Celine Brouillard

Celine Brouillard BSc Hons, MSc, PhD

Lecturer in Forensic Psychology

Celine joined the University of Greenwich in December 2023.

Her expertise lies in applied psychology, with a distinct focus on integrating cognitive and social psychology into forensic investigative contexts. Employing a systematic combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to emphasise the importance of non-coercive interviewing. During her PhD, she dedicated her efforts to understanding the foundations of rapport-building skills, culminating in the development of a reliable assessment of rapport. Celine's collaborative approach involves working with fellow researchers to address current debates and establish a comprehensive framework of rapport, aiding in the formulation of clearer guidelines and training for law enforcement.

In addition to her academic role, she is also a founding member and senior research fellow in the Cold Case Investigation Team (CCIT) at Goldsmiths, University of London, in collaboration with Locate International. Balancing practical and academic responsibilities within the CCIT, her interests span missing person and unidentified body cases, as well as long-term unsolved cases investigations. Her research covers a broad spectrum of social and cognitive aspects, including media appeal development and attention, biases, memory retrieval techniques for extended recall challenges, facial recognition, and the development of relevant investigative tools. Actively engaged in reviewing unsolved cases, she contributes to the CCIT and Locate international’s goal to provide law enforcement with evidence-based recommendations and advance forensic methodologies.

Posts held previously

  • 2022 - 2023 Part-time as Visiting Lecturer at University of Westminster
  • 2021 - 2023 Associate Lecturer for Goldsmiths at University of London
  • 2021 - 2024 PhD candidate in Psychology for Goldsmiths at University of London.

Psychology

Responsibilities within the university

Module leader for Current issues in Psychology

Recognition
  • Founding member and Senior Research Fellow in the Cold Case Investigation Team (CCIT) subdividing of the Forensic Psychology Unit (FPU) at Goldsmiths University of London in collaboration with Locate International
  • Reviewers for journals e.g., the Psychology, Crime & Law journal
  • Member of the organisation committee and cast of an immersive theatre murder mystery provided by the Forensic Psychology Unit (FPU) at Goldsmiths University of London. NCPD: Murder investigation (2023)
  • Members of Project Aletheia, International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG), Society of Evidence-Based Policing (SEBP), European Association of Psychology and Law (EAPL), Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) and Society of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (SARMAC).

Research / Scholarly interests

Celine’s research focuses on applied cognition and interpersonal skills within investigative information-gathering contexts, specifically how to build rapport with a witness, victim, informant, or suspects to gather accurate and reliable information. Her research explores the underpinning of rapport by considering what contributes to the benefits of building rapport: the behaviours, the feeling of rapport or both. She is particularly interested in how rapport building strategies can be assessed and used to informed law enforcements through official guidelines and training.

Other research interests include:

  • Missing persons and unidentified body cases e.g., media appeals, facial recognition, memory retrieval and biases
  • Investigation and review of long-term unsolved cases
  • The role of rapport and trust in different remote interviewing contexts.

Media activity
  • Provide evidence-based advice on missing persons appeal as part of the core CCIT at Goldsmiths and in collaboration with Locate International, Click here to view.
  • Leading student research projects as part of the core CCIT at Goldsmiths and in collaboration with Locate International, Click here to view.
  • Some of the cases involving the CCIT can be listened to on the Podcast “The Missing” provided by Locate international and the charity Missing People, Click here to view.

Recent publications