Master’s student Natasha Korva recently went to Singapore for a five-week research internship with the Singapore police research unit.
She worked with the Home Team Behavioural Sciences Centre (HTBSC), an applied psychological research and training centre that focuses on criminal and investigative psychology. The centre is part of the Home Team Academy, which is a police department committed to training police, security and safety officers.
As part of her internship, she gave two presentations. The first one for the HTBSC focused on Canadian forensic psychology programs. “My second talk was to help educate law enforcement personnel and members of the HTBSC about psychopathic individuals, how they deceive others, and ways to interview psychopaths in investigative settings, based on the research documented in academic literature,” shares Korva.
Korva points out that her Singapore internship offered other opportunities. “I learned so much about the culture, enjoyed the various ethnic cuisines and made great friends. I loved the excessive heat, seeing monkeys wander freely around the parks and the cheap bubble tea located practically on every corner.”
Korva says that it was her supervisor, Dr. Craig Bennell, who found out about the internship through his connections with the directors of the HTBSC through the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology. “Craig thought it would be a great opportunity for me to apply for the internship and I agreed.”
As one of her long-term goals is to do consulting for the police, Korva said she chose to study policy psychology for her master’s degree. “I knew that Carleton had a fantastic forensic psychology research program and after meeting Craig at the Canadian Psychological Association, I knew that it would be a great fit,” says Korva.
Korva says that moving across the country to work with Bennell for her master’s degree was the best decision she could have made. “He has set me up with so many wonderful opportunities and has supported me through everything. He encourages student research development and attending psychological research conferences, which has really allowed me to grow as a researcher. I enjoy working in his lab and with everyone in it, and highly recommend other students to work with Dr. Bennell if they’re interested in police psychology.”
Korva also has great things to say about the psychology program.“The program has been fantastic! All the faculty are very established and knowledgeable in their fields, and it’s such a privilege to be surrounded by these scholars. It is also great to have the opportunity to branch out and do research with other faculty members for independent research studies; this really allows students to broaden their knowledge in their field of study.”
In the fall, Korva plans to travel for research purposes again – this time to the UK.
Friday, June 21, 2013 in News, Research
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