Laura completed her PhD in 2014 exploring how expertise, cognitive executive functioning, neuropsychology and human factors influence the tactical decision making of Authorised Firearms Officers during armed confrontations. She used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods to complete her thesis including a Cognitive Task Analysis approach. Providing an evidence base that can be practically utilised by Police practitioners to impact change in practice was the underlying motivation for this research.
Laura is now working as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in Policing at University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). She is an active member of the UCLan Evidence Based Policing research team and conducts research on behalf of local police forces. Laura is a qualified Hydra facilitator and uses Hydra for research and training purposes at UCLan. She also lectures on research methods for Master’s Degree programmes at UCLan and is active in supervising MSc student dissertations.
Contact details:
Dr Laura Boulton BA(Hons) PhD
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Policing
School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences
UCLan
Preston
Lancashire
PR1 2HE
01772 894386
UCLan Policing Research Page: http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/explore/themes/evidence_based_policing.php