Biography

I was awarded my PhD in 1991 at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and came to the UK in 1994, when I joined the Psychology Department as a Senior Lecturer. In 1996 I was promoted to Reader and in 2000 to my current position: Professor of Applied Social Psychology.

Research interests

My main research interest is deception, resulting in more than 600 publications and more than 30,000 citations. I received grants from British Research Councils, Trusts and Foundations, Insurers, Federal Bureau of Investigation and American, British, Dutch, and Singapore Governments, totalling > $11,500,000.

I work closely with practitioners (police, security services and insurers) in terms of conducting research and disseminating its findings. My book Detecting Lies and Deceit: Pitfalls and Opportunities (published by Wiley) is a comprehensive overview of research into (non)verbal and physiological deception and lie detection.

In 2016 I received the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iiiRG) Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of my significant contribution to investigative interviewing. 

Research outputs

2026

Indicadores verbales de las mentiras por omisión: el efecto del tamaño de la omisión y el significado de la parte narrativa en las señales verbales de veracidad

Vrij, A., Leal, S., Deeb, H., Giorgianni, D., Fisher, R. P.

5 May 2026, In: The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context. 18, 13p., e260179

Research output: Article

Assessing lying about opinions through extending the devil's advocate interview protocol with a same example statement

Leal, S., Vrij, A., Deeb, H., Giorgianni, D., Geermann, L., Fisher, R. P.

1 Mar 2026, In: Acta Psychologica. 263, 17p., 106278

Research output: Article

Effects of evidential and non-evidential interrogation techniques on suspects' perception of evidence in South Korea

Jang, M., Luke, T. J., Granhag, P. A., Vrij, A., Kim, M.

24 Feb 2026, In: Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. 23, 2, e70011

Research output: Article

2025

License to spill: the influence of moral licensing survey primes on deviant behavior reporting

Whitman, K. M., Cox, J., Murad, Z., Vrij, A.

4 Dec 2025, In: Deviant Behavior

Research output: Article

Identificazione verbale della menzogna nelle interviste investigative

Vrij, A., Giorgianni, D.

11 Nov 2025, In: Giornale Italiano di Psicologia

Research output: Article

The segmented interview: partitioning the initial free recall topics into segments to enhance information gathering and lie detection

Deeb, H., Vrij, A., Severino, M., Leal, S.

1 Sep 2025, In: Behavioral Sciences. 15, 9, 20p., 1163

Research output: Article

The effect of the interviewer’s cognitive load on the quality of the forensic interview

Giorgianni, D., Vrij, A., Leal, S., Deeb, H.

1 Jul 2025, In: The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context. 17, 2, p. 101-110

Research output: Article

Impacts of physical and testimonial evidence on South Korean police interrogator’s selection of tactics

Jang, M., Luke, T. J., Granhag, P. A., Vrij, A., Woohyun, L.

6 Jan 2025, In: Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

Research output: Article

“Tell me about your trip”: Introducing the Enhanced Ghostwriter Lie Detection Tool

Burkhardt, J., Vrij, A., Leal, S., Deeb, H., Vernham, Z.

1 Jan 2025, In: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. 14, 1, p. 74–84

Research output: Article

Omission lies: the effect of omitting little or much information on verbal veracity cues

Vrij, A., Leal, S., Deeb, H., Fisher, R. P.

1 Jan 2025, In: The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context. 17, 1, p. 25-37

Research output: Article

View all my research outputs