Dara Mojtahedi is a Reader in Criminological and Forensic Psychology. Dara teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses and supervises PhD, MSc, and BSc projects.

Dara completed his PhD in 2018 (Investigating the Effects of Co-witness Influence on Blame Attribution) and holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, MSc in Investigative Psychology and a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. Dara is an active researcher, having published research within various fields of psychology, including forensic and investigative psychology, personality and individual differences, applied sports psychology, and mental health. He has carried out and supervised research for numerous professional organisations, including the National Crime Agency, NHS, FIFA and police forces. Dara supports public engagement and is available as a media contact.

Please get in touch with Dara if you are interested in pursuing a PhD under his supervision.

Research Interests and Research Subject Specialisms:
Juror decision making
Eyewitness memory
Criminal Cognition
Morality and Crime
Dark personality traits and crime

Teaching specialisms;
Forensic and Investigative Psychology
Moral decision making
Research Methods and quantitative analysis

Publications and Research:
Lilley, C., Willmott, D. & Mojtahedi, D. (In Press). Juror Characteristics on Trial: Investigating how Psychopathic Traits, Rape Attitudes, Victimisation Experiences and Juror Demographics influence Decision-Making in an Intimate Partner Rape Trial Frontiers in Psychiatry. (ISSN 1664-0640).
Lilley, C., Willmott, D., Mojtahedi, D. & Labhardt, D. (In Press). Intimate Partner Rape: A Review of Six Core Myths Surrounding Women’s Conduct and the Consequences of Intimate Partner Rape. Social Sciences
DeBlassio, S & Mojtahedi, D (in press). Exploring the Relationship between Psychopathy and Criminal Thinking: Utilising the Tri-PM within a Forensic Sample. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice.
Conway, L., Woodard, S.R., Zubrod, A., Tiburcio, M., Martínez-Vélez, N.A., Sorgente, A., Lanz, M., Serido, J., Vosylis, R., Fonseca, G., Lep,Z., Li,L., Zupancic, M., Crespo,C., Relvas, P., PAPAGEORGIOU, K.P., Truhan, T., Mojtahedi, D., et al.,(In Press). How Culturally Unique are Pandemic Effects?: Evaluating Cultural Similarities and Differences in Effects of Age, Biological Sex, and Political Beliefs on COVID Impacts, Frontiers Psychology.
Parsons, A., & Mojtahedi, D. (2022) Can jurors be biased in their evaluation of third-party evidence within cases of rape? International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.
Mojtahedi, D., Webb, T., Leadley, C.B., & Jones, M, (2022) Match Officials and abuse: a systematic review, European Sport Management Quarterly, 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2022.2099441
Filkin, S., Mojtahedi, D., & Willmott, D. (2022). Motivations for Adolescent Offending and Truancy from School: Retrospective Interviews with Adults recently released from a Custodial Prison Sentence in England. Heliyon, 8, e09762. DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09762 (ISSN 2405 8440)
Mojtahedi, D (2021) ‘Mental toughness can help you cope with challenging events like the pandemic – here’s how to cultivate it’ The Conversation. ISSN 2044-5032
Willmott, D., Hunt, D., & Mojtahedi, D. (2021). Criminal Geography and Geographical Profiling within Police Investigations–A Brief Introduction. Internet Journal of Criminology.
Turner, M., King, N., Mojtahedi, D., Burr, V., Gall, V., Gibbs, G. R., ... & Walker, T. (2021). Well-being programmes in prisons in England and Wales: a mixed-methods study. International Journal of Prisoner Health.
Petrou, M., Lazarus, L., Hillier, M., & Mojtahedi, D. (2021). Doping behaviour in mixed martial arts athletes: The roles of social norms, self-conscious emotions, and self-regulatory efficacy. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
Devine, K., Mojtahedi, D., & Palmer, D. (2021). A review of the current measures used within the English courts for vulnerable individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP).
Devine, K., & Mojtahedi, D. (2021). Examining the Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder on Juror Decision Making in Acquaintance Rape Cases. Forensic Science International: Mind and Law
Mojtahedi D, Dagnall N, Denovan A, Clough P, Hull S, Canning D, Lilley C and Papageorgiou KA (2021) The Relationship Between Mental Toughness, Job Loss, and Mental Health Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Front. Psychiatry 11:607246. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.607246
Mojtahedi, D. (2020). Editorial: Memory conformity during co-witness discussions: Issues and considerations. Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP), 4(2), 1-7.
Mann, C.A., Mojtahedi, D. and Leadley, C. (2020), "A multidimensional scalogram analysis of UK acid attacks: exploring the differences and similarities in offending characteristics", Safer Communities, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 73-87. https://doi.org/10.1108/SC-09-2019-0028
Mojtahedi, D. (in press) Book Review: The Technoscientific Witness of Rape. Forensic Science International: Mind and Law, 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsiml.2020.100017
Wainwright, A., & Mojtahedi, D. (2020). An Examination of Stigmatising Attributions About Mental Illness Among Police Custody Staff, Policing & Society.68 (8).
Mojtahedi, D., Ioannou, M., & Hammond, L. (2019) Intelligence, Authority, and Blame Conformity: Co-witness influence is moderated by the perceived competence of the Information Source. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-019-09361-2
Mojtahedi, D., Ioannou, M., Hammond, L., & Synnott, J. P. (2019) Investigating the effects of age and gender on co-witness suggestibility during blame attribution. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. 16 (3), 153-168. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1533
Gibert, C., & Mojtahedi, D. (2019). A preliminary investigation on the performance of brain-injured witnesses on target-absent line-up procedures. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law.3, 844-865 https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2018.1507847
Prince, R., Mojtahedi, D., Synnott, J., & Ioannou, M. (2019). Individual difference and risky behaviour amongst elite athletes: A review of the psychological predictors of risk-taking behaviour.. Assessment and Development Matters.
Hillier, M., Sutton, L., James, L. J., Mojtahedi, D., Keay, N.,, & Hind, K. (2019) The Scale of the Problem - Prevalence, Magnitude and Influencers of Rapid Weight Loss in Mixed Martial Arts Athletes. International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism. 29(5), 512-517. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0393
Mojtahedi, D (2019) ‘Football referees: death threats, physical violence and verbal abuse are all part of the job’ The Conversation. ISSN 2044-5032
Mojtahedi, D., Ioannou, M. and Hammond, L. (2018) Group size, misinformation and unanimity influences on co-witness judgments. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology. 29(5), 844-865. 10.1080/14789949.2018.1439990
Mojtahedi, D., Ioannou, M., & Hammond, L. (2018). The Dangers of Co-witness Familiarity: Investigating the Effects of Co-witness Relationships on Blame Conformity. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 316-326.
Ryan, S., Sherretts, N., Willmott, D., Mojtahedi, D. and Baughman, B. (2018) ‘The Missing Link in Training to Detect Deception and its Implications for Justice’ Safer Communities , 17 (1), pp. 33-46. ISSN 1757-8043
Mojtahedi, D (2017) ‘New research reveals how little we can trust eyewitnesses’ The Conversation. ISSN 2044-5032
Mojtahedi, D., Ioannou, M. and Hammond, L. (2017) Personality Correlates of Co-witness Suggestibility. Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice . 17(4), 249-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/24732850.2017.1358996
Mojtahedi, D., Prince, R. and Ryan, S. (2017) ‘Making an Arsonist: A Psychological Approach to Understanding Expressive Arson’ EC Psychology and Psychiatry, 4 (3), pp. 94-99.
Willmott, D., Mojtahedi, D., Ryan, S., Sherretts, N., Simpson, O. and Dlamini, T. (2017) ‘A Critical Assessment of Trait versus Situationalist Positions and the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R)’ EC Psychology and Psychiatry , 3 (1), pp. 13-18.
Mojtahedi, D., Ioannou, M. and Hammond, L. (2016). The misinformation effect: How multiple eye witnesses can make the same mistake, the Justice Gap.

Affiliations:
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (08/09/2019 - Present).
• Collaborator of InteRRaCt Lab (22/10/2019 – present)
• Collaborator of The Referee and Match Official Research Network (22/05/2019- Present)