2026 Northern Lights Psychology Conference

Friday, October 30, 2026

2026 Northern Lights Psychology Conference

• 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• UND Memorial Union, Grand Ballroom  (Room 214, Sections ABCD)
• Free admission to all
• Open to community members, faculty, and students
• Attendees can enroll on the morning of the conference
• Sponsored by UND’s Department of Psychology

Keynote Address: How reliable and objective are forensic experts?

Can forensic experts reliably reach the same conclusions about the same case? Can they remain objective when retained by one side in adversarial legal proceedings? Or does the outcome of an evaluation depend on which expert was assigned the case?  Are experts in adversarial court proceedings biased by the side that retained them?  

Dr. Murrie will consider whether the well-documented problems in the forensic sciences extend to the fields of forensic psychology and psychiatry.  In particular, he will review the emerging research on expert differences and expert biases--particularly among forensic psychologists and psychiatrists--in  “real world” forensic evaluations. Finally, we will consider some of the basic cognitive psychology that explains some of these problems, and may point to potential solutions.

About Keynote Speaker Dr. Daniel Murrie

Dr. Murrie serves as the Director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy (ILPPP) and as a Professor in the University of Virginia Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences. He oversees the UVA Forensic Clinic within ILPPP, the UVA postdoctoral fellowship in forensic psychology, and ILPPP’s state-university partnership to provide training programs in forensic evaluation.

As a clinician, Dr. Murrie performs forensic evaluations in criminal and civil cases through the ILPPP’s Forensic Clinic, with an emphasis on capital cases.  As a scholar, Dr. Murrie’s research and teaching address a variety of topics in forensic assessment, with a primary program of research addressing bias and quality control in forensic mental health evaluations.  He also works nationally with several states to improve forensic mental health service systems.