UCLan Professor of Forensic Psychology is guest presenter
A Professor of Forensic Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is a guest presenter on this year’s Royal Institute (Ri) Christmas Lecture series.
Broadcast on BBC Four next week, Professor Charlie Frowd will explore e-photo composites where eyewitness use technology to paint a picture of a criminal’s face.
In the old fashioned way, the audience will work together to build a face of a thief who stole a diamond ring earlier that afternoon, selecting facial features, eyes, nose and mouth. This 'photo-fit' will be compared to the face created by a member of the audience using UCLan’s award-winning facial-composite software EvoFIT.
"With EvoFIT, it is now possible for an eyewitness to create the face of a perpetrator a day or two after a crime that can be correctly identified by other people about 60% of the time."
— Professor of Psychology at UCLan Charlie Frowd
Charlie said: “In the past, photofit and similar facial ‘feature’ systems didn’t usually produce faces that other people can identify but the field has since been transformed. With EvoFIT, it is now possible for an eyewitness to create the face of a perpetrator a day or two after a crime that can be correctly identified by other people about 60% of the time.
“It is such an honour to be involved in this year’s Ri Christmas lecture series and showcase this amazing technology.”
The Ri Christmas Lectures are the world's leading science lectures for young people. This year, the series will be led by Professor Dame Sue Black who will reveal the secrets of forensic science. The show will also examine other sources of evidence that may be available in a criminal investigation, including identity parades, CCTV, fingerprints and DNA. An expert in each field will be cross examined by a senior defence barrister.
The programme will air at 8.00pm on Wednesday, 28 December, on BBC Four and will be available on BBC iPlayer after broadcast.
