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

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.