Dr Leah Greenwood

Leah gained experience working within a forensic mental health setting which allowed her to expand her knowledge in both forensic and clinical psychology. She currently works part time in the School of Psychology and Computing at UCLan’s Burnley Campus. She is currently module lead for the second year Clinical Psychology module and the third year Application of Clinical Psychology Practice, Clinical Research, and Service Delivery module. She also teaches a number of other modules at Burnley and supervises third year dissertation projects.

After enrolling onto a Forensic Science BTEC, Leah became interested in the psychological aspect of the area. She subsequently enrolled onto the undergraduate Forensic Psychology course at UCLan and obtained a summer internship in 2012 conducting research aiming to improve the facial composite system, EvoFIT. This research inspired her to continue researching this area and her third year dissertation project explored the impact of increasing and decreasing the variability within the EvoFIT system’s face space. Leah graduated in 2013 and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence. Following this, Leah furthered her education at UCLan and completed the MSc in Forensic Psychology whilst also volunteering at Coastal Child and Adolescent Services (CCATS) and Age Concern UK. Her MSc dissertation was again focused on the EvoFIT system but was centred around improving the cognitive interview that occurs prior to facial construction.

Shortly after graduating, Leah obtained a position as a research assistant at the Ashworth Research Centre which subsequently led to her starting a PhD in 2016 exploring the role of cognition in the sleep-aggression relationship. She continued to work as a research assistant throughout her PhD and also began her training as a Forensic Psychologist. She is currently continuing to complete this training.

During her time working as a research assistant, Leah has conducted both qualitative and quantitative research with the police, forensic psychiatric patients, and nursing staff. Her PhD included conducting a systematic literature review, qualitative interviews, a cross-sectional study, and a short intervention study with forensic psychiatric patients. As part of this she facilitated short mindfulness interventions and sleep hygiene interventions in an attempt to improve sleep in this population. Leah was awarded her PhD in July 2020. Her role as a trainee forensic psychologist includes facilitating psychological therapies, conducting risk assessments, and working with other professionals to communicate psychological knowledge and guidance.

Following some occasional teaching work, in 2019 Leah obtained a part-time position as a Lecturer in Psychology at UCLan Burnley. She is currently module lead for the second year Clinical Psychology Module and the third year Application of Clinical Psychology Practice, Clinical Research, and Service Delivery module. She also teaches across a number of other modules across year one, two, and three, including supervising third year dissertations. Leah continues to work hard to support students across all years.