Dr Julia Shaw is a criminal psychologist, bestselling author, and regular presenter of TV and audio shows.
She is an expert on false memory, the intersection of social science and artificial intelligence, and understanding the criminal mind.
Dr Julia Shaw is the author of four popular non-fiction books:
The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory
Making Evil: The Science behind humanity’s dark side
Bi: The hidden history, culture, and science of bisexuality
Green Crime: Inside the minds of the people destroying the planet and how to stop them.
Most recently, Dr Julia Shaw has turned her attention to how AI is changing the fabric of reality; from society, to the justice system, to our everyday perception.
Dr Shaw has become deeply embedded in London's global AI ecosystem, including spending the summer of 2026 as a visitor at GovAI- a non-profit organisation which helps decision-makers navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI.
Her interest began in 2017, when she co-founded the AI silicon valley startup Spot, a legal and HR tool which uses AI to apply cognitive science in practical workplace settings.
Since then, she has asked: Rather than replacing humans, how can AI help us overcome problems that we have always struggled with? And, how can we adapt our human-critical skills to keep up with the changing information landscape?
Dr Julia Shaw is the presenter of four seasons of the documentary series Killers Caught on Camera and the spin off series Murder in Mind. She appears regularly as an expert on the criminal mind across TV and streaming platforms.
In 2024, Dr Shaw co-hosted the BBC2 true crime comedy series “The Misinvestigations of Romesh Ranganathan”.
In addition to regularly being a guest on many radio shows and podcasts, she Dr Shaw has released various original series. Most recently Project Mind Control. It is about the psychology of whether it is possible to control people’s minds and the dark and fascinating history of psychiatry.
Between 2020 and 2024 she wrote and hosted 125 episodes of the award-winning BBC Sounds podcast Bad People.Originallyco-hosted by comedian Sofie Hagen, then by journalist Amber Haque.
She has also hosted other audio series, including; Experts on Trial on BBC Radio 4 is hosted by Dr Julia Shaw and is about the secret world of expert witnesses. The Human Subjecton BBC Radio 4, co-hosted by Dr Adam Rutherford, is about the dark history of modern medicine. She also co-hosted. The Kidnapping of Stephanie Slateron BBC Radio Nottingham, alongside journalist Andy Whittaker. When Reality Breaks on BBC Radio 4 is about the loved ones of people with Paranoid Schizophrenia.
Dr Julia Shaw is bisexual, and in 2022 she released her book Bi: The hidden culture, history, and science of bisexuality and created the BBC podcast Bi People.
Dr Julia Shaw is German-Canadian. She has presented the German TVNOW documentary “Mörderische Frauen” and regularly appears on German television.
She also worked as 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 and her work on false memory. Dr Shaw has also hosted the RTL podcast Böse with actor Jazzy Gudd.
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 corporate keynote speaker on the topics of memory, how to use social science to get the most out of artificial intelligence, understanding criminal behaviour, environmental crime, and how to make workplaces inclusive. You can book her for events through Sophieclaire Armitage at Mirador.