Professor Huw Williams
The Neurodisability and Criminal Justice Research Group is led by Professor Huw Williams.
Huw is a Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Exeter. He is also the co-director of the Centre for Clinical Neuropsychology.
Huw gained his PhD and his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Wales, Bangor. He then worked in London as a Clinical Psychologist in Stroke, Neurorehabilitation, Neuro-Disability and Primary Care services. He was on the founding staff team of the Oliver Zangwill Centre (OZC) for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation in Ely. He has honorary positions with the OZC and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital’s Emergency Department. He has served as Secretary and Chair of the Division of Neuropsychology of the British Psychological Society.
Huw is on the HCPC register as a Clinical psychologist, and is on the Specialist Register of the Division of Neuropsychology of the British Psychological Society as a Clinical Neuopsychologist.
He was awarded a Fellowship of the BPS and the Barbra Wilson Award for Lifetime Achievement in Clinical Neuropsychology in 2019.
Senior Research Fellow
Stan Gilmour
Stan Gilmour joined the University of Exeter in 2021 as a Senior Research Fellow and is an International Consultant and Speaker on criminal justice and prevention, with specialisms in organised crime, violence, whole systems leadership, gender and disability. Stan is the Director of the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit, a multi-agency and community partnership focused on public health, evidence based, and trauma informed approaches to preventing violence.
Stan is a co-convenor of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association’s Special Interest Groups for Neurodiversity and for Violence Prevention, and is a subject matter expert on the Heath Education England Trauma Informed Practice Group. He is also a member of the UK-based Criminal Justice and Acquired Brain Injury Interest Group and is the national data lead for the Violence Reduction Network, an Ambassador for the UKRI sponsored Administrative Data Research UK and sits on the boards of the UK’s Police Advisory Group and the Science and Technology Strategy Group as a data collaboration expert.
Stan’s research focuses on justice involved communities and their policing, with a special interest in how organised crime exploits people and systems and as well as writing numerous papers and book chapters he is the co-editor of political science volumes on Transnational Organised Crime and Organised Crime and Politics.
Whilst at Exeter, Stan is researching the links between Acquired and Traumatic Brain Injury and contact with justice services. This includes a project to understand the relationship between poly-victimised girls and young women and gaps in understanding their exposure to ABI/TBI that put them at risk of being drawn into criminality.
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Hope Kent
Hope Kent is a Post-Doctoral researcher, working on a variety of projects relating to neurodisability in the criminal justice system. She uses big data – and is currently utilising linked Ministry of Justice and Department for Education data to longitudinally understand children’s journeys through the education and social care systems into the justice system, and to identify intervention points to improve support for these children.
Hope gained her undergraduate degree in Applied Psychology (Clinical) and her MSc in Psychological Research Methods at the University of Exeter, before working in the NHS (IAPT) as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner.
She is nearing completion on her PhD, which is in Advanced Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences, and has looked at a variety of outcomes for people with neurodisability in contact with the crimnal justice system.
Hope is also a research associate for the TRYJustice Network, and for the Acquired Brain Injury Justice Network.
PhD Researcher
Nick Smith
Nick Smith is a PhD student funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council at the University of Exeter.
Nick gained his undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Bournemouth, and his MSc in Psychological Research Methods at the University of Exeter. He has experience with the charity Headway providing cognitive rehabilitation to people with acquired brain injuries.
His PhD research project involves applying mixed methods including thematic analysis, structural equation modelling and machine learning to investigate trauma-related stress in police officers. The aim of this is to better understand, predict and reduce risk of psychological distress in the UK police population. He is particularly interested in the presence of traumatic brain injury, comorbid mental health issues and substance use and how this may compound post-traumatic stress.
If you would like more information about our group, get in touch via hnk201@exeter.ac.uk