Josh Davis

Articles by: Josh Davis

Super-recognisers: Some people excel at both face and voice recognition

3rd April 2021

Dr Josh Davis, Professor in Applied Psychology, University of Greenwich

FEATURE: Super-recognisers – those people with exceptional abilities in recognising faces – have already been successfully deployed by police forces in the UK and elsewhere; but new research by Dr Josh Davis and Ryan Jenkins of the University of Greenwich, and David James Robertson of the University of Strathclyde, suggest those with excellent voice-recognition skills could play a similar role for law enforcement.

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Josh Davis

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Dr Josh Davis is a Professor in Applied Psychology in the School of Human Sciences at the University of Greenwich, and leads the Face and Voice Recognition Lab at the university. He joined the university in 2008, and is module leader for Criminal Investigation Psychology and Investigative Forensic Psychology, Programme Leader for the MSc Psychology (Conversion) and supervises PhD, MSc and BSc research projects. Josh's PhD was on 'Forensic Identification of Unfamiliar Faces in CCTV Images' (2007) and he has published research on human face recognition and eyewitness identification; reliability of facial composite systems (e.g. E-FIT6); and methods used by expert witnesses to provide evidence of identification in court. He has presented his research worldwide, with latest research on "super-recognisers", attracting international media interest including television appearances on the BBC, ITV and other worldwide stations. Josh's primary research interests are in cognitive and investigative forensic psychology, in particular face, voice and person recognition and applied legal implications. Recent research examined the cognitive abilities of Metropolitan Police Service, European, Asian and Australian police officers who have made a large number of identifications of suspects from CCTV images – 'super-recognisers' – and also consults international police forces and business organisations on identity verification issues. Other recent work includes the use of EFIT6 facial composite systems for the identification of suspects funded by Innovate UK.