Dr Sunghwan Kim

Lecturer

Health, Education, Policing and Sciences

Dr Sunghwan Kim is a lecturer with a background in both policing and psychology. Before becoming an academic, he worked for the National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea as a police officer specializing in profiling violent crimes by crime scene reconstruction and offender interviewing. The previous role included managing criminal and geographical analysis systems as well as training frontline officers in psychological approaches to investigation. His primary areas of study are investigative decision-making, interviewing and profiling. Specifically, it is focused on improving the cognitive and social skills of officers through simulation-based education. A range of research methods such as observation and experiment is used in the work related to real-world policing. He is happy to supervise doctoral students on projects within his research interests.

Professional memberships and activities
  •  Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the British Psychological Society
  • Member of the Korean Psychological Association
  • Researcher within the Centre for Crime, Justice, and Security

Academic qualifications
  • PhD in Investigative Psychology, University of Liverpool
  • MSc in Investigative Psychology, University of Liverpool
  • BA in Psychology, Jeonbuk National University

Research interests
  • Naturalistic decision-making in policing
  • Rapport-based interpersonal techniques in police interviews
  • Criminal intelligence analysis: offender and geographical profiling

Publications

Kim, S., Alison, L., & Christiansen, P. (2020). Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques to Gather Information from Victims. Journal of Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 26(2), 166–175. DOI: 10.1037/law0000222

Kim, S., Alison, L., & Christiansen, P. (2020). The impact of individual differences on investigative hypothesis generation under time pressure. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 22(2), 171-182. DOI: 10.1177/1461355720905716

Kim, S., Almond, L., & Eyre, M. (2020). Profiling Korean sex crimes: Offender characteristics and crime scene actions. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 17(1), 59-73. DOI: 10.1002/jip.1539

in the UK for Quality Education

Sustainable Development Goal 4, Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Facilities

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Social Inclusion

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Four Star Rating

QS Star Ratings 2021