events that happened on a particular day. Scientists’ current understanding of OGM based on studies with people from Western countries is that OGM is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, many professionals wonder whether these findings are still valid for non-Western populations, from which refugees and asylum seekers in the UK almost always originate. CSEL’s researchers set out to investigate whether there was still an association between OGM and PTSD in a sample of people from 18 countries in Africa, South America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

They found that even in this non-Western group, participants with PTSD and depression had more difficulty retrieving specific memories in response to cues than those not suffering PTSD; that is, they still exhibited OGM. These findings support the relevance of the findings of previous studies on PTSD and OGM to non-Western groups. This research also lends further support to the hypothesis that people with PTSD might be less likely to be believed in refugee status determination processes due to the assumption that a credible account is rich in specific details, making it more difficult for them to be granted protection from persecution. It’s worth noting that although the researchers set out to investigate the association between OGM and PTSD in particular, the association found in this study is between PTSD and depression, because the researchers were unable to disentangle the effects of the two.

Law and emotion in the classroom: Honours students from Leiden University

2014-04-09T14:41:00.000+01:00

On March 28th Jane Herlihy visited the Institute of Immigration Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands, along with Marcelle Reneman of VU University, to give a presentation on credibility as part of a series of multi-disciplinary sessions for honours students on asylum law and policy. For today, we’ve handed the reins of the blog over to Marit Jansen, one of the students who took part. Here’s her report:

It was during the Asylum Law and Policies honours class that I first became aware of the complicated relationship between law and emotion. I was oblivious to it before; as an anthropologist emotion is a logical aspect of everything in my studies. But it becomes clear on reflection why law and emotion have such a troubled relationship. Since law has to be impartial, emotion can complicate proceedings. On the other hand, especially in asylum law, where so much is based on key concepts like ‘fear’ and ‘credibility’, emotion is an unavoidable part of policy-making.

After looking into the complicated realm of credibility assessment through the lens of Jane and Marcelle’s expert opinions, it was time for our own contributions. We were asked to debate whether emotion should have a role in asylum procedures, and were divided into groups for and against this proposition. Most interestingly, neither side was fully happy with what they had to argue. The pro-emotion side had the upper hand, but had to acknowledge that emotions could overwhelm those involved in the process, undermining objectivity. The anti-emotion side, whilst making a stronger case for legal equality, could not find an argument that would support excluding emotions from legal processes, since humans and emotions cannot be separated.

When push came to shove it turned out that neither side in the debate was fully convincing. The trick was to find a way not to exclude emotions, but also not to let emotions overwhelm the legal context. Neither option would do justice to asylum seekers, or to the legal process. Ultimately, we have to face that we are all human and emotional. Finding a way to manage these emotions, and not only manage but learn how to effectively utilise emotions in these contexts is a challenge for the future.

Marit Jansen is a third-year undergraduate in Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology at Leiden University.

NEW: Training for voluntary sector workers in London, Weds 21 May

2014-03-25T12:28:00.003+00:00

Due to unforeseen popular demand for our April training for NGO's, voluntary sector workers and volunteers, we are pleased to announce that we will be running a second session on Wednesday 21st May. The session will run from 1-4pm in Central London (venue tbc).

If you're interested in gaining a deeper understanding of science, memory and credibility, and in learning to use scientific evidence to support your work with people seeking asylum, please get in touch with Clare Cochrane (c.cochrane@csel.org.uk) to book a place, or if you need any further information.

We look forward to seeing you there!

CSEL Director Jane Herlihy to speak at Solace Women's Aid

2014-03-05T13:19:00.001+00:00

On March 25th, Jane will be presenting some of her work on trauma and memory to Solace Women's Aid, drawing on a recently published review of the currently available scientific literature on memory, in order to outline theories of normal and traumatic memory. Her presentation will also include research studies on inconsistencies in memory, overgeneral memory and difficulties disclosing distressing personal experiences, that demonstrate some of the reasons why people who have experienced one or many traumatic events might have difficulties presenting a consistent, coherent and full description of some of the most distressing moments of their lives.

Your views needed: using research resources in casework with vulnerable people

2014-01-29T15:24:00.000+00:00

We have been working hard to develop our forthcoming research hub and digest, which will keep you abreast of new high quality publications and the latest developments in the overlapping worlds of psychology, law and emotion. We look forward to publishing our first research digest in May, so be prepared for the face of our quarterly newsletter to change! In the meantime, we are running a short survey collecting legal and voluntary sector professionals’ views on using research resources in casework with vulnerable women, children and migrants, which you can find here. Your input into this exciting new phase of our work is much appreciated; please share the survey with any others who might be interested.

2013-11-22T12:10:00.003+00:00

Spent a fascinating day yesterday at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine (Queen Mary College, Univ. of London) at an event which drew together medics and lawyers to promote the new MSc in Mental Health and Law at Queen Mary, led by Profs. Kamaldeep Bhui and Richard Ashcroft. We listened to human rights lawyer Professor Francois Hampson speaking about international laws covering armed combat, and how medical facilities are, in law, very well protected, but in practice things are changing. Prof. George Szmukler, visiting professor at the LSE, spoke about the differences in rights to refuse treatment between people with physical and mental illnesses, and Sanchita Hosali told us about the great work of the British Institute of Human Rights. Prof. Kam Bhui outlined the forthcoming results of a fascinating project that has reviewed a broad literature in order to understand the development of individuals' sympathies for, and likelihood to be drawn into terrorism, applying a public health approach to understanding and intervening at the earliest possible stages to prevent terrorist attacks. I of course talked about our work bringing psychological evidence into refugee law and pointed a few more people to our website for resources for their work.

Another contribution to the multi-disciplinary outputs of the CREDO project

2013-10-18T17:46:00.000+01:00

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) has just published Credibility Assessment in Asylum Procedures – A Multidisciplinary Training Manual. The manual is written by international experts within the framework of the “CREDO” project (funded by the European Commission), in cooperation with the UNHCR.

CSEL is very pleased to have contributed a chapter, Memory and its Limitations, looking at what we know about memory for autobiographical events - which plays such a crucial role in applications for state protection.

HHC said in their announcement:
"Credibility assessment is undoubtedly one of the most challenging aspects of asylum decision-making. An important part of claims for international protection are rejected based on the justification that the determining authority or court does not believe what the applicant says. While in recent decades there has been spectacular advancement regarding the legal standards and relevant concepts of international refugee law, credibility has to some extent remained out of focus. This training manual aims to fill an important gap, by offering a creative, multidisciplinary learning method on credibility assessment, tailored to the needs of asylum decision-makers and other asylum professionals.

The manual is freely available online at http://helsinki.hu/wp-content/uploads/Credibility-Assessment-in-Asylum-Procedures-CREDO-manual.pdf, as well as at http://www.refworld.org/docid/5253bd9a4.html.

Annual Report 2012-2013 now online!

2013-10-02T13:29:00.001+01:00

Our 2012-2013 Annual Report is now online, a review of another exciting year for CSEL - a new review of the psychology of memory, the CREDO project with UNHCR, and a new dissemination project funded by Comic Relief to reach lawyers. You can read it online, or download it to read at your leisure.

http://issuu.com/csel_uk/docs/annual_report_12-13_final

Please do get in touch to find out more about any of the work we've reported on, or to find out what we're up to this year!

Email: c.cochrane@csel.org.uk

Fascinating new research post at the Max-Planck Institute

2013-09-13T12:37:00.001+01:00

The Max-Planck Institute for Human Development (Max Planck Institut für Bildungsforschung) Center for the History of Emotions, in Berlin, are calling for research proposals for a programme of enquiry into the history of emotion in law.

Looks fascinating!

See http:\\www.csel.org.uk/resource/max planck ad Law Emotions cfa.pdf for details and how to apply.
Closing date 13th Oct.

CSEL Needs a Research & Communications Assistant

2013-08-20T12:26:00.000+01:00

We're recruiting!

As part of the Evidence into Practice project, funded by Comic Relief, we are taking on a part-time Research and Communications Assistant to help the EiP project manager implement CSEL’s communications strategy and communications plan.

The RCA will work be responsible for carrying out clearly defined communications and research tasks aimed at promoting the organisation and its work to key target audiences, to increase awareness of CSEL’s research and dissemination work, and take-up of our training and consultancy services. To get the most out of this job you will an interest in human rights and justice, proven research skills, an ability to write for and use new media, and an ability to represent CSEL to external organisations and partners.

Please note, this is NOT a campaigning role: CSEL is not a campaigning organisation and does not carry out campaigning or lobbying activities. Our academic independence is vital to ensure our research is seen as credible by all relevant audiences.

We think the job will suit a recent graduate or post-graduate with the relevant skills.

We’re particularly interested in receiving applications from candidates with experience of working with, and the ability to communicate with, people from different cultural backgrounds, including refugees and asylum seekers.

Applications must be received by 5pm on 16 September 2013.

The post is fixed-term to September 2015.

Formore information, and for details of how to apply, see the job description.

Clare Cochrane, the EiP project manager, is available to talk about the role on 27 & 28 August and 4 September, on 07851 767 974.

Post-doctoral Child Psychology Researcher & Trainer

2013-08-06T18:22:00.000+01:00

Recruiting for this post is now closed. We will post more information here soon about our work on psychological issues for children seeking asylum.

This is an unique opportunity to lead a research and dissemination project at the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law in conjunction with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC).

Following the recent CREDO project which reported on decision-making about adults seeking asylum in Europe (see Beyond Proof), UNHCR are collaborating with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee to review decision making across European states about children seeking asylum. The project is part-funding the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law to review psychological literature pertaining to children seeking asylum, feeding into their final reports and training material. The post-doc will make a substantial contribution to the write-up and analysis of the relevant empirical literature and theory. The written work will result in a publication in a peer reviewed scientific journal, chapters in the UNHCR final project report, a chapter in a training manual for decision makers, and the delivery of training to immigration judges in Italy and Bulgaria.

The post is for 12-18 months and the researcher would be responsible for an in-depth review of the empirical work and for providing expertise on children in the asylum process. There will be ample prospects for identifying further primary research and you will be supported in applying for funding to extend the post and to engage in further research and dissemination.

You must have a DClinPsych or PhD in clinical psychology or developmental psychology with a proven special interest in children. You should also have some experience of training and presentation. Existing knowledge of the issues facing children seeking asylum would be an advantage.

If you are interested in applying and meet the criteria above, please contact Dr. Jane Herlihy for more details and how to apply: j.herlihy@csel.org.uk or call 07939 151557.

(Fixed term for 12-18 months part time)

Salary: £24,000 pro rata

Expected start date: 01 October 2013

Closing date for applications: 12 August 2013

Date for interviews: 5th September 2013

CSEL training at ILPA with Raggi Kotak

2013-06-26T17:08:00.001+01:00

Jane Herlihy and Raggi Kotak, of 1, Pump Court, will be providing a 3 hour CPD accredited training on Psychological Factors in Credibility Assessments of Asylum Seekers at ILPA, on Tuesday, October 29th.

See here for more details and booking.

CSEL boosting the development of Emotion & Law studies

2013-04-03T15:29:00.000+01:00

Last week Jane went to a groundbreaking European meeting of emotion and law scholars at Queens University, Belfast, shaped by the thinking of Terry Maroney of Vanderbilt University, Kathy Abrams of University of California, Berkeley and organised by John Stannard and Heather Conway of QUB. Emotion and law studies have been developing for some years in the US, and now the growth of the field is gathering pace on this side of the Atlantic too – and we’re excited that CSEL is playing a part in this.

The meeting heard a wide variety of presentations about the intersections of law and emotion, including emotion in recourse to law (e.g. the immigrant justice movement in the US, or the settlement of wills and estate between siblings); emotion in the processes of law (e.g. the role of Judges’ anger in judicial decision making) and emotion in the outcome of legal processes (e.g. the effects of custodial remand, victims’ rights). We also had some excellent framing presentations on the history of thought about emotion and approaches to the study of emotion and law.
Now those of us involved in the meeting are looking at how we can take our work together forward, starting with exchanges of ideas and methodology from our different disciplines.

Some of the group have also contributed to a special edition of the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, due out soon. We’ll post a summary and link here as soon as it’s out.
For further developments, watch this space – keep an eye on the CSEL website as we pull together resources and materials to further the study of emotion and law.

Stuart Turner hands over the baton as chair of trustees

2013-03-13T12:23:00.001+00:00

The Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law has come of age. When Jane Herlihy and I first decided to establish an organization to investigate the psychological basis for assumptions made by judges and other decision makers about the stories they heard, it felt as if we were very much on our own. Fortunately my medico-legal practice in the Trauma Clinic meant that I could support this project financially. Soon we had gathered a group of very eminent advisers and when we were ready to establish CSEL formally, I agreed to become chair of trustees – until CSEL was ready to stand on its own. That time has now arrived.

CSEL is now an established and respected organization providing high quality primary and secondary research to support fair and just decision making, initially in the asylum field but with plans to extend its work into other areas. It is now financially independent of the Trauma Clinic and has been able to attract support from a wide range of funders. There is a great body of trustees, of all the talents, and I am delighted that David Rhys Jones has agreed to continue as acting chair for the time being. Crucially, Jane has proved to be an outstanding director. Perhaps even more important than her academic excellence is her ability to communicate effectively at so many different levels with others in the field. Jane and I plan to continue to work together, and I look forward with pleasure to active collaboration in some of the research work within CSEL, but the time has come for me to step down as trustee. I feel very much like a proud parent seeing his child off to university. I am confident in the future of CSEL and I wish it well for the future.

Stuart Turner