Stephen Spurr is a Professor of Economics at Wayne State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on labor economics and the economic analysis of law, with notable contributions to legal economics, healthcare policy, and tort law. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago (1986), an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University (1972), a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School (1969), and an A.B. from Oberlin College (1966). Dr. Spurr’s work bridges economic theory and legal practice, examining topics such as subrogation in tort litigation, medical malpractice, bankruptcy law, and occupational competition in healthcare. His recent articles address subrogation’s impact on litigation outcomes and deterrence, while older works include foundational analyses of lawyer referral systems and gender dynamics in the legal profession. Education: Ph.D. in Economics, University of Chicago (1986) LL.M. in Taxation, New York University (1972) J.D., University of Michigan Law School (1969) A.B., Oberlin College (1966) His courses include Economic Analysis of Law , Advanced Economic Analysis of Law , and Economics of Human Resources . While no specific grants or labs are listed, his extensive publications reflect a sustained engagement with policy-relevant economic research.
Sandra Mayson is a Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Law. Previously, she served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of Law, where she received the C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2020. Her research focuses on criminal law, constitutional law, and legal theory, with an emphasis on preventive restraint within the criminal legal system. She has extensive experience as a trial lawyer at Orleans Public Defenders, advocating for indigent clients and training public defenders on immigration-sensitive defense practices. Mayson’s work includes pretrial law reform advocacy, such as serving as Associate Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission’s Pretrial Release & Detention Act. She co-authors amicus briefs challenging money-bail systems and advises stakeholders on reform initiatives. Her clerkships included roles with Judge Dolores K. Sloviter (U.S. Third Circuit) and Judge L. Felipe Restrepo (Eastern District of Pennsylvania). Her articles address topics like constitutional standards for pretrial detention, law and consciousness theory, and systemic failures in court appearances. She has been featured in prominent legal journals including Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, and Stanford Law Review. Awards include recognition for her impactful teaching and scholarly contributions to criminal justice reform.
Dr. Ross Macdonald is a Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, School of Education. He holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Dundee. Previously, he held roles at Saarland University (Germany), the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (University of Manchester), and Liverpool John Moores University. His research focuses on quantitative methods in Developmental, Cognitive, and Social Psychology, with expertise in eye-tracking methodologies. Education: BSc, MSc, and PhD in Psychology from the University of Dundee. Postdoctoral research at Saarland University (2014–2016). Research Interests include social attention, non-verbal communication, language processing in children and adults, and applications of eye-tracking across disciplines (e.g., reading, art, education). He currently supervises a PhD project on non-verbal cues in blended learning contexts. Collaborative work includes an AHRC-funded project analyzing gaze behavior in engagement with historic objects. Advising/Grants: Supervising a funded PhD project on educational contexts. Previously involved in interdisciplinary grants (e.g., ESRC, AHRC). No awards explicitly listed. Labs/Teams: Part of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Psychology and Education departments, with prior affiliations to LuCiD at the University of Manchester.
Dr. Laura Wakeford is a Lecturer in Psychology at Abertay University's Department of Sociological and Psychological Sciences. Her ESRC-funded research examines cognitive mechanisms of reading and language production through experimental approaches. Research focuses on: Eye movement control during reading Lexical processing and parallel word recognition Structural priming in language production Computational analysis of linguistic change Visual cueing in syntactic processing Recent studies investigate how lexical-syntactic representations influence language production patterns. Secondary research stream examines linguistic markers in extremist communication patterns. Dr. Wakeford employs eye-tracking methodologies and computational linguistic analysis across diverse experimental paradigms. She maintains collaborations examining reading processes and the cognitive science of language.
Erin O'Callaghan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on abolitionist feminisms, critical criminology, and qualitative methodologies, with emphases on sexual violence, workplace disclosures, and anti-carceral policies. She holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of Illinois-Chicago and teaches courses like Introduction to Criminology and Inequality in Criminal Sentencing. Education: PhD in Criminology, Law, and Justice, University of Illinois-Chicago (2019) MA in Criminology, Law, and Justice, University of Illinois-Chicago (2015) BS/BA in Psychology, University of Cincinnati (2013) Research Interests: Erin examines substance-involved sexual violence, workplace reporting dynamics, and survivor narratives. Her work critiques carceral systems and advocates for community-based solutions. Recent projects include a grant-funded study on workplace sexual violence responses via the Center for Institutional Courage. Publications Highlight Key Themes: Survivor-centered approaches to sexual assault disclosure Substance use and impairment during assaults Anti-harassment labor organizing in academia Policy critiques of Title IX Grants: Collaborates on institutional betrayal research funded by the Center for Institutional Courage. Advising focuses on graduate labor movements and survivor advocacy.
Olamilekan Shobayo is a dedicated lecturer at the School of Computing and Digital Technologies within the College of Business, Technology and Engineering. With over seven years of teaching experience, he specializes in data science, big data technologies, and healthcare analytics. He teaches modules including database management, big data analysis, and project management, equipping students with skills in R, Python, SQL, Hadoop, and Tableau. His students have secured roles as data analysts, DB administrators, and business analysts in the UK and internationally. His research focuses on AI applications in healthcare, particularly in emergency medicine, and includes developing a CNN model for classifying pediatric wrist fractures using infrared thermal imaging and a random forest algorithm for stroke prediction. He also explores clustering techniques in retail analytics and sentiment analysis for financial markets. Shobayo actively reviews for journals like Electronics , Algorithms , and Diagnostics , contributing to advancing AI research and clinical practice. Key Research Areas: Medical image analysis, stroke prediction, retail customer segmentation, and AI in emergency care. Teaching Roles: Courses include MSc Computing, Big Data Analytics, and Degree Apprenticeships. Shobayo’s work bridges AI development and clinical needs, with publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. He also mentors through The Brilliant Club, designing STEM courses for young learners.
Dr. Benjamin Winter is a Researcher at the Department of Computer Science at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin. He holds a PhD in Computer Science (2025) and a Master's in Media Informatics (2018) from the same institution. His research focuses on Reinforcement Learning, Imitation Learning, and Natural Language Processing, particularly in healthcare applications and transformer models. He contributed to the FashionBrain project analyzing European fashion through Big Data techniques and co-developed KIMERA and VisBERT tools for transformer analysis. Key research interests include autonomous driving, healthcare NLP, and domain adaptation of language models. His work spans from foundational research in transformer networks to applied projects in clinical decision-making and media bias analysis. Dr. Winter has published extensively on transformer architectures, including layer-wise analyses and visualization techniques. His work on reinforcement learning in competitive scenarios, such as StarCraft strategies, demonstrated early success in AI surpassing human experts.
Brittany Hood is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M International University, teaching in the online Master of Science in Criminal Justice program. She holds a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University (2020), an M.S. in Criminal Justice and Public Safety from IUPUI (2015), and a B.S. in Psychology from IUPUI (2013). Her research focuses on criminal justice, mental health interventions, and research methodology. Hood's extensive publication record examines mental health treatment in criminal justice contexts, including telemedicine applications during COVID-19, trauma-informed care for justice-involved individuals with serious mental illness, cultural attitudes toward treatment, and juvenile gang involvement patterns. Her work frequently addresses systemic challenges at the intersection of mental health services and criminal justice processes. She emphasizes critical thinking and writing skill development in her courses, which include research methods and statistics. Beyond research, Hood has personal interests in craft beer brewing.
Associate Professor Andrew Hemming is affiliated with the University of Southern Queensland's School of Law and Justice. He holds qualifications including a PhD from Charles Darwin University and multiple advanced degrees in law and policy. His research focuses on criminal law, evidence law, and legal reform, with notable contributions to topics like judicial proceedings, criminal legislation, and human rights. Recent work includes submissions to Queensland Law Reform Commission on non-fatal strangulation and nuclear energy policy. He supervises doctoral research on bail reforms, jury selection, and criminal jurisdiction. His publications span legal textbooks, peer-reviewed articles, and policy analyses, emphasizing practical legal education and systemic reform. Education: BA (Dublin, 1973), GCertEd (Hull, 1974), LLB(Hons) (CDU, 2011), MA (Dublin, 1975), MSc (Salford, 1976), MUrbanPlan (Melb, 1982), PhD (CDU, 2014). Research interests center on criminal justice, evidence admissibility, and legal system modernization. Key articles address bail reform, nuclear energy policy, and wrongful conviction cases like Kathleen Folbigg. His work often critiques current legal frameworks, advocating for reforms in criminal codes and procedural fairness. Supervision: Active in guiding doctoral research on criminal law topics, including bail processes and jury selection. Completed projects include reviews of similar fact evidence and Australia’s pandemic legal responses.
Monica L. Do is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago. She directs the Language, Events, and Mind (LEM) Lab and specializes in psycholinguistics and experimental syntax. Her research explores how people translate conceptual representations of the world into linguistic forms, focusing on decision-making in language production and cross-linguistic variation. Dr. Do holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Southern California (2018) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania (2018–2019). Her work employs eye-tracking and behavioral methods to study topics like sentence formulation, word order regularization, and motion event encoding. Key themes include the interplay between syntax and semantics, cognitive factors influencing language production, and the role of pragmatics in shaping linguistic output. She investigates these processes across diverse languages, emphasizing the relationship between thought and expression. Dr. Do’s research has been published in journals like Cognition and Language, Cognition, & Neuroscience , and she regularly contributes to conferences such as the Cognitive Science Society. Her lab focuses on experimental approaches to understanding how language reflects and interacts with human cognition.
Laura Peters is an Associate Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at the Faculty of Law, University of Groningen. She specializes in Dutch criminal law and criminal procedure, human rights (ECHR), comparative criminal law, and subversive crime. Her research primarily focuses on studying criminal law and criminal procedure in the Netherlands and abroad, with particular interest in increasing the effectiveness of criminal proceedings, especially regarding subversive crime. Dr. Peters obtained her law degree (cum laude) from Radboud University Nijmegen in 2005, with a specialization in Criminal Law and Comparative Criminal Law. During her studies, she spent a year at Libera Università degli Studi Sociali Guido Carlo in Rome (2002-2003, cum laude) through the European Union's Socrates program and completed the Sommerhochschule at the University of Vienna in 2004 (cum laude). She earned her PhD from Radboud University Nijmegen in 2012 with research on negotiated justice in criminal cases across Italy, Germany, and France. Dr. Peters' research interests center on comparative criminal justice systems, with particular focus on how the Netherlands can learn from Italy's approach to fighting organized crime, especially the Mafia. She has conducted extensive research on Italian anti-Mafia legislation and how it could be adapted to better combat organized crime in the Netherlands. Her work also explores innovations in criminal procedure, including negotiated justice, plea bargaining, and the potential use of AI in criminal justice processes. She is particularly interested in methods to increase the effectiveness of criminal proceedings while maintaining respect for human rights and fundamental principles of justice. Dr. Peters' publications reveal a consistent trajectory examining comparative criminal justice systems, with a growing focus on Italian approaches to organized crime. Her recent work shows increasing emphasis on practical applications of foreign legal concepts to the Dutch context, particularly regarding Mafia crime and witness testimony. She has also expanded into technology applications in criminal justice, reflecting broader trends in legal scholarship. Her scientific contributions have been recognized with several awards, including: Ben Feringa Impact Award runner up (2023) Docent van het Jaar 2022 (Teacher of the Year 2022) Knight in the Order of the Star of Italy (2025) Dr. Peters actively advises governmental bodies and has worked with the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Safety on developing legal innovations to more effectively combat serious organized crime. She has conducted numerous interviews with foreign judges, prosecutors, and lawyers from Germany, France, and Italy on criminal procedure topics. Her teaching spans both Dutch and international bachelor's and master's programs, and she has also taught master's courses to Italian law students at the University of Bologna. Dr. Peters is actively involved in research projects examining the role of law in shaping approaches to organized crime, particularly through comparative analysis of international legal systems. She is one of the initiators of the AIWitness project, exploring how AI can support the taking of witness statements in criminal cases through a partnership between the University of Groningen, Capgemini, and ScottyAI, and continues to explore how innovations from foreign penal systems can improve the Dutch criminal justice system.
Seung Kyung Kim is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at University of Utah, researching how linguistic and paralinguistic cues influence speech perception and comprehension. Research examines: Emotional prosody effects on word recognition Cross-linguistic sentence processing Eye-tracking methodologies for language studies Publications demonstrate how affective vocal qualities modulate lexical access and how Korean case markers are processed by native and L2 speakers. Teaching includes graduate seminars in psycholinguistics and experimental phonetics.
Andrea E. Martin, PhD, is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics specializing in the neural mechanisms of language processing. Her work focuses on how the brain converts perceptual features into hierarchical linguistic representations across multiple timescales. Her research interests center on the intersection of language, cognition, and neural computation. Dr. Martin investigates how hierarchical relationships between words, phrases, and sentences are processed in the brain, with particular attention to oscillatory patterns that resemble human cortical responses to linguistic stimuli. She explores how the brain repurposes neurobiological subroutines to handle the computational demands of language. Dr. Martin's work demonstrates that symbolic-connectionist models of analogy can oscillate while processing sentences, suggesting a formal alignment between representational structure building and cortical oscillations. This research has significant implications for understanding the first principles of linguistic computation in the human brain. Her methodology combines computational modeling with neuroscience approaches to bridge linguistic theory and cortical computation, examining how time can be used to encode hierarchy across layered networks while preserving compositionality.
Jonas Obleser is a Professor researching auditory neuroscience, focusing on how neural oscillations facilitate speech comprehension. His work examines phase-synchronization mechanisms that align neural excitability with linguistic information. Core research themes: Delta-band phase synchronization in sentence interpretation Alignment of neural excitability with linguistic informativeness Trade-off between slow oscillatory entrainment and alpha/beta modulation Information-theoretic approaches to neural speech processing His studies demonstrate that phase synchronization optimizes information extraction capacities during speech processing rather than merely tracking acoustic rhythms.
Dr. John Taggart is a Lecturer in Law at Queen's University Belfast, affiliated with the School of Law and the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice (ICCJ). He holds a first-class honours degree in Law from Queen's, an LLM (Distinction) from City University London, and a PhD in Law from the London School of Economics (LSE). His research focuses on criminal process, criminal justice, and socio-legal approaches to criminal law, particularly addressing vulnerable individuals within the justice system. Education: Bachelor of Law (First Class Honours), Queen's University Belfast Certificate in Professional Legal Practice, Institute of Professional Legal Studies (QUB) LLM (Distinction), City University London PhD in Law, London School of Economics (LSE) Roles: Lecturer in Criminal Law and Evidence Careers and Employability Officer, School of Law Theme Lead for 'Vulnerable Accused' (British Society of Criminology) His research explores special measures in criminal courts, intermediary roles for vulnerable court users, and effective participation in police custody. Collaborations include the Department of Justice (Northern Ireland), Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and Public Prosecution Service (PPS). He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and speaks Spanish at B2 level. Awards include the Academic Consultant role (2023), AHRC Impact Acceleration Account (2025), and QUB Strategic Research Equipment Fund (2025). His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals focused on justice and equity.
