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Dr James Dunn is a Lecturer and ARC DECRA Research Fellow in the School of Psychology at UNSW Sydney, where he also serves as director of the IDeA Lab. He holds a BSc(Adv) (Psychology) from UNSW Sydney awarded in 2012 and a PhD from UNSW Sydney awarded in 2018. His research examines how people perceive, recognise, and remember information in real-world contexts, with a focus on face recognition, human–AI interaction, and memory under stress. Using behavioural experiments and computational approaches, his work connects fundamental cognitive science with applied challenges in policing, national security, and digital identity. He collaborates closely with government and industry partners, including the Australian Federal Police, to translate research into practical tools and evidence-based solutions.
Dr Dunn has received several awards, including the Early Career Impact Award in 2024, the Community, Health & Safety, and Wellbeing Impact Award in 2023, and the UNSW Science Early Career Academic Award in 2021. He has secured multiple grants, such as an ARC Discovery project on the psychology of perceiving artificial people (2026–2030) and an ARC DECRA on how diverse experiences shape face recognition in humans and AI (2025–2028). Key publications include 'Too good to be true: Synthetic AI faces are more average than real faces and super-recognizers know it' (2026), 'Information sampling differences supporting superior face identity processing ability' (2024), and 'Selecting police super-recognisers' (2023). He coordinates and lectures courses including PSYC3301 Psychology & Law and PSYC2071 Perception and Cognition, and contributes to the School of Psychology Equity, Diversity & Inclusion team. His work has informed personnel selection and operational practices in policing and security while advancing public understanding of issues such as AI-generated identities and misinformation.
A UNSW Sydney study reveals people overestimate their ability to detect AI-generated faces, with even super-recognizers struggling. Explore findings, implications for security, and higher ed opportunities in Australia.
UNSW and ANU researchers expose why people overestimate their ability to detect AI faces, with super-recognizers offering slight edge amid rising deepfake threats in Australia.
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