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
Dr Julia Shaw has done extensive research on memory in legal contexts and works regularly as an expert witness. She is a scientist and the author of three books. The Memory Illusion has appeared in more than 20 languages. She has also published the international bestseller Making Evil, and Bi.
TV WORK
Dr Shaw co-hosts the BBC2 true crime comedy series “The Misinvestigations of Romesh Ranganathan”.
She is also the presenter of the documentary series Killers Caught on Camera. Season two launches in 2024, and season three is in production.
Radio & Podcasts
In 2024 Dr Shaw released two series on BBC Radio 4. Experts on Trial is about the secret world of expert witnesses. The Human Subject, co-hosted by Dr Adam Rutherford, is about the dark history of modern medicine.
In 2020 she launched the award-winning BBC Sounds podcast Bad People. Originally co-hosted by comedian Sofie Hagen, relaunched in 2024 with journalist Amber Haque.
Inclusion
Dr Julia Shaw is bisexual, and in 2022 she created the BBC podcast Bi People to celebrate pride month.
She has also released a semi-autobiographical documentary about the children of parents with Paranoid Schizophrenia, When Reality Breaks.
In 2017 Dr Shaw co-founded the startup Spot which uses artificial intelligence to help individuals document and report inappropriate workplace behaviour. It is used by major companies worldwide.
German Work
Dr Julia Shaw is German-Canadian. She presented the German TVNOW documentary “Mörderische Frauen”. Shaw was also 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. Dr Shaw also hosted the RTL podcast Böse with actor Jazzy Gudd.
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. You can book her for events through the London Speaker Bureau.