Dr Jo Kenrick, Lecturer in Psychology, has been awarded funding from the ESRC Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre Early Career Researcher Development Fund for a new interdisciplinary project investigating risk and protective factors in the context of romance fraud.
The project aims to explore variables associated with vulnerability to romance fraud, such as social isolation and impulsivity, and develop a clearer understanding of what vulnerability means in the context of romance fraud. The research will also consider risk of re-victimisation, when victims experience further fraud from the same (or different) perpetrator.
A participatory action research framework will be adopted to help make the research more inclusive, reflective, and critical, with neurodivergent co-researchers and those who have experienced romance fraud involved in the study design, materials production and knowledge creation.
Kent Police Force and Essex Police Force are partner organisations in the project, and results of the project will help inform policing practice and policy aimed at reducing the risk of financial and social harm caused by romance fraud.
Jo is joint Programme Lead on the MSc in Forensic Psychology, and will be leading the multi-disciplinary team. Other academic members of the project team include Dr Jumana Ahmad, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Rebecca Smith, Associate Professor in Psychology, and Dr Erika Kalocsányiová, Research Fellow in the University of Greenwich’s Institute for Lifecourse Development, along with collaborators at Kingston University and the University of Bath.
Further details of the project can be found on the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre webpage.
