I was born in South Africa and obtained a BSc(Hons) and MSc at the University of Natal before moving to Johannesburg and completing a PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand. Before moving to Australia in 1989, I was Head of the Division of Experimental Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. At Charles Sturt, I was the first Sub-Dean for Psychology, a position that I held for nearly 10 years. More recently, I have been Sub-Dean (Graduate Studies) for the Faculty of Arts and Education for four years. During my academic career I have also been a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Statistics of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford.

One of my priorities during my career has been to assist with the development of the discipline and profession of psychology. To that end, I have been actively involved with the Australian Psychological Society in a number of different roles, including that of Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of Psychology for 2011-2014. Since 2005, I have also been a member of the working committee and a certified assessor of the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council

My main areas of teaching are research methodology, statistics and forensic psychology, and I do a large amount of research supervision. My research interests revolve around using social psychological theory and knowledge to investigate social issues, such as crime and violence. I also have an interest in cross-cultural psychology.