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
Stuart Turner
