So, after a three years, and part of a nine year journey, the PhD is complete! I submitted my thesis on the 24th of September 2020 and passed my viva on 11th of December with no corrections. You will see below that this was a proud moment!
So what’s next? The thesis will be available to download in a few weeks but if you cannot wait until then, please email me and I will send it to you. You can also find out more about the study, methods, and findings here. In the short term I will be translating the thesis into a digestible (and much shorter) report which I will send to the various organisations and individuals who have expressed an interest in my thesis. The report will include a summary of key findings, and practice and policy recommendations. I will post an open access link to the report on this website once complete for anyone to download.
I have also submitted my first paper for peer review to a widely read journal. The paper explores the experiences of facilitators who delivered the Building Better Relationships programme and the practical and emotional difficulties they faced. I am looking forward to obtaining feedback and I will update the publications page of the website if (given nothing is a given) this is published. I have already presented some of the findings at several conferences so head over to the publications and conferences page for a taster.
I am also working on a further paper which explores the experiences of men who attended the Building Better Relationships Programme who had prospective diagnoses of autism, ADHD, and drug-induced psychosis and other mental health difficulties such as anxiety and depression. Neurodiversity and perpetrators of domestic abuse is an under-explored area of research and I look forward to starting this dialogue and receiving feedback.
I was also recently approached to write a co-authored chapter for a very exciting new book in probation practice but I will keep this under wraps for the time being!
Last but not least, I have started a Research Associate position at Lancaster University with Charlotte Barlow (PI) and Sandra Walklate (Co-PI). The research will explore victim/survivor experiences of Clare’s Law and using Domestic Violence Disclosure Schemes. You can access the project website here. Do feel free to share the page with interested colleagues and potential research participants who may wish to get involved. We will be launching the site and project soon and will keep it refreshed with updates.
I will keep the blog refreshed with new developments so do check back in.