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We are thrilled to announce that SFU Criminology faculty members Richard Frank and Helene Love, have been awarded Insight Development Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

support research in its early stages and enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and ideas.

Richard Frank - I'll disbelieve it when I see it: Testing the predictors of deepfake identification ability

Professor Richard Frank’s project aims to explore the present challenge of deepfake technology. This research will investigate how effectively people can identify celebrity deepfakes—highly realistic, AI-generated videos that depict public figures saying or doing things they never actually did.

Supported by a talented research team including PhD student Emmet Robins, MA student Maneh Rostomyan, and computer science undergrads Jyotir Mayor and Ritika Goyal, the project seeks to understand who is good at identifying deepfakes, who is not, and why. Additionally, they will explore how confident individuals feel about their judgments and whether short training programs or financial incentives improve detection skills.

“There’s been a wave of studies on deepfakes in recent years, but the quality of these videos has taken a massive leap forward, and today’s fakes are nearly indistinguishable from real footage,” says PhD student and researcher Emmet Robins. “It’s the first deepfake detection study of its kind in Canada, and the findings will be relevant not just for academics, but for anyone thinking about digital safety and misinformation.”

As part of the project, the team plans to create a public-facing website where people can test their skills, explore examples of deepfakes, and learn how to spot red flags in deepfake scams.

Helene Love - Credibility Counts: An Empirical Analysis of Judges' Credibility Decisions in Sexual Assault Cases

Assistant professor Helene Love’s project will study caselaw where judges assess witness credibility in sexual assault trials to see how witness and case characteristics relate to who judges choose to believe in their courtrooms.

Love will analyze 102 sexual assault trial decisions for witness characteristics, case characteristics, and positive or negative assessments of witness reliability and/or sincerity as well as verdicts over the last 15 years. The study will delve into the assumptions and generalizations judges make in their assessments of witnesses to determine how they can assess when witnesses are reliable or sincere.

Love explains that existing research has highlighted how myths and stereotypes about complainants in sexual assault trials persist.

“The importance of this topic is highlighted by the recent junior hockey trial that just wrapped up” says Love. “While the Criminal Code has specific provisions relating to the types of information that can be led to discredit a witness, you could see in some of the evidence led, that stereotypes and myths about the truthfulness of witnesses in sexual assault trials remain problematic.”

Love’s project will take a different approach to the analysis of case law. Furthermore, Love’s project will provide an insightful lens across three different time periods: before the #MeToo movement (2012 - 2017), prior to mandatory sexual assault education for judges (2017 - 2021) and post- changes to the Judges Act (2021 - present).