Professor Gavin Oxburgh

Gavin's research draws upon, and contributes to, the broad area of legal and criminological psychology including: International human rights, the prevention of torture, ethical and non-coercive interviewing; false and recovered memories, and military veterans' research. He has attracted over £5m in research grants to date from the ESRC, EPSRC, The British Academy, the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Fund, The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, Forces in Mind Trust, The Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), the UK College of Policing, and the N8 Policing Research Partnership. 

Gavin has published widely in the area of legal and forensic psychology, policing, and communication. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, and an Editorial Advisory Board member of the Torture Journal. He is an Associate Investigator status of the Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR) which is EPSRC and GCHQ managed.

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• Evaluation of Forensic Interviews and Interrogations: A Thematic Analysis of Law-Enforcement Views, Farrugia, L., Oxburgh, G., Gabbert, F. 18 Feb 2026, In: Journal of Criminal Psychology
• From an investigator’s perspective: challenges and opportunities in building and maintaining rapport in cross-cultural investigative interviewing contexts, Hope, L., Hawkins de Namor, N., Gabbert, F., Ferenczi, N., Oxburgh, G. 18 Feb 2026, In: Journal of Criminal Psychology
• “It felt like He hated me”. experiences of intimate partner violence and abuse amongst men who have sex with men in the UK: an interpretative phenomenological analysis, Giles-Haigh, R., Oxburgh, G., Lewis, R. 2 Jan 2026, In: Psychology and Sexuality
• MONARCH: Map of Need Aggregated Research Study, Kiernan, M., Tomietto, M., Oxburgh, G., Johnson, A., McGill, A., Meyhew, M., Serra, G., Rodrigues, M., Turoldo, F. 25 Jun 2026

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• Northumbria Uni support to RAFFF, Kiernan, M. (Principal Investigator), Oxburgh, G. (Co Investigator), RAF Families Federation, 01/12/24 - 01/04/25, £3,000.00
• Counter-Wildlife Crime Capacity Building (Intro sessions), Oxburgh, G. (Principal Investigator), Re:wild, 29/11/24 - 16/12/24, £14,598.00
• MONARCH (Map Of Need Aggregation ResearCH) Study AFCFT, Kiernan, M. (Principal Investigator), Oxburgh, G. (Co Investigator), Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, 31/01/23 - 31/07/24, £199,999.00
• The Forensic Interview Trace Website, Dominique, L. (Principal Investigator), Oxburgh, G. (Co Investigator), RIS Internal Funding, 01/01/23 - 31/12/23, £5,500.00
• Veteran suicide: Understand-Identify-Prevent, Kiernan, M. (Principal Investigator), Oxburgh, G. (Co Investigator), Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, 01/07/21 - 30/06/23, £205,405.00
• Reducing loneliness in veterans who have been treated for PTSD, Kiernan, M. (Principal Investigator), Oxburgh, G. (Co Investigator), Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, 22/02/21 - 21/02/23, £70,000.00
• The Forensic Interview Trace: Validation within a Defence and Security Environment, Oxburgh, G. (Principal Investigator), Defence and Security Accelorator, 15/01/21 - 14/01/22, £15,518.00
• COVID-19: Supporting the interviewing and legal representation of crime victims and suspects using digital communication methods: Is it 'remotely' possible?, Oxburgh, G. (Principal Investigator), UK Research and Innovation, 02/11/20 - 01/05/22, £323,731.00

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• Invited talk: Justice after service: A call for reform in supporting military veterans in conflict with the law 2025
• Invited talk: Where to go from here: Advancing The Mendez Principles and continuing the research on ethical interviewing. 2024
• Invited talk: Interviewing Vulnerable Victims: Evidence-based Practices 2023
• Invited talk: Interviewing child victims and witnesses: Issues and techniques. 2023
• Invited talk: Assisting veterans in the Criminal Justice System 2023
• Invited talk: The Mendez Principles 2022
• Invited talk: The Mendez Principles 2022
• Invited talk: Developments in effective interviewing 2022
• Invited talk: Interviewing and human rights. 2022
• Invited talk: Improving practice: Interviewing of sex offenders. 2022

• Christopher Callaghan Health and well-being of Military veterans in the Criminal Justice System: The transition from prison to society Start Date: 01/10/2023
• Rachael Giles-Haigh Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse Amongst Men Who Have Sex With Men: An Exploration of Lived Experience Start Date: 01/09/2020 End Date: 11/12/2025
• Samantha Scott Identifying the Impact of Secondary Traumatisation on Military Families and Children. Start Date: 01/10/2024
• Joanna Curtis The Individual and Situational Aspects of Torture Acceptance Start Date: 01/10/2020
• Shannon Allen EXPOSURE TO POTENTIALLY MORALLY INJURIOUS EVENTS: THE IMPACT ON SERVICE POLICE AND NON-SERVICE POLICE VETERANS Start Date: 01/10/2020 End Date: 22/02/2026
• Sophie Snowdon The efficacy of the PEACE model of police interviewing: 30 years on from its inception. Start Date: 01/10/2024

International Collaboration and Consultancy

In 2021, Gavin co-founded ETICA (Global), a not-for-profit organisation established to deliver capacity-building through training, professional advisory services, knowledge exchange, and innovation for ethical investigative practice across the globe. In 2007, he co-founded the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG) an organisation he Chaired until Jul 19.

He has trained investigators from many international organisations including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Investigation Services, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the the Finnish and Swedish Competition Authorities in specialist interview techniques. He has previously provided specialist training to members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and South African Prosecution Services on non-coercive interviewing in cases of child sexual abuse and on-line child exploitation. He was a specialist advisor to the Credibility Assessment Research Summit (CARS), Washington DC, on Educing Information from suspects, a US Government research group sponsored by the Defence Academy for Credibility Assessment (DACA).

He has previoulsy worked closely with the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) delivering training to investigators and prosecutors from Ukraine, and co-hosting a roundtable discussion at the UK's House of Lords on the draft universal protocol on non-coercive interviewing (together with legal and procedural safeguards). He has been an invited expert to the Great Britain-China Centre (London) and the Supreme People’s Court of China assisting on the process of conducting effective non-coercive interviewing.  

Membership of Professional Bodies

Gavin is a member of the following professional bodies:

• The UK Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC);
• The British Psychological Society (BPS);
• The American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS); 
• The European Association of Psychology & Law (EAPL); 
• The UK Higher Education Academy (HEA);
• The UK Science Council (UKSC). 

• Psychology PhD December 01 2011
• Teacher Training (University) PGCLTHE July 01 2008
• Psychology MSc October 01 2004
• Psychology BSc (Hons) October 01 2002
• Registered Forensic Psychologist (HCPC) 2010
• Chartered Scientist (UKSC) CSci 2010
• BPS Chartered Psychologist (Research & Teaching) CPsychol 2010
• Fellow of the British Psychological Society FBPsS 2010

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• International Association of Chiefs of Police
• The International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG)
• Anti-torture Initiative (ATI)
• Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT)