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 and a Registered Senior Fellow with Advance HE. 

She is Chair of the British Psychological Society North East of England Branch representing psychologists across the North East of England. https://www.bps.org.uk/member-networks/north-east-england-branch

Tammi leads the Forensic Mental Health Research Lab at Durham University. Her lab focuses on adults, particularly women, in contact with prisons and forensic mental health services who have Multiple Long-Term Conditions. Specifically, self-harm, severe mental illness, physical health conditions and addictions issues. 

She has 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.

Her most recent posts at the Ministry of Justice were on 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. 

From 2021-2025 she launched and was the Series Editor for the Book Series New Frontiers in Forensic Psychology (Routledge). Seven books were published that provided insight into new and original areas of investigation in forensic psychology.

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

Selected Awarded Grants

2025: NIHR Team Science: A Team Science Approach to examIning the management and Prevalence of multiple Long-Term cOnditions within England's Prison service [TIPTOP]. Principal Investigator.

2024: 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.

2022: UK Universities: UK-Ukraine R&I twinning grants scheme form. Multidisciplinary approaches to building research capacity and resilence through partnership during conflict. Co-Investigator.

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

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

Esteem Indicators

2024-2027: Chair of the British Psychological Society North East of England Branch representing psychologists across the North East of England.

2024-2025: Topic Editor – Frontiers in Psychiatry - Women Offenders: The Challenge of Evidence-based Practice in Correctional and Forensic Mental Health Services.

2021-2025: Founder and Series Book Editor - New Frontiers in Forensic Psychology (Routledge). Seven books were published that provided insight into new and original areas of investigation in forensic psychology.

2024-Current: Invited member to Durham and Darlington’s Combatting Drugs and Alcohol Partnership Expert Group.

2023-Current: Review Editor of Forensic and Legal Psychology (specialty section of Frontiers in Psychology).

• Forensic mental health issues and women in contact with the criminal justice system
• Inequalities in mental and physical health among forensic populations
• Multiple Long-Term Conditions among forensic populations
• Addictions - Drugs and Alcohol Services in Education and NHS

Authored book

• Grace, S., O'Neill, M., Walker, T., King, H., Baldwin, L., Jobe, A., Lynch, O., Measham, F., O'Brien, K., & Seaman, V. (2024). Criminal Women: Gender Matters. (1). Bristol University Press
• Towl, G. J., & Walker, T. (2019). 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

• Hughes, E., & Walker, T. (2022). Gender-based violence and Higher Education partnerships with sexual assault services. In C. J. Humphreys, & G. J. Towl (Eds.), Stopping Gender-based Violence in Higher Education: Policy, Practice, and Partnerships (336-349). 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). Suicide, Self-harm and Imprisoned Women. In Forensic Psychology. (3rd). Wiley
• 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., Lynch, O., Measham, F., O’Brien, K., & Seaman, V. (Eds.). (in press). Criminal Women. Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529208443

Journal Article

• Lewis, K., Lui-Roden, G., Faulkner, G., Gibbon, S., Hewitt, C., Hughes, E., Khan, W., Lucock, M., Singh, B., Walters, P., Watson, J., & Walker, T. (online). Barriers and facilitators to increasing physical activity in medium secure mental health settings: an exploration of staff perceptions. Mental Health and Physical Activity, Article 100663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2024.100663
• Gutridge, K., Robinson, L., Mitchell, H., Meacock, R., Ranote, S., Shaw, J., Walker, T., & Abel, K. M. (online). Medical skin camouflage for women in prison with self-harm scars (COVER): randomised feasibility study. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2024.2420965
• Poulter, H. L., Moore, H. J., Ahmed, D., Riley, F., Walker, T., & Harris, M. (2024). Co-located Heroin Assisted Treatment within primary care: A preliminary analysis of the implications for healthcare access, cost, and treatment delivery in the UK. International Journal of Drug Policy, 126, Article 104367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104367
• Poulter, H., Moore, H., Crow, R., Ahmed, D., & Walker, T. (2024). Diamorphine assisted treatment in Middlesbrough: a UK drug treatment case study. Journal of Substance Use, 29(1), 61-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2022.2120433
• 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
• Turner, M., King, N., Mojtahedi, D., Burr, V., Gall, V., Gibbs, G. R., Hudspith, L. F., Leadley, C. B., & 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
• Hargate, R., Howden, S., Tarpey, E., & Walker, T. (2017). The PARALLEL Study (imPAct of expeRiencing Another’s seLf harm and suicidaL bEhaviour in hospitaL). The Journal of Forensic Practice, 19(4), 258-268. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfp-01-2017-0001