Staff profile

Tammi Walker is Professor of Forensic Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Principal of St Cuthbert’s Society at Durham University. She is a Fellow and a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society, a Registered Senior Fellow with Advance HE and has a visiting position at the University of Manchester. 

Her research focuses on adults, particularly women, in contact with prisons and forensic mental health services who have Multiple Long-Term Conditions. Specifically, severe mental illness, physical health conditions and addictions issues. 

Tammi currently leads several large grants that aim to reduce health disparities and inequalities but also improve the overall health of these communities adopting mixed methods research designs. She has a multidisciplinary approach to her research, incorporating perspectives from public health, psychiatry, primary care, criminology, and medical humanities.

She is an invited member of the Ministry of Justice Women in Criminal Justice System Expert Group and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation and Prisons expert reference group for the joint thematic inspection of the quality of work undertaken with women. See this link for futher details: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/tammi-walker/

Tammi is currently working as a series editor with Professor Graham Towl (Durham University) on a new series entitled: New Frontiers in Forensic Psychology for Routledge. These short, co-authored books over the next two years will provide insight into new areas of investigation in forensic psychology, or new perspectives on existing topics of enquiry.

She co-authored 'Criminal Women' (2022: Bristol University Press), 'Tackling Sexual Violence at Universities: An International Perspective' (2019: Routledge Press) and was the lead author of 'Preventing Self-injury and Suicide in Women's Prisons' (2016: Waterside Press), which won the national British Psychological Society Book Award 2017 for Best Practitioner Text.

Selected Awarded Grants

2023: NIHR [RfPB]: Improving Services for Imprisoned Women with Severe Mental Illness [IPSIS]. Principal Investigator.

2023: HTA Programme: Women Offenders Repeat Self-Harm Intervention Pragmatic Trial: WORSHIP III. Co-Investigator. With Manchester University.

2021: NIHR [RfPB]: Increasing Physical Activity in a Medium Secure Service: The Development and Feasibility of a Physical ACTivity Intervention [IMPACT]. Principal Investigator.

2021: NIHR [ARC NENC]: Heroin Assisted Treatment Intervention (HATI): A qualitative exploration. Principal Investigator.

2021: NIHR: WHOLE-SMI - Wellbeing And HOListic Health Promotion For People With Severe Mental Illness. Co-Investigator. With Newcastle University.

 

 

Information for potential PhD and postdoc researchers

Tammi is interested in supporting applications for PhDs or postdoctoral fellowships from researchers who want to pursue interdisciplinary projects in the areas of mental and physical health, forensic psychology and psychiatry. She is also interested in supporting projects on behavoural science interventions in these areas.

Potential funding streams applicants should consider include the ESRC Nine-DTP stream for PhDs and postdoctoral fellows and the University's doctoral studentships.

• Mental health and physical health inequalities
• Addictions - Drugs and Alcohol Services in Education and NHS
• Women in contact with the criminal justice system
• Addressing sexual violence at universities
• Prisoner self-harm and suicide

Authored book

• Towl, G. J., & Walker, T. (in press). Tackling Sexual Violence at Universities. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351201995
• Walker, T., & Towl, G. (2016). Preventing Self-injury and Suicide in Women’s Prisons. Waterside Press

Chapter in book

• Walker, T. (in press). Suicide, Self-harm and Imprisoned Women. In Forensic Psychology. (3rd). Wiley
• Hughes, E., & Walker, T. (in press). Gender-based violence and Higher Education partnerships with sexual assault services. In Stopping Gender-based Violence in Higher Education Policy, Practice, and Partnerships. Routledge
• Taylor, J., & Walker, T. (2022). Intersectional Inequalities and Women in Secure Settings. In J. Tomlin, & B. Völlm (Eds.), Diversity and Marginalisation in Forensic Mental Health Care. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003184768-5
• Walker, T. (2021). Trauma Informed Care in the Criminal Justice System. In D. A. Crighton, & G. J. Towl (Eds.), Forensic Psychology (735-750). (3rd). Wiley

Edited book

• Grace, S., O’Neill, M., Walker, T., King, H., Baldwin, L., Jobe, A., …Seaman, V. (Eds.). (in press). Criminal Women. Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529208443

Journal Article

• Hargate, R., Howden, S., Tarpey, E., & Walker, T. (in press). The PARALLEL Study (imPAct of expeRiencing Another’s seLf harm and suicidaL bEhaviour in hospitaL). The Journal of Forensic Practice, 19(4), https://doi.org/10.1108/jfp-01-2017-0001
• Poulter, H., Walker, T., Ahmed, D., Moore, H., Riley, F., Towl, G., & Harris, M. (2023). More than just ‘free heroin’: Caring whilst navigating constraint in the delivery of diamorphine assisted treatment. International Journal of Drug Policy, 116, Article 104025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104025
• Riley, F., Harris, M., Poulter, H., Moore, H., Ahmed, D., Towl, G., & Walker, T. (2023). ‘This is hardcore’: a qualitative study exploring service users’ experiences of Heroin-Assisted Treatment (HAT) in Middlesbrough, England. Harm Reduction Journal, 20, Article 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00785-y
• Poulter, H., Moore, H., Crow, R., Ahmed, D., & Walker, T. (2022). Diamorphine assisted treatment in Middlesbrough: a UK drug treatment case study. Journal of Substance Use, https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2022.2120433
• Turner, M., King, N., Mojtahedi, D., Burr, V., Gall, V., Gibbs, G. R., …Walker, T. (2022). Well-being programmes in prisons in England and Wales: a mixed-methods study. International journal of prisoner health, 18(3), https://doi.org/10.1108/ijph-03-2021-0021
• Walker, T., Wainwright, V., Dunlop, B., Forrester, A., Senior, J., & Shaw, J. (2022). A qualitative exploration of the views of people with lived experience of suicide within the criminal justice system. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 33(6), 868-882. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2022.2149418
• Walker, T., Edmondson, A., Riley, F., Harper, M., Lucock, M., & Wright, N. (2021). Using mixed methods to explore diabetes care in a medium‐secure setting in England: A case study. Health Science Reports, 4(4), Article e462. https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.462
• Walker, T., Kallevik, J., Hard, J., Mastrocola, E., & Chew-Graham, C. (2021). The role of primary care in supporting imprisoned women with mental illness. British Journal of General Practice, 71(710), 392-393. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp21x716813
• Tucker, S., Hargreaves, C., Cattermull, M., Roberts, A., Walker, T., Shaw, J., & Challis, D. (2021). The nature and extent of prisoners’ social care needs: Do older prisoners require a different service response?. Journal of Social Work, 21(3), 310–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017319890077