Be a master case Cracker

PEOPLE can now learn how to be a Cracker at the University of Huddersfield.

The university is offering a masters degree in Investigative Psychology.

The use of psychology in crime investigation was made famous by actor Robbie Coltrane in his 1990s role as Dr Edward ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald.

The series Cracker ran from 1993 to 1996 and was written by Jimmy McGovern.

Investigative Psychology, now an established branch of Forensic Psychology, is the application of psychology towards the investigative process.

Topics include interview techniques, managing offenders and prison systems, investigative advice for the police, geographic and offender profiling and violent and sexual crime.

The subject also looks at the emerging area of cyber-crime and the psychological aspects surrounding trolling behaviour and cyber-bullying. Most of it is learned online rather than the students needing to be in Huddersfield.

It combines a series of intensive oncampus teaching weeks supplemented with online learning on the University’s Virtual Learning Platforms.

The amount of students studying on the course has risen and the blended-learning format has a global appeal, with this year’s cohorts arriving to enrol from countries including Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Lithuanian and the USA.

It is the only course of its kind to be accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Dr Maria Ioannou is a Reader in Investigative and Forensic Psychology and Course Director for the MSc Investigative Psychology, and identified the need for postgraduate study to be more flexible.