Dr Julia Shaw is a psychological scientist at University College London best known for her work in the areas of false memory and criminal psychology. She is the author of multiple best-selling books and a BBC science communicator.
Biography
Memory
Dr Shaw has done extensive research on memory in legal contexts. She is an expert assessor for the Netherlands Register of Court Experts (NRGD) which is part of the Dutch Ministry of Justice. She also works regularly as an expert witness, on the issue of false memory.
In 2016 she published her bestselling debut book The Memory Illusion: Remembering, forgetting, and the science of false memory, which has appeared in more than 20 languages.
In 2017 Dr Shaw co-founded the startup Spot which uses artificial intelligence to help individuals document and report inappropriate workplace behaviour. It is now used by major companies worldwide.
True Crime
In 2019 Dr Shaw published the international bestseller Making Evil: The science behind humanity's dark side. Based on this, in 2020 she launched the award-winning BBC podcast Bad People co-hosted by comedian Sofie Hagen. In 2024 she released her series Experts on Trial on BBC Radio 4.
Coming soon: In 2024, Dr Shaw will co-host a new BBC series with Adam Rutherford on the legacies of human experiments.
TV Work
Her work has led to many TV appearances. Dr Shaw is the presenter of 20 episodes of the show Killers Caught on Camera. Season two airs in 2024.
She co-hosts the BBC2 true crime comedy series “The Misinvestigations of Romesh Ranganathan”, which is currently filming more episodes.
She was also the host of the 2021 German TVNOW true crime documentary “Mörderische Frauen”, and was featured on the PBS show “Memory Hackers”.
She was the expert consultant for the German TV drama “The Witnesses” (8 Zeugen). The protagonist of the series, played by the famous German actress Alexandra Maria-Lara, is based on Dr Shaw.
Bisexuality
Dr Julia Shaw is bisexual, and in 2022 she released her third book Bi: The hidden culture, history, and science of bisexuality. It is an eye-opening, rigorous, and personal exploration of sexuality. According to The Guardian “the book opens up conversations that might just lead to more visibility, understanding and empathy for all people, however they define themselves”.
She co-hosted the BBC podcast Bi People to celebrate.
Science Writing
Dr Shaw was a columnist at BBC Science Focus Magazine (2022). Previously she was a regular contributor to Scientific American (2015-2017) and Psychology Today (2019-2020).
Keynotes and Events
Dr Shaw is a regular keynote speaker on the topics of memory malleability, how to understand corporate ‘evil’, and making workplaces more diverse and inclusive.