Rachel Searston

Dr Rachel Searston

Senior Lecturer in Psychology

School of Psychology

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Rachel Searston is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at The University of Adelaide. Her research group specialises in expert decision-making and communication in high-risk contexts, including forensic science, policing, defence, health, and space. Supported by an ARC Early Career Industry Fellowship, her work bridges cognitive science and industry, with a focus on optimising decision-making and improving the communication of expert advice in real-world scenarios. Rachel completed her PhD in Cognitive Science at The University of Queensland and was formerly a McKenzie Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

We rely on the clarity and credibility of expert advice to guide decisions across various sectors, from healthcare and legal proceedings to responses to global challenges like natural disasters and public health crises. At the Expert Cognition Lab, we study the nature and communication of expert decisions, focusing on practical challenges faced by organisations and industries. Our research aims to understand what makes an expert credible, how to optimise decision-making, and how to effectively communicate expert advice in fields such as policing, defence, health, and space exploration.

We collaborate closely with industry partners to address human-in-the-loop problems, providing solutions with clear operational benefits. For example, our work in forensic science has led to the development of evidence-based methods for training and selecting fingerprint examiners, contributing to improved accuracy and reduced errors in policing. Beyond forensic science, we have projects in healthcare that focus on enhancing the communication of uncertainty in AI-driven medical decisions. Additionally, our research extends to novel environments like space, through collaborations with the Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, and continues to refine the communication of expert opinions in legal settings, supported by ongoing work with police and forensic partners.

Our research employs a range of rigorous experimental methods to investigate and improve expert performance. We use techniques such as signal detection theory and expert-novice designs to analyse how experts process information and make decisions. We also work extensively with large sets of naturalistic images to study core cognitive functions like visual working memory, attention, and expertise. These methods allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the cognitive processes that drive expert decision-making, enabling us to develop strategies for enhancing these processes and improving the communication of expert advice in high-stakes contexts.

Honours and PhD Opportunities

The Expert Cognition Lab offers Honours and PhD projects that explore key questions related to expert decision-making in areas like forensic science, healthcare, defence, and space exploration. We focus on both basic and applied research topics, such as what makes an expert credible, how public trust in experts is influenced, and how people interpret information from multiple experts. Other potential projects include examining effective ways to present expert opinion on scientific evidence in legal or social media contexts and supporting expert reasoning in scenarios that simulate novel environments like space.

These projects will primarily involve quantitative and experimental methods, with the option to incorporate mixed-methods approaches where appropriate. By joining our lab, you'll engage in research that balances academic rigour with practical relevance, offering a solid foundation for further study or a career in applied cognitive science.

Searston, R. A (2024-2027). Enhancing comprehension of forensic science in the justice system. Australian Research Council Early Career Industry Fellowship (IE230100380). Research funds: $403,153.

Tangen, J. M., Searston, R. A., & Thompson, M. B (2022-2024). Australian Federal Police, National Institute of Forensic Science, and Victoria Police ($AU160,000 combined funding) on 'Telling Prints Apart vs Telling Prints Together :Inter- vs Intra-print variability in Fingerprint Analysis'. 

Palmer, E., Culton, J., Searston, R. A., Bennett, T., Cook, S., Davies, M., Ding, B., Robertson, W., Turnbull, D. (2022-2023). Developing situational awareness in lunar exploration activities. The University of Adelaide transdisciplinary DIGI+ FAME strategic grant. Research funds: $100,000.

Szpak, Z., Stephens, R., Ransom, K., & Searston, R. A. (2022-2023). Defence Innovation Partnership AI for Decision-Making Project ($AU 100,000) on 'A tool for human-in-the-loop contextual anomaly detection'.

Searston, R. A. (2020-2021). Defence Innovation Partnership AI for Decision-Making Project ($AU 20,000) on 'Improving the visual communication of uncertainty in artificial intelligence'. 

Tangen, J. M., Searston, R. A., Thompson, M. B., Edmond, G., Eva, K. W., Osborn, S, McCarthy, D., Hayes, R. (2018-2023). Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP170100086, $AU 534,188) on 'Creating perceptual experts in Australia's policing and security agencies'. 

Lodge, J. M., Searston, R. A., Fidler, F., Bailey, J., Little, D., Nolan, D. (2018). Melbourne Networked Society Institute Seed Funding grant ($AU 37,368) on 'Combating fake news and misinformation online: Evaluating and updating conceptual understanding in the networked society'. 

Searston, R. A. (2017-2020). University of Melbourne McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellowship ($AU 282,245 + $AU 20,000 project costs).

Searston, R. A. (2013-2016). Australian Government Australian Postgraduate Award ($AU 73,959).

I teach a fourth year elective course called Contemporary Issues exploring topics related to consciousness and cognition, and I co-coordinate the Psychology Honours program. I've also taught broadly on topics such as open science, quantitative research methods, and R for statistical analysis across all levels of the undergraduate psychology research methods curriculum.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Factors influencing memory for forensic information Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Daniella Catelidia Chiarolli
    2024 Principal Supervisor Communicating Uncertainty in Forensic Science Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Nicola Brooks
    2022 Co-Supervisor Sharing Misinformation: The Socio-Psychological Mechanisms of Spread Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Emily Brooke Mullins

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2019 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Exploring the Use of Constructive Journalism to Combat Misinformation in the Mainstream Media Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Natasha Renee Van Antwerpen

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - 2023 Principal Supervisor The nature of visual working memory for identity decisions The University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Daniella Chiarolli
    2023 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Social cognition and career interest in psychology The University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Sarah Williams
    2022 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Do cues to expertise and disinterestness affect belief in scientific claims? The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Estelle Green
    2022 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Does immersive virtual reality improve situational awareness? The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Hong Juanta
    2022 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Do cues to expertise affect belief in health claims? The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Nusrat Asad
    2021 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Perceptions of collective expert judgements The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Emma Tiggerman
    2021 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Expert reasoning in clinical psychology The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Cheyenne Gronthos
    2021 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Recalling autobiographical memories of nature The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Sue Conaghty
    2020 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Contrast practice for developing fingerprint expertise The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours Full Time Jade Cascun
    2020 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Interleaved practice for developing fingerprint expertise The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Claire Walker
    2020 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Perceptions of forensic expert performance The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours - Jonica Koodrin
    2020 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Evaluating forensic expert performance The University of Adelaide Bachelor of Health and Medical Sciences - Research Placement Other - Zoe Chandler
    2020 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Evaluating forensic expert performance The University of Adelaide Bachelor of Health and Medical Sciences - Research Placement Other - Shannon Campbell
    2019 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Detecting changes in paintings and scenes The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours Full Time Athina Kakkos
    2019 - 2019 Principal Supervisor What is the optimal rate of image presentation for recognising people? The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours Full Time Carlos Ibaviosa
    2019 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Discriminating artistic and naturalistic style in visual crowding The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours Full Time Carly Sullivan
    2018 - 2022 Co-Supervisor The relationship between visual expertise and learned attention The University of Queensland Doctor of Philosophy Higher Doctorate Full Time Samuel Robson
    2018 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Perceptual expertise with classifying fingerprints The University of Adelaide Psychology Honours Full Time Anneliese Cavallaro
  • Position: Senior Lecturer in Psychology
  • Phone: 83130057
  • Email: rachel.searston@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Hughes, floor 7
  • Org Unit: Psychology
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