Clare Sutherland

Dr Clare Sutherland is an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia. Her research focuses on how social judgments (e.g., trustworthiness, attractiveness) from faces are influenced by prior knowledge and stereotypes. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of York (2011-2015), an MRes from York (2010-2011), and a B.Sc. from the University of Glasgow (2006-2010).

• Expertise: Face perception, social cognition, visual cognition
• Funding: ARC Discovery Project (2017-2019), ARC Centre of Excellence grants (2016-2017)
• Industrial relevance: Consultancy on consumer-facing industries leveraging facial impression research

Her work bridges psychological theory with practical applications, particularly addressing biases in facial perception and implications for AI-generated imagery. Notable contributions include studies on AI hyperrealism’s perceptual effects and cross-cultural facial impression dynamics.

Recent research highlights include analyzing neural responses to facial trustworthiness in children and exploring voice-face impression interactions. Her work has been cited over 1,800 times and featured in 248 news outlets globally.

• Grants: Chief Investigator for “Tackling facial prejudice” (ARC, 2019-2021)
• Awards: UWA Postgraduate Choice ECR Staff Award (2018)