Professor Santtila is Professor of Psychology, NYU Shanghai; Global Network Professor, NYU. Previously, he was Professor of Applied Psychology and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology at the Åbo Akademi University in Finland.
His research is focused on legal psychology. He aims at improving the quality of investigative interviews using simulated interviews with avatars as well as exploring the possibility of using AI to support such interviews with question suggestions or by replacing human interviewers. His also does research into human sexuality aiming to understand and develop treatments for sexual dysfunctions.
Professor Santtila has provided investigative advice to the police, acted as an expert witness in numerous legal cases and consulted child sexual abuse investigations. He is a licensed psychologist and specialist in legal psychology (Finland).
Selected Publications
Haginoya et al. (2023). AI Avatar Tells You What Happened: The First Test of Using AI-Operated Children in Simulated Interviews to Train Investigative Interviewers. Frontiers in Psychology: Forensic and Legal Psychology,
Zhang, et al. (2022). Confirmation bias in simulated CSA interviews: How abuse assumption influences interviewing and decision-making processes? Legal and Criminological Psychology, 27, 314-328.
