Contact Dr Marie Cahillane
- Email: m.cahillane@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Human Factors for Defence
Background
Dr Cahillane joined Cranfield University as a Research Fellow in 2008 and was appointed as Lecturer in Applied Cognitive Psychology in 2011, Head of the Applied Psychology Group in 2013, Senior Lecturer in Applied Cognitive Psychology in 2018 and Reader in Applied Cognitive Psychology in 2024. As Principal Investigator she has led 17 research projects and collaborated as Co-Investigator on a further 15 projects.
Research has been funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) through various contractual mechanisms and primarily focuses on individual skills acquisition and retention (i.e., skill decay). Previous research has examined the exploitation of human cognitive vulnerabilities in online content (funded by Dstl, through the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Phase 1 and Phase 2 Behavioural Analytics Themed Competition). Other past research includes team/collective skills retention, technology in support of learning, and questioning methods in information gathering processes to mitigate cognitive bias. In addition, the frequency and impact of miscommunications arising from cultural variations in language use between UK and US coalition forces has been examined (jointly funded by the MOD and US DoD through the International Technology Alliance).
Marie completed a PhD in Experimental Cognitive Psychology at Bath Spa University, which focused on the effect of irrelevant background sound on tasks involving short-term memory. The tasks looked at how speech, presented while a person performs a serial recall task, is more disruptive than other sounds. Conclusions were couched in terms of our understanding of how speech is processed and how the human memory system works. This research has direct applications for the design of optimal working environments for the retention and recall of information. Applications include the design of automated systems delivering visual and auditory information, where distraction by untimely auditory objects whilst attending to relevant visual information attenuates cognitive performance, e.g. in aircraft cockpits.
Whilst conducting her doctoral research at Bath Spa University, Marie lectured part-time in psychology where she taught across the British Psychological Society accredited undergraduate Honours Degree, after which she held a fixed-term lectureship.
Research opportunities
Dr Cahillane's core area of academic interest is in human cognition, specifically the acquisition and retention of cognitive skills. Other research interests include human cognitive vulnerabilities (e.g., heuristics and cognitive bias).
Current activities
Dr Cahillane is Deputy Academic Lead for the CDS Doctoral Community and is a member of the Cranfield University Research Ethics and Integrity Committee (CUREIC), which oversees the University's research policy and practices. She is also Deputy Head of the Integrated Cyber, Cognition and Digital Systems Group within the Centre for Defence and Security Management and Informatics.
Dr Cahillane leads and supervises research on human cognition. Current supervision includes a PhD in complex cogntiive skills retention. She is also supervising an MSc by Research project that examines the impact of disinformation in the CBRN context.
Dr Cahillane works to develop strong partnerships with clients in defence and industry and applies expertise in cognitive psychology to address MOD stakeholder requirements. She actively works to disseminate her research through peer reviewed publications.
Research-led teaching includes:
Quantitative research methods lectures for the residential thesis workshop on the Cyber Masters Programme (CMP) and Information Capability Management (ICM) MSc.
Lectures on heuristics and bias in human decision making for the Advanced Staff Command Course (ACSC) at the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC).
Psychological aspects of sensing on a CBRN shortcourse.
Clients
- Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
- Defence and Security Accelerator (MOD)
- BAE Systems PLC
- British Army
- Joint Services Command and Staff College
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Spayne P, Lacey L, Cahillane M & Saddington AJ. (2025). Operating itself safely: merging the concepts of ‘safe to operate’ and ‘operate safely’ for lethal autonomous weapons systems containing artificial intelligence. Defence Studies, 25(1)
- MacLean P, Cahillane M & Smy V. (2024). Lifting the lid on manipulative website contents: a framework mapping contextual and informational feature combinations against associated social cognitive vulnerabilities. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 18(2)
- Smy V, Cahillane M, MacLean P, Hilton M & Humphreys L. (2021). Evaluating teamwork development in combat training settings: an exploratory case study utilising the Junior Leaders’ Field Gun competition. Applied Ergonomics, 95(September)
- Cahillane M, MacLean P & Smy V. (2018). Novel application of a predictive skill retention model to technical VLE content production skills among Higher Education teachers: a case study. Interactive Learning Environments, 27(3)
- Taylor S, Cahillane M & Workman L. (2017). Adopting the bottom-up approach and cluster analysis on North American and European male serial killers. Journal of Forensic Research and Analysis, 1(1)
- Smy V, Cahillane M & MacLean P. (2016). Sensemaking and metacognitive prompting in ill-structured problems. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 33(3)
- MacLean P & Cahillane M. (2015). The human factor in learning design, research, policy, and practice. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 32(3)
- Taylor S, Lambeth D, Green G, Bone R & Cahillane MA. (2012). Cluster Analysis Examination of Serial Killer Profiling Categories: A Bottom‐Up Approach. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 9(1)
- Baber C, Morin C, Parekh M, Cahillane M & Houghton RJ. (2011). Multimodal control of sensors on multiple simulated unmanned vehicles. Ergonomics, 54(9)
- 535445 - Citation not available
