Professor Laura Cram
Job Title
Professor of Neuropolitics and Director of NRLabs Neuropolitics Research
Room number
Room 2 02, Flat 2F2Street (Address)
18 Buccleuch PlaceCity (Address)
EdinburghCountry (Address)
UKPost code (Address)
EH8 9LDResearch interests
Research interests
Neuropolitics of identity, neuropolitics of public policy, neuropolitical research, experimental research, fMRI studies, neuro-physiological studies, biometric studies, behavioural games, identity triggers, national identity, symbols, European public policy, European identity.
Research projects and research group activities:
Laura's lab, NRLabs neuropolitics research, uses experimental approaches, including fMRI brain scanning, survey experiments, behavioural games, face-emotion coding, eye-tracking, physiological hormone testing and social computational analysis to get ‘under the hood’ of political attitudes, identities and behaviours, examining, for example, the meaning and effect of identity(ies) in multi-level polities.
Current and past projects include:
EPSRC IAAA Measuring frontline police officers’ physiological and behavioural responses to data provision in context (L Cram (PI), Robin Hill, Sara Dalzel Job, Constantinos Kyritsopoulos), 1/2/24-28/7/24
VW Stiftung Extraordinary Project (Roepstorff A, Cram, L, Tsakiris, M, Pauen, M. Kasprowicz, D), The (trans)formation of a European sense of solidarity: Visceral politics and social belonging in a comparative European context 1/1/20 – 31/10/25
SFC Covid Beacon Project (L Cram PI with industry partners ICR and M&C Saatchi World services) COVID recovery project International Perceptions of Scotland Jan -July 2021
ESRC Brexit Priority (L Cram PI and A Moore) Citizens’ Expectations on Brexit Outcomes: 'Fact' Transmission and Persuasive Power in a Digital World (1 April 2017 – 31 September 2019
Europe Fellowship Economic and Social Research Council (L Cram (PI)) ‘The European Union in the Public Imagination: Maximising the Impact of Transdisciplinary Insights’ 1 June 2015 – 31 July 2016.
Wellcome Trust ’Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Lifecourse Influences on Brain Health and Disease' (J. Wardlaw (P.I), L.Cram collaborator) 1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2020
Economic and Social Research Council, Senior Fellow UK in a Changing Europe Programme (L Cram), 'The European Union in the Public Imagination: maximising the impact of transdisciplinary insights' I June 2015 - 31 Aug 2016.
Economic and Social Research Council, Transformative Research Grant (L Cram) ‘Physiology, Identity and Behaviour: A Neuropolitics Approach’ 1 Sep 2013 - 28 Feb 2015.
British Academy (L Cram (P.I.), S Patrikios and J Mitchell) 'The Impact of Subliminal Exposure to National Symbols on Attitudes to the Constitutional Status of Scotland', 1 July 2012 - 30 June 2014.
Economic and Social Research Council (L Cram (P.I.), J Mitchell & S Patrikios), ’ Implicit Triggers, Identity(ies) and Attitudes to the European Union: An Experimental Approach’, December 2010 – 30 November 2011.
Supervision
Laura has supervised a wide range of PhDs. All of these have completed within the recommended 4 year registration period and many now occupy academic posts or public research positions. She is particularly interested in supervising projects that take a neuropolitical approach to: multi-level identities; political behaviour and public policy; physiology, behaviour and identity; implicit identity triggers; experimental approaches to identity and public policy.
Teaching
Laura convenes the honours-level Neuropolitics course in PIR, and the fusion masters-level course Neuopolitics of Decision-Making in the Edinburgh Futures Institute, where she also contributes to the Digital Influence masters-level teaching team.
Background
In addition to her research on neuropolitics, Laura has also published widely on the European Union (EU) policy process and on EU identity. Laura held a Senior Fellowship on the Economic and Social Research Council’s UK in a Changing Europe programme, explore the insights that cognitive neuroscience could offer into contemporary debates on the UK’s EU membership of the EU. She was a contributing author to the EU Commission’s 2019 study Understanding our Political Nature: How to put knowledge and reason at the heart of political decision-making. She acted as Special Advisor to the Scottish Parliament’s, European and External Relations Committee, on the Inquiry into the Impact of the Treaty of Lisbon on Scotland. She has provided evidence to the Houses of Lords and Houses of Commons in the UK and works closely with industrial partners and government officials in her research. She is Co-Director of the Digital Influence & Intelligence Lab DIIL, with cross-industry partners M&C Saatchi World Services and International Cultural Relations, based in the Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh. She has been cited in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Economist, Financial Times, Irish Times, Telegraph, the Conversation, BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, CNN, International Associated Press. Her lab’s work has featured in BBC documentaries on the process of political decision-making. She was co-editor of Government and Opposition 2018-2024. She has a particular interest in the neuropolitics of identity and the neuropolitics of public policy and was awarded a prestigious ESRC transformative research grant to extend her research into the field of neuropolitics. She has held multiple grants from the ESRC, EPSRC, British Academy, Carnegie Trust, VW Stiftung Foundation. She previously held posts at the Universities of Strathclyde, Sheffield and Warwick.
Qualifications:
MSc Human Cognitive Neuropsychology
PhD European Public Policy, University of Warwick.
MSc European Social Policy Analysis, Universities of Bath, Maynooth and Tilburg.
BA (Combined Honours), Modern Greek and Political Science, University of Birmingham.