Professor Robert Snowden
BSc York PhD Cantab

Professor

: Media commentator
: Available for postgraduate supervision

My interests are in serious offending. I look at methods of understanding why this occurs at the cognitive and behavioural level (what are the thoughts and motivations behind these action) as well as the biological underpinnings of these behaviours.

My research mainly covers violence (including murder) and sexual violence (rape, child molestation, paedophilia, etc). I therefore have interests in concepts such as psychopaths, personality disorders and mental illness as it relates to offending and violence.

I run courses for professionals on risk assessment of violence in offenders and mentally disordered offenders.

I have an interest in human sexuality and sexual interests which include both normal interests (heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, etc) as well as deviant sexual interests (eg, paedophilia and other paraphilias).

I also conduct research of vision and visual perception and am the author of the textbook "Basic Vision" (OUP).

Date
Type

2024

Gray, N. S., Price, M., Pink, J., O'Connor, C., Antunes, A. and Snowden, R. J. 2024. Measuring the pupillary light reflex using portable instruments in applied settings. Vision 8(4), article number: 60. (10.3390/vision8040060)
Snowden, R. J., Midgley, P. and Gray, N. S. 2024. Automatic distraction by sexual images: Gender differences. Sexes 5(4), pp. 778-795. (10.3390/sexes5040050)
Snowden, R. J., Kydd-Coutts, M., Varney, E., Rosselli, O. and Gray, N. S. 2024. Visual spatial attention to sexual stimuli. Current Psychology 43, pp. 27930-27943. (10.1007/s12144-024-06438-y)
Snowden, R. J., Gray, N. S. and Uzzell, K. S. 2024. Implicit sexual cognitions in women with ambiphilic sexual attractions: A comparison to androphilic and gynephilic women. Archives of Sexual Behavior 53, pp. 141-152. (10.1007/s10508-023-02727-y)

2015

Gray, N. S., Raybould, S., McKinnon, A. and Snowden, R. J. 2015. The Aggression and Vulnerablility Scale (AVS) for the measurement of inpatient behaviors: A demonstration of reliability. Austin Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 2(3), article number: 1045.
Zwets, A. J., Hornsveld, R. H. J., Muris, P., Huijding, J., Kanters, T., Snowden, R. J. and van Marle, H. 2015. Implicit attitudes toward violence and their relation to psychopathy, aggression, and socially adaptive behaviors in forensic psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 26(5), pp. 632-651. (10.1080/14789949.2015.1037331)

2013

Craig, R. L., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2013. Recalled parental bonding, current attachment, and the triarchic conceptualisation of psychopathy. Personality and Individual Differences 55(4), pp. 345-350. (10.1016/j.paid.2013.03.012)
Snowden, R. J. and Gray, N. S. 2013. Implicit sexual associations in heterosexual and homosexual women and men. Archives of Sexual Behavior 42(3), pp. 475-485. (10.1007/s10508-012-9920-z)
Snowden, R. J., Craig, R. L. and Gray, N. S. 2013. Detection and recognition of emotional expressions: Effects of traits of personality disorder and gender. Personality and Individual Differences 54(2), pp. 158-163. (10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.007)

2012

Tales, A. et al. 2012. Intra-individual reaction time variability in aMCI: A precursor to dementia?. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 32(2), pp. 457-466. (10.3233/JAD-2012-120505)

2011

Tales, A., Snowden, R. J., Phillips, M., Haworth, J., Porter, G., Wilcock, G. and Bayer, A. J. 2011. Exogenous phasic alerting and spatial orienting in mild cognitive impairment compared to healthy ageing: study outcome is related to target response. Cortex 47(2), pp. 180-190. (10.1016/j.cortex.2009.09.007)
Fitzgerald, S., Gray, N. S., Taylor, J. and Snowden, R. J. 2011. Risk factors for recidivism in offenders with intellectual disabilities. Psychology, Crime & Law 17(1), pp. 43-58. (10.1080/10683160903392293)
Snowden, R. J., Craig, R. L. and Gray, N. S. 2011. Indirect behavioral measures of cognition among sexual offenders. Journal of Sex Research 48(2-3), pp. 192-217. (10.1080/00224499.2011.557750)
Gray, N. S. et al. 2011. The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START): A prospective sudy of inpatient behavior. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health 10(4), pp. 305-313. (10.1080/14999013.2011.631692)
Tales, A., Bayer, A., Haworth, J., Snowden, R. J., Phillips, M. and Wilcock, G. 2011. Visual search in mild cognitive impairment: A longitudinal study. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 24(1), pp. 151-160. (10.3233/JAD-2010-101818)
Gray, N. S., Taylor, J. and Snowden, R. J. 2011. Predicting violence using structured professional judgment in patients with different mental and behavioral disorders. Psychiatry Research 187(1-2), pp. 248-253. (10.1016/j.psychres.2010.10.011)
Snowden, R. J. and Gray, N. S. 2011. Impulsivity and psychopathy: Associations between the Barrett Impulsivity Scale and the Psychopathy Checklist revised. Psychiatry Research 187(3), pp. 414-417. (10.1016/j.psychres.2011.02.003)
Copestake, S., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2011. A comparison of a self-report measure of psychopathy with the psychopathy checklist-revised in a UK sample of offenders. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 22(2), pp. 169-182. (10.1080/14789949.2010.545134)
Morgan, J. E., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2011. The relationship between psychopathy and impulsivity: A multi-impulsivity measurement approach. Personality and Individual Differences 51(4), pp. 429-434. (10.1016/j.paid.2011.03.043)

2010

Snowden, R. J., Gray, N. S. and Taylor, J. 2010. Risk Assessment for Future Violence in Individuals from an Ethnic Minority Group. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health 9(2), pp. 118-123. (10.1080/14999013.2010.501845)
Snowden, R. J. and Gray, N. S. 2010. Temperament and character as a function of psychopathy: relationships between the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised and the Temperament and Character Inventory in a sample of personality disordered serious or repeat offenders. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 21(6), pp. 815-833. (10.1080/14789949.2010.506617)
Cvencek, D., Greenwald, A. G., Brown, A. S., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2010. Faking of the Implicit Association Test is statistically detectable and partly correctable. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 32(4), pp. 302-314. (10.1080/01973533.2010.519236)
Snowden, R. J. and Gray, N. S. 2010. Implicit social cognition in forensic settings. In: Gawronski, B. and Payne, B. K. eds. Handbook of Implicit Social Cognition: Measurement, Theory, and Applications. New York: Guilford, pp. 522-534.

2009

Freeman, T. C. A., Champion, R. A., Sumnall, J. H. and Snowden, R. J. 2009. Do we have direct access to retinal image motion during smooth pursuit eye movements?. Journal of Vision 9(1), article number: 33. (10.1167/9.1.33)
Snowden, R. J., Gray, N. S., Taylor, J. and Fitzgerald, S. 2009. Assessing Risk of Future Violence Among Forensic Psychiatric Inpatients With the Classification of Violence Risk (COVR). Psychiatric Services 60(11), pp. 1522-1526. (10.1176/appi.ps.60.11.1522)
Brown, A., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2009. Implicit Measurement of Sexual Associations in Child Sex Abusers: Role of Victim Type and Denial. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment 21(2), pp. 166-180. (10.1177/1079063209332234)
Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2009. The implicit association test as a measure of sexual interest. In: Thornton, D. and Laws, D. R. eds. Cognitive Approaches to the Assessment of Sexual Interest in Sexual Offenders. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 101-124.

2008

Andrew, E., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2008. The relationship between trauma and beliefs about hearing voices: a study of psychiatric and non-psychiatric voice hearers. Psychological Medicine 38(10), pp. 1409-1417. (10.1017/S003329170700253X)
Snowden, R. J., Wichter, J. and Gray, N. S. 2008. Implicit and explicit measurements of sexual preference in gay and heterosexual men: a comparison of priming techniques and the Implicit Association Task. Archives of Sexual Behavior 37(4), pp. 558-565. (10.1007/s10508-006-9138-z)
Gray, N. S., Taylor, J. and Snowden, R. J. 2008. Predicting violent reconvictions using the HCR-20. British Journal of Psychiatry 192(5), pp. 384-387. (10.1192/bjp.bp.107.044065)

2007

Fitzgerald, S., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. A Comparison of WAIS-R and WAIS-III in the Lower IQ Range: Implications for Learning Disability Diagnosis. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 20(4), pp. 323-330. (10.1111/j.1468-3148.2006.00349.x)
Gray, N. S., Fitzgerald, S., Taylor, J., MacCulloch, M. J. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. Predicting future reconviction in offenders with intellectual disabilities: The predictive efficacy of VRAG, PCL-SV, and the HCR-20. Psychological Assessment 19(4), pp. 474-479. (10.1037/1040-3590.19.4.474)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. A new continuous within-participants latent inhibition task: Examining associations with schizotypy dimensions, smoking status and gender. Biological Psychology 74(3), pp. 365-373. (10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.09.007)
Snowden, R. J., Gray, N. S., Taylor, J. and MacCulloch, M. J. 2007. Actuarial prediction of violent recidivism in mentally disordered offenders. Psychological Medicine 37(11), pp. 1539-1549. (10.1017/S0033291707000876)
Walters, G. D., Gray, N. S., Jackson, R. L., Sewell, K. W., Rogers, R., Taylor, J. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. A taxometric analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV): Further evidence of dimensionality. Psychological Assessment 19(3), pp. 330-339. (10.1037/1040-3590.19.3.330)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2007. Reduced P50 suppression is associated with the cognitive disorganisation dimension of schizotypy. Schizophrenia Research 97(1-3), pp. 152-162. (10.1016/j.schres.2007.07.019)

2006

Snowden, R. J. and Kavanagh, E. 2006. Motion perception in the ageing visual system: Minimum motion, motion coherence, and speed discrimination thresholds. Perception 35(1), pp. 9-24. (10.1068/p5399)
Tales, A., Snowden, R. J., Brown, M. and Wilcock, G. 2006. Alerting and orienting in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychology 20(6), pp. 752-756. (10.1037/0894-4105.20.6.752)
Tales, A. and Snowden, R. J. 2006. Alerting and orienting in Alzheimer's disease: Are they interdependent? Reply to Festa et al. (2006). Neuropsychology 20(6), pp. 761-762. (10.1037/0894-4105.20.6.761)
Zhaoping, L. and Snowden, R. J. 2006. A theory of a saliency map in primary visual cortex (V1) tested by psychophysics of colour-orientation interference in texture segmentation. Visual Cognition 14(4-8), pp. 911-933. (10.1080/13506280500196035)

2005

Gray, N. S., Brown, A., MacCulloch, M. J., Smith, J. and Snowden, R. J. 2005. An implicit test of associations between children and sex in pedophiles. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 114(2), pp. 304-308. (10.1037/0021-843X.114.2.304)
Tales, A., Haworth, J. M., Nelson, S., Snowden, R. J. and Wilcock, G. 2005. Abnormal visual search in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Neurocase 11(1), pp. 80-84. (10.1080/13554790490896974)
Tales, A., Snowden, R. J., Haworth, J. M. and Wilcock, G. 2005. Abnormal spatial and non-spatial cueing effects in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Neurocase 11(1), pp. 85-92. (10.1080/13554790490896983)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2005. Prepulse inhibition of startle and its moderation by schizotypy and smoking. Psychophysiology 42(2), pp. 223-231. (10.1111/j.1469-8986.2005.00280.x)
Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2005. The relevance of irrelevance to schizophrenia. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 29(6), pp. 989-999. (10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.01.006)

2004

Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J., MacCulloch, S., Phillips, H., Taylor, J. and MacCulloch, M. J. 2004. Relative efficacy of criminological, clinical and personality measures of future risk of offending in mentally disordered offenders: a comparative study of HCR-20, PCL:SV, and OGRS. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 72(3), pp. 523-530. (10.1037/0022-006X.72.3.523)
Evans, L. H., Gray, N. S. and Snowden, R. J. 2004. Facilitation and reduction of prepulse inhibition: Relationships to the positive and negative dimensions of psychometric schizotypy [Abstract]. Schizophrenia Research 67(S1), pp. 127-128. (10.1016/j.schres.2003.10.001)
Snowden, R. J., Gray, N., Smith, J., Morris, M. and MacCulloch, M. 2004. Implicit affective associations to violence in psychopathic murderers. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 15(4), pp. 620-641. (10.1080/14789940412331313377)
Snowden, R. J. and Freeman, T. C. A. 2004. The visual perception of motion. Current Biology 14(19), pp. R828-R831. (10.1016/j.cub.2004.09.033)

2003

Freeman, T. C. A., Sumnall, J. H. and Snowden, R. J. 2003. The extra-retinal motion aftereffect. Journal of Vision 3(11), pp. 771-779. (10.1167/3.11.11)
Tales, A., Muir, J. L., Jones, R., Bayer, A. J. and Snowden, R. J. 2003. The effects of saliency and task difficulty on visual search performance in ageing and Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia 42(3), pp. 335-345. (10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.08.002)
Sumnall, J. H., Freeman, T. C. A. and Snowden, R. J. 2003. Optokinetic potential and the perception of head-centred speed. Vision Research 43(16), pp. 1709-1718. (10.1016/S0042-6989(03)00254-2)
Gray, N. S., McGleish, A., Snowden, R. J. and Timmons, D. 2003. Prediction of violence and self-harm in mentally disordered offenders: a prospective study of the efficacy of HCR-20, PCL-R, and psychiatric symptomology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 71(3), pp. 443-451. (10.1037/0022-006X.71.3.443)
Gray, N. S., MacCulloch, M. J., Smith, J., Morris, M. and Snowden, R. J. 2003. Forensic psychology: Violence viewed by psychopathic murderers. Nature 423(6939), pp. 497-498. (10.1038/423497a)
Gray, N. S., Carman, N. G., Rogers, P. E., MacCulloch, M. J., Hayward, P. and Snowden, R. J. 2003. Post-traumatic stress disorder caused in mentally disordered offenders by the committing of a serious violent or sexual offence. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 14(1), pp. 27-43. (10.1080/1478994031000074289)
Gray, N. S., Snowden, R. J., Peoples, M., Hemsley, D. R. and Gray, J. A. 2003. A demonstration of within-subjects latent inhibition in the human: limitations and advantages. Behavioural Brain Research 138(1), pp. 1-8. (10.1016/S0166-4328(02)00181-X)

2002

Tales, A., Muir, J. L., Bayer, A. J., Jones, R. and Snowden, R. J. 2002. Phasic visual alertness in Alzheimer's disease and ageing. NeuroReport 13(18), pp. 2557-2560.
Ansari, E. A., Morgan, J. E. and Snowden, R. J. 2002. Psychophysical characterisation of early functional loss in glaucoma and ocular hypertension. British Journal of Ophthalmology 86(10), pp. 1131-1135. (10.1136/bjo.86.10.1131)
Ansari, E. A., Morgan, J. E. and Snowden, R. J. 2002. Glaucoma: squaring the psychophysics and neurobiology. British Journal of Ophthalmology 86(7), pp. 823-826. (10.1136/bjo.86.7.823)
Gray, N. S., Pickering, A. D., Snowden, R. J., Hemsley, D. R. and Gray, J. A. 2002. The partial reinforcement extinction effect in humans: effects of schizophrenia, schizotypy and low doses of amphetamine. Behavioural Brain Research 133(2), pp. 333-342. (10.1016/S0166-4328(02)00019-0)
Snowden, R. J. 2002. Visual attention to color: parvocellular guidance of attentional resources?. Psychological Science 13(2), pp. 180-184. (10.1111/1467-9280.00433)
Tales, A., Muir, J. L., Bayer, A. J. and Snowden, R. J. 2002. Spatial shifts in visual attention in normal ageing and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia 40(12), pp. 2000-2012. (10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00057-X)
Gray, N. S., Fernandez, M., Williams, J., Ruddle, R. A. and Snowden, R. J. 2002. Which schizotypal dimensions abolish latent inhibition?. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 41(3), pp. 271-284. (10.1348/014466502760379136)

2001

Snowden, R. J. 2001. Contrast gain mechanism or transient channel? Why the effects of a background pattern alter over time. Vision Research 41(15), pp. 1879-1883. (10.1016/S0042-6989(01)00110-9)
Ansari, E. A., Morgan, J. E. and Snowden, R. J. 2001. Diffuse loss of contrast sensitivity in early glaucoma [Abstract]. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 42(4), pp. S559.
White, J. L., Ruddle, R. A., Howes, A., Snowden, R. J., Savage, J. C. D. and Jones, D. M. 2001. Eyes in the sky: Human factors and uninhabited air vehicles. Journal of Defence Science 6, pp. 88-94.
Gray, N. S., Williams, J., Fernandez, M., Ruddle, R. A., Good, M. A. and Snowden, R. J. 2001. Context dependent latent inhibition in adult humans. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 54(3), pp. 233-245. (10.1080/713932760)
Doyle, M. C. and Snowden, R. J. 2001. Identification of visual stimuli is improved by accompanying auditory stimuli: The role of eye movements and sound location. Perception 30(7), pp. 795-810. (10.1068/p3126)
Snowden, R. J., Willey, J. and Muir, J. L. 2001. Visuospatial attention: the role of target contrast and task difficulty when assessing the effects of cues. Perception 30(8), pp. 983-991. (10.1068/p3068)

2000

Blakemore, M. R. and Snowden, R. J. 2000. Textured backgrounds alter perceived speed. Vision Research 40(6), pp. 629-638. (10.1016/S0042-6989(99)00214-X)
Snowden, R. J. and Verstraten, F. A. J. 2000. Reply to Grunewald [Two directions at the same location?][Letter]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4(3), pp. 77-78. (10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01439-4)
Brawn, P. T. and Snowden, R. J. 2000. Attention to overlapping objects: detection and discrimination of luminance changes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 26(1), pp. 342-358. (10.1037/0096-1523.26.1.342)

1999

Snowden, R. J. and Verstraten, F. A. J. 1999. Motion transparency: making models of motion perception transparent. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3(10), pp. 369-377. (10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01381-9)
Brawn, P. and Snowden, R. J. 1999. Can one pay attention to a particular color?. Perception & Psychophysics 61(5), pp. 860-873. (10.3758/BF03206902)
Snowden, R. J. and Edmunds, R. 1999. Colour and polarity contributions to global motion perception. Vision Research 39(10), pp. 1813-1822. (10.1016/S0042-6989(98)00201-6)
Snowden, R. J. 1999. Visual perception: Here's mud in your mind's eye. Current Biology 9(9), pp. R336-R337. (10.1016/S0960-9822(99)80207-3)
Blakemore, M. R. and Snowden, R. J. 1999. The effect of contrast upon perceived speed: a general phenomenon?. Perception 28(1), pp. 33-48. (10.1068/p2722)
Snowden, R. J. and Rossiter, M. C. 1999. Stereoscopic depth cues can segment motion information. Perception 28(2), pp. 193-201. (10.1068/p2735)

1998

Snowden, R. J. 1998. Shifts in perceived position following adaptation to visual motion. Current Biology 8(24), pp. 1343-1345. (10.1016/S0960-9822(07)00567-2)
Snowden, R. J. 1998. Texture segregation and visual search: a comparison of the effects of random variations along irrelevant dimensions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 24(5), pp. 1354-1367. (10.1037/0096-1523.24.5.1354)
Snowden, R. J. and Hammett, S. T. 1998. The effects of surround contrast on contrast thresholds, perceived contrast and contrast discrimination. Vision Research 38(13), pp. 1935-1945. (10.1016/S0042-6989(97)00379-9)
Snowden, R. J., Stimpson, N. and Ruddle, R. A. 1998. Speed perception fogs up as visibility drops [Letter]. Nature 392(6675), pp. 450-450. (10.1038/33049)

1997

Snowden, R. J. and Milne, A. B. 1997. Phantom motion aftereffects - Evidence of detectors for the analysis of optic flow. Current Biology 7(10), pp. 717-722. (10.1016/S0960-9822(06)00329-0)

1996

Snowden, R. J. and Milne, A. B. 1996. The effects of adapting to complex motions: position invariance and tuning to spiral motions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 8(5), pp. 435-452. (10.1162/jocn.1996.8.5.435)
Snowden, R. J. and Hammett, S. T. 1996. Spatial frequency adaptation: threshold elevation and perceived contrast. Vision Research 36(12), pp. 1797-1809. (10.1016/0042-6989(95)00263-4)

1995

Hammett, S. T. and Snowden, R. J. 1995. The effect of contrast adaptation on briefly presented stimuli. Vision Research 35(12), pp. 1721-1725. (10.1016/0042-6989(94)00283-R)
Snowden, R. J., Ullrich, D. and Bach, M. 1995. Isolation and characteristics of a steady-state visually-evoked potential in humans related to the motion of a stimulus. Vision Research 35(10), pp. 1365-1373. (10.1016/0042-6989(95)98716-M)
Snowden, R. J., Hess, R. F. and Waugh, S. J. 1995. The processing of temporal modulation at different levels of retinal illuminance. Vision Research 35(6), pp. 775-789. (10.1016/0042-6989(94)00158-I)

Research topics and related papers

Forensic and Clinical Psychology

My laboratory investigates the origins and management of severe problem behaviours. These include violence to others, sexual offending, suicide and self-harming behaviours, and trauma..

On-going projects include:

WARRN - risk assessment for mental health services across Wales
Prediction of suicide using the RoSP (Risk of Suicide Protocol)
Self-esteem and aggression
Emotional processing in personality disorders
Implicit measurement of sex-related cognitions in normal populations (hetero and homosexual men and women)
Impulsivity, psychopathy and personality disorders
Perceptual sensitivity, strength of the nervous system and psychopathology
Use of implicit measures
Resilience training and mental health
Reducing mental health-related stigma in schoolchildren
Improving mental health in the workplac

Funding

ESRC

Research collaborators

All the work in the domain of Forensic and Clinical Psychology is done in collaboration with a Chartered Clinical and Forsensic psychologist (Professor Nicola Gray, Swansea University). We currently have projects with Action for Children, the DVLA, and with Gwent Police Force. We have a long-standing colloaboration with colleagues at the Portman CLinic (london) and at HMP Grendon (Oxfordshire).

Level 1 - teach on Psychological Research.

Level 2 -Teach on Perception, Attention and Action. I give 6 lectures on visual perception.

Level 3 - module coordinato for Forensic Psychology: Violence and crime. I teach the whole module (8 lectures, 3 workshops).

Undergraduate education

York University – BSc Psychology (1985)

Postgraduate education

Cambridge University – PhD Experimental Psychology (1989)

Employment

Post-doctoral research Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professional memberships

Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy.

Academic positions

Post-doctoral research fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Postgraduate research interests

My research aims to help understand, predict and manage patients with severe behavioural problems
due to mental health issues (psychopathy, personality disorders, mental illness).

The major strands of my work are:

Prediction and prevention of future violence and sexual violence to others
Prediction and prevention of suicide and self-harm
Understanding motivations and cognitions underpinning severe behavioural problems through
the use of explicit and implicit methodologies
Evaluation of training programmes designed to reduce risk, trauma, and stigmatism

The research is conducted in collaboration with a clinical and forensic psychologist (Professor Nicola Gray), and has strong links to secure units, local hospitals, prisons and, community services. We are also working with professional bodies such as the police force, the ambulance service, and the DVLA.

Motion perception: including the perception of speed, and how contrast effects (e.g. fog) and light interact to alter our perception of speed; The effects of old age on the visual system; Visual processes in various conditions (glaucoma, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease).

If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application.

Current students

Paula Riella - The effects of resilience training on front-line police officers.

Jamie Knowles (at Swansea University) - The Risk of Suicide Protocol (RoSP): Its usage in accident and emergancy settings

NIcola SImkiss (at Swansea University) - The Guide Cymru: Testing the efficacy in a stigma reduction programme for schoolchildren. A randomised control trial across Wales.

Alys Docksey (at Swansea University) - Prevail: A programme to reduce days lost due to mental health problens. A randomised control trial of DVLA staff.

Contact Details

Snowden@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 29208 74937
Tower Building, Room 5.14, 70 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT

Study finds children’s wellbeing badly affected by online learning

Professor Robert Snowden BSc York PhD Cantab

Overview

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2017

2016