Dr Sarah Kelleher

Sarah completed her BA in Applied Psychology at University College Cork and her MSc in Forensic Psychology at the University of York. She started her PhD at the University of Kent in 2019, which examined the impact of rape myths on jury decision-making. She joined the School of Psychology as a Lecturer in Forensic Psychology in 2022.

Sarah’s research sits at the intersection of forensic psychology, cognition, and the criminal justice system. She examines how social beliefs and cognitive biases shape responses to victim-survivors of sexual violence, with particular attention to rape myths, victim-blaming, sexual consent, and the “justice gap” in sexual assault cases. Her work is concerned with understanding the psychological processes that can compromise fair decision-making and developing evidence-based approaches to support more informed and impartial responses.

A central focus of Sarah’s research is how victim-survivor credibility is evaluated by criminal justice decision-makers. Her doctoral research developed and tested a theoretical model of the ways in which rape myths influence juror evaluations and verdict decisions, and developed a brief video-based educational intervention for jurors in cases of sexual violence. She continues to research jury education and how factors such as delayed reporting and the victim–perpetrator relationship can shape attributions of blame, perceptions of credibility, and legal decision-making.

Sarah also researches animal abuse and animal welfare, particularly child-perpetrated animal abuse and its links with adverse childhood experiences, domestic violence, and exposure to animal cruelty. Her work includes research on risk factors associated with animal abuse and the evaluation of animal-welfare treatment programmes.

• PSYC4007 Cold Case: Psychology and Crime Investigation (Module Convenor)
• PSYC6009 Forensic Psychology: Real World Applications
• PSYC8050 Psychology of Criminal Conduct
• PSYC8060 Psychology of Law and Justice
• PSYC8470 Forensic Cognition: Theory, Research and Practice (Module Convenor)

Grants and Awards

• 2026 Awarded Open-Access Article Processing grant, University of Kent.
• 2024 Awarded Student Presentation Award, European Association of Psychology and Law.
• 2021 Marnie Rice Student Poster Award, Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.
• 2019 School of Psychology Graduate Teaching Scholarship, University of Kent.

Conference Presentations 

• Kelleher, S.M., & Zibell, H. (2026). The impact of relationship closeness in acquaintance rape blame attributions [Conference Presentation]. European Association of Psychology and Law 36th Annual Conference, Bari, Italy.
• Kelleher, S. M., & Ó Ciardha, C. (2024). Understanding and minimising the impacts of rape myths in juror decision-making [Conference Presentation]. European Association of Psychology and Law 34th Annual Conference, Lisbon, Portugal.  
• Simitsis, S., & Kelleher, S. (2019). Making Wise Choices-Sexual: The Development of MWC-S Offence Chain Assessment. Presentation at National Autistic Society's 18th International Offenders with an Intellectual and/or Developmental Disability Conference, Birmingham, UK.

Conference Posters

• Panda, K. & Kelleher, S. M. (2024). Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel?: Exploring attitudes of forensic professionals towards jury education about rape myths in sexual violence trials. St Mary’s Centre 21st Annual Conference, Manchester, UK.  
• Kelleher, S.M., Ó Ciardha, C. (2021). A Structural Equation Model of Rape Myths in Juror Decision-Making. Poster Presentation at the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers 40th Annual Research and Treatment Conference, US [virtual]. 
• Kelleher, S.M. (2019). After #MeToo: Belief in Sexual Harassment Myths and Rape Myths. Poster Presentation at the Psychological Society of Ireland's Annual Conference, Kilkenny, Ireland.