DFP Devolved Nations 2025 - Advancing Forensic Psychology: Pathways Ahead

Clare Allely is a Professor of Forensic Psychology at the University of Salford and an Honorary Research Fellow in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences affiliated to the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow.

She is also an affiliate member of the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre at Gothenburg University in Sweden.

Clare acts as an expert witness in criminal cases involving defendants with autism spectrum disorder and is also a Consultant for the Irish Prison Service.

She is author of "The Psychology of Extreme Violence: A Case Study Approach to Serial Homicide, Mass Shooting, School Shooting and Lone-actor Terrorism" (Routledge, 2020) and "Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Criminal Justice System: A Guide to Understanding Suspects, Defendants and Offenders with Autism" (Routledge, 2022).

Clare is also part of the FASD at Salford Hub at the University of Salford which is the leading centre for FASD research in the UK.

Clare's research also explores the pathway to intended violence in extreme acts of violence such as mass shootings, school shootings and self-initiated terrorist attacks.

She is increasingly interested in the threat assessment and management of extreme acts of violence.

Caroline Logan is a Consultant Forensic Clinical Psychologist who has worked as a lead consultant in high and medium secure forensic mental health services in the north of England.

She has also served as a consultant/contractor with law enforcement and threat assessment and management agencies in the UK and elsewhere for almost 30 years.

Caroline is an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Manchester and, before that, was a senior research fellow then an honorary research fellow at the University of Liverpool (1996-2009).

In addition, she is a scientist at Helse Bergen in Norway and has ongoing clinical and research interests in personality disorder, including psychopathy, risk, violent extremism, and forensic clinical interviewing.

She has a special interest in gender issues in the range of offending behaviour, and has published five books and over 80 articles on these subjects, including Violent Extremism: A Handbook of Risk Assessment and Management, a book co-edited with Randy Borum and Paul Gill, published in November 2023, and a second edition of Managing Clinical Risk: A Guide to Effective Practice, co-edited with Lorraine Johnstone, published in December 2023.

She has commenced work on a new book on violent extremism in youth, and a book on personality and risk is in the pipeline.

Tom Magill is a former felon turned filmmaker, who uses his lived experience to engage and inspire people in criminal justice and forensic mental health settings to rewrite their traumatic story.

He has worked in Holywell Hospital Antrim and Shannon Clinic Belfast over a decade with Community and Forensic Mental Health Teams.

Tom is an award-winning filmmaker, drama facilitator, actor, writer, director and producer who co-founded the Educational Shakespeare Company in 1999 (now rebranded as Esc-Film).

Tom has shared his work globally at 35 universities in 14 countries worldwide and has been a Key-Note Speaker at the universities of Ibadan Nigeria, Guelph, Canada and Notre Dame and Emory USA.

He received a Justice in the Community Award from the Department of Justice, Northern Ireland, in 2011) and in November 2013 he was recognised by the Halle Institute for Global Studies and World Shakespeare Project as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow, University of Emory, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

He is also a qualified Yoga Teacher.

Liz is a HCPC Registered Forensic Psychologist and a Chartered Psychologist, of over 20 years, having been Chartered since May 1998. She is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy I hold an M.A. (Psychology) (Edin.) M.Phil. (Criminology) (Cantab.) and a PhD (Criminology) (Cantab.). 

Liz has worked across the UK, at the Universities of Glasgow, Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham, Coventry, Kent, GCU, Worcester and Edinburgh and internationally for organisations such as the Council of Europe and the EU, working in countries including Malta, Bulgaria, Georgia, Serbia, Lithuania, Turkey, Greece and New Zealand.

Liz is currently Professor of Psychological Therapies at the University of Edinburgh and sits as a member of the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland and as a member of the Community Justice Scotland Academic Advisory Committee.

Liz has been delivering and supporting training for trainee forensic psychologists for over 20 years. I have been researching and publishing in intimate partner abuse, substance use, parenting risk and justice for over 30 years I am past-Chair of the Scottish Advisory Panel for Offender Rehabilitation and past-Chair of the Division of Forensic Psychology-Scotland (DFP-S). 

Liz is currently the Clinical and Risk Lead for a large NIHR funded study (ADVANCE) exploring the feasibility of delivering an integrated intimate partner abuse and substance use intervention in health settings in the UK. She has served for 7 years as a member of the Parole Board for Scotland and 8 years on the Parole Board for England and Wales.

Graham Towl is Professor of Forensic Psychology at Durham University. He is the Chair of the Scottish Advisory Panel on Offending and Rehabilitation (SAPOR). He has undertaken expert reviews on cases of death by suicide in the Scottish Prison Service. He submitted one of three departmental cases studies based on one of his independently assessed four star REF submitted research into suicide in prisons in England and Wales – the largest study of its kind historically and internationally. Whilst at Durham he has headed two Colleges and also spent over 5 years as a Pro Vice Chancellor. He has also spent time as a Council member of the Health and Care Professions Council – the regulator body for practitioner psychologists. As the last Chair of the British Psychological Society's (BPS) Division of Criminological and Legal Psychology he provided the leadership by way of a vote of the membership to change the name to the Division of Forensic Psychology. He was co-founding editor of Forensic Update. Prior to his time at Durham as an academic he was Chief Psychologist at the Ministry of Justice and prior to that he was Head of Psychological Services for prisons and probation services in England and Wales where he grew the numbers of psychological staff from around 400 to 1000 from 2000 to 2005. Uniquely he is the recipient of the BPS  Awards for Distinguished Contributions to Psychological Practice and forensic academic knowledge. He was peer nominated through the BPS as the most influential forensic psychologist in the UK. He is a prolific author in the forensic field including as a contributing expert team member of the Harris Review (2015) into deaths by suicide of 18-24 year olds in prisons in England and Wales. He was also an expert member of the SUMS consulting team that undertook an evaluation of the 'statement of expectations' of universities for addressing our problems with sexual violence which formed a key part of the evidence base for the Office for Students to move towards improved regulation. His most recent books include; 'Stopping Sexual Violence in Higher Education', (2023) co-edited with Clarissa Humphreys,  'Sexual Harassment and the Law in Africa' (2024) Edited with Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme and Carol Chi Ngang and for March, 2025 Addressing Student Sexual Violence at Universities; A Practice Guide, 2nd edition (2025) co-authored with Clarissa DiSantis.