Criminal Cartographies

In this inaugural lecture, Professor Lundrigan will draw on 20 years of applied research to illustrate, with reference to criminal investigations she has advised on, the application of Investigative Psychology to the investigation of crime. She will focus in particular on the value that maps, both conceptual and real, have bought to her research and the power of space, location and environment in providing meaning to even the most extreme of criminal behaviour. She will conclude by describing her most recent programme of collaborative research, working closely with police and other stakeholders to address critical gaps in knowledge about online child sexual abuse and effectives responses to it.

Lecture at 18.00, followed by a drinks reception at 19.00.

Professor of Investigative Psychology

Professor Lundrigan is one of a pioneering group of researchers who were instrumental in the establishment of Investigative Psychology as a prominent international research field.

With a particular interest in the spatial analysis of violent and sexual criminal behaviour, Sam undertook an Economic and Social Research Council funded PhD on serial murderers' disposal site location choices at the University of Liverpool.

From there she took up a position as Lecturer in the School of Criminology at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand where she introduced Investigative Psychology for the first time to the undergraduate and post-graduate curriculum. During her time in NZ, she worked closely with NZ Police, both with their National Offender Profiling Unit conducting offender and geographic profiles on several high-profile cases and, with the National Training College to implement an evidence-based approach to the way officers were trained.

On her return to the UK, and after a career break, Sam took up a research position at the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge and from there moved across town to ARU where she has been ever since, spending seven years in Criminology and then, in 2016, appointed as the first Director of the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region (PIER).

Under her leadership, PIER has become a leading light in the field of public protection, delivering research of outstanding quality and impact as well as developing strong and productive relationships with a range of stakeholders across the public sector, government, industry and the third sector.

At the heart of her approach to research is the application of knowledge to the real world and she provides policy advice to criminal justice agencies including the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, and National Crime Agency. She sits on the National Police Chiefs Council Prevent Board and the Home Office Perpetrator Prevention Panel and is currently directing a four-year programme of research into online child sexual abuse.