Events: Upcoming & Previous

Tuesday, November 11th, 2025

We are very pleased to invite you to the free November webinar from the Health and Justice Forensic Research Lab at Durham University. Professor Tammi Walker, Alison Hodgson, Rachel Earnshaw, and Elaine Platten work in partnership to provide concise and accessible talks to bring you the latest evidence from leading practitioners and academics across the criminal justice sector.

The webinar will be held on 4.11.25 webinar 11am-12.30pm via Teams and is entitled: “Bringing the Outside In” – The importance of the full environment.  

Here are the speakers’ details:

Talk 1: ‘Greener on the Outside for Prisons’ Prison-based therapeutic horticulture programme

Professor Michelle Baybutt is Professor of Mental Health and Social Justice at the University of Cumbria. More details to follow.

Dr Alan Farrier is a Research Fellow based in the Institute for Planetary Resilience and Community Transformation (PACT) at the University of Lancashire. Alan is a qualitative researcher who has 20 years’ experience of conducting evaluations on a variety of health and wellbeing research projects, predominantly with an arts and/or nature focus, often with underserved groups. He is interested in a range of psychosocial research methods, including narrative-based interviewing, visual methods, and group panel analysis. He has worked in prison settings on several longitudinal projects, including an evaluation of the Greener on the Outside of Prisons (GOOP) Programme across 25 prisons in England, and evaluations of sustainable food initiatives and nutrition programmes in prison. He has used a range of methods in prison-based evaluation, including one-to-one interviews, focus groups, surveys, and participant observation.

Dr Andy Carmichael is the co-ordinator for the Centre for Sustainable Transitions at the University of Lancashire where he has worked on projects to build resilience to climate change through collaborative partnerships between universities, government, and the business sector. As a member of the Healthy and Sustainable Settings Unit he is interested in the link between green space, nature-connection, and wellbeing, and currently works with prisons in the GOOP programme to evaluate nature-based interventions for the health of participants and staff.

Talk 2: Occupational Justice

This presentation will be looking at the impact of the physical and cultural environment on everyday functioning, with links to justice-based settings and the concept of ‘Occupational Justice‘.

Charlotte French is a Lead Occupational Therapist overseeing Occupational Therapy services across Health and Justice at Tees Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust. Clinically, Charlotte delivers Occupational Therapy within the Primrose Service at HMP Low Newton as part of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway. Charlotte’s special interest is Occupational Justice, exploring how the physical and cultural environment impacts on functioning. She is currently completing an MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northumbria University to develop a critical understanding of the key themes, issues and political debates concerning crime, crime control, and criminal and social justice in the UK and globally. Charlotte is a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), has been a committee member of the RCOT Specialist Section for Mental Health and the Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services (QNPMHS) Advisory Group. Charlotte has presented topics across various platforms including BIG SPD Conference, RCOT Conference, The OT Show, Enabling Environments Conference, and the QNPMHS Annual Forum and delivers guest lecturing to Huddersfield University for Occupational Therapy students.

 Register now to secure your spot!

Tuesday, November 20th, 2025 @12:30 PM – 13:00 PM via Teams

Here are the speakers’ details:

Ms Maria Birchall

I have recently completed a Master’s degree at Durham University studying Behavioural Science. For my dissertation I examined the recent rise in female perpetrated violence against emergency workers (EWs) by exploring the perspectives and experiences of EWs impacted by such violence. Since the offence ‘Assault on Emergency Workers’ (2018) was introduced, there has been an increase in the number of women imprisoned for this offence, a trend not observed among men. This qualitative research explores the complex nature of female perpetrated violence against emergency workers and identifies key factors which may have contributed to this increase in imprisonment. As the first study in the UK to examine such female perpetrated violence, the findings offer important insights into the rising trend.”

Dr Jude Kelman – Co-Supervisor 

Dr Kelman is the Lead Forensic Psychologist for Women’s Group within His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS). Jude has over 30 years’ experience as a forensic psychologist within HMPPS, and for the past ten years she has been instrumental in establishing and growing a team of forensic psychologists working across the 12 women’s prisons in England. Jude is passionate about improving outcomes for women in contact with the criminal justice system and recently completed a PhD examining trauma-informed care within women’s prisons.

Register now to secure your spot!

Wednesday, February 18th, 2026

Come back closer to the date for more details!