Dr David Robertson
Senior Lecturer
Psychology
Personal statement
Personal statement
I completed my degree in Psychology at the University of Glasgow in 2009. I gained my PhD from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in 2014, under the supervision of Professor Nilli Lavie (www.attention-focus.com), and funded by an MRC PhD Studentship. I then held a post-doctoral position in Professor Mike Burton's FaceVar Lab (www.facevar.com) at the University of Aberdeen and then the University of York (2013-2017). I moved to my current role at University of Strathclyde Psychology in 2017. I combine my lecturing responsibilities with ongoing research in attention, perception, and face recognition.
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Prize And Awards
- Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards ('Diligent Practitioner') (2025)
- Recipient
- 1/6/2025
- Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards ('Passionate Practitioner'; 'Most Memorable') (2024)
- Recipient
- 1/6/2024
- Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards (Going the extra mile) (2023)
- Recipient
- 1/6/2023
- Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards (Enthusiasm; Innovative Teaching) (2022)
- Recipient
- 1/6/2022
- Associate Fellow of The British Psychological Society
- Recipient
- 29/1/2022
- Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards (Enthusiasm) (2021)
- Recipient
- 1/6/2021
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Publications
- The super-recogniser advantage extends to the detection of digitally manipulated faces
- Davis Josh P, Robertson David J, Jenkins Ryan E, Ibsen Mathias, Nichols Robert, Babbs Martha, Rathgeb Christian, Lovasdal Froy, Raja Kiran, Busch Christoph
- Applied Cognitive Psychology Vol 39, pp. 1-13 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.70053
- Public engagement with science : a novel researcher-led collaboration with a major UK science centre
- Robertson David J, McGeown William J, Wodehouse Andrew, Lang Gillian, Woodside William, Capaldi Janine
- International Journal of Science Education, Part B: Communication and Public Engagement Vol 15, pp. 340-352 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2024.2398825
- Does the ‘super recogniser’ advantage extend to the detection of digitally manipulated faces?
- Busch Christoph, Davis Josh P, Robertson David J, Jenkins Ryan E, Ibsen Mathias, Nichols Robert, Babbs Martha, Rathgeb Christian, Løvåsdal Frøy, Raja Kiran
- Combatting ID Fraud (2024)
- The super-recogniser advantage extends to the detection of hyper-realistic face masks
- Robertson David J, Davis Josh P, Sanders Jet G, Towler Alice
- Applied Cognitive Psychology Vol 38 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.4222
- Using a volitional help sheet to increase university students' attendance at synchronous online lectures : a randomised controlled trial
- Elliott Mark A, McGroarty Allan, Robertson David J
- British Journal of Educational Psychology Vol 94, pp. 328-345 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12647
- Conditional face image manipulation detection : combining algorithm and human examiner decisions
- Ibsen Mathias, Nichols Robert, Rathgeb Christian, Robertson David J, Davis Josh P, Løvåsdal Frøy, Raja Kiran, Jenkins Ryan E, Busch Christoph
- Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Workshop on Information Hiding and Multimedia Security 12th ACM Workshop on Information Hiding and Multimedia Securit, pp. 41-46 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3658664.3659649
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Teaching
My teaching duties extend across the BA degree and our MSc prgrammes:
Deputy Course Director - MSc in Research Methods
Topic Leader - 4th Year Course - The Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience of Face Recognition (PCNFR)
Topic Leader - 4th Year Course - Psychology Work Placement Class
Topic Contributor - 3rd Year Course - Cognition
Topic Contributor - 2nd Year Course - Cognition & Neuropsychology
Undergraduate Dissertation Supervisor
MSc Dissertation Supervisor
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Professional Activities
- Early Career Researchers: Connecting With External Partners
- Speaker
- 20/5/2025
- Mission Impossible? Detecting Face Mask Identity Fraud
- Speaker
- 19/5/2025
- The Science Behind Super Recognisers
- Speaker
- 30/4/2025
- Who falls for fake news? An individual differences perspective
- Speaker
- 26/3/2025
- 'Who falls for fake news...' Explorathon 2024
- Contributor
- 27/9/2024
- Detecting and Sharing Fake News: An Individual Differences Approach
- Speaker
- 26/9/2024
Projects
- The Psychology of Misinformation
- Robertson, David (Principal Investigator) Beattie, Jacqueline (Academic)
- The 2024 Strathclyde Psychology Public Engagement Lecture
- 14-Jan-2024 - 14-Jan-2024
- Super face recognition in a policing context: A talk by Thames Valley Police Super Recogniser Alex Thorburn
- Robertson, David (Principal Investigator)
- Alex Thorburn is a Super Recogniser working for Thames Valley Police in the Major Crime Unit. Detective Inspector Tina Wallace KPM supervises the Super Recogniser cadre and is Thames Valley Police’s Force Tactical Lead for Project Vigilant, which is an initiative to identify those displaying predatory behaviour in the nighttime economy. Alex will be discussing how she became a Super Recogniser and some of the operations she has worked on, including Op Vigilant and the King’s Coronation. Alex will also cover the use of Retrospective Facial Recognition (RFR) software and a case study where RFR has been used to identify an unknown offender.
- 23-Jan-2024 - 23-Jan-2024
- EPSRC-IAA GSC Citizen Science Project Phase 1-B [£29k]
- Robertson, David (Principal Investigator) McGeown, William (Co-investigator) Wodehouse, Andrew (Co-investigator) Lang, Gillian (Co-investigator)
- This project will professionalise and update the Phase 1 content, leading to an exhibit relaunch in later 2023/early 2024.
- 01-Jan-2023 - 01-Jan-2025
- RKES-Funded Psychology Public Engagement Lecture 2022 [£3K].
- Robertson, David (Principal Investigator)
- This knowledge exchange lecture attracted nearly 200 members of the general public. The 2022 speaker was Professor Sophie Scott.
- 21-Jan-2022 - 22-Jan-2022
- EPSRC-IAA GSC Citizen Science Project Phase 1 [£9k]
- Robertson, David (Principal Investigator) McGeown, William (Academic) Wodehouse, Andrew (Academic) Lang, Gillian (Research Co-investigator)
- This project installed 4 digital touchscreen kiosks, with research and K.E. content, at the Glasgow Science Centre. During the initial 6-month proof-of-concept phase, the exhibit has recorded more than 10,000 user interactions.
- 05-Jan-2022 - 05-Jan-2024
- RKES-Funded Psychology Public Engagement Lecture 2019 [£7K].
- Robertson, David (Principal Investigator)
- This knowledge exchange lecture attracted nearly 300 members of the general public. The 2019 speaker was Professor Richard Wiseman.
- 17-Jan-2019 - 18-Jan-2019
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Contact
Dr
David
Robertson
Senior Lecturer
Psychology
Email: david.j.robertson@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 4461