WELCOME TO THE NETWORK FOR PRISON AND OFFENDER RESEARCH IN SOCIAL CARE AND HEALTH (PORSCH)

Angel of the North

PORSCH is a network of researchers and service practitioners based in the North East of England and Yorkshire. It is dedicated to enhancing the contribution of research and development to the improvement of the health of offenders, the well-being of the communities in which they live and the reduction of offending behaviours.

The Network is free of charge to members. It runs workshops and conferences, facilitates research and development projects, and provides an information exchange. PORSCH now provides advice and support from our Research Ambassadors, click the link above for more information. If you would like to join us, use the Contact page.

After successful informal collaborations that organised symposium on prison health in 2000, 2002 and 2003, the Network was formally established in 2005 with support from the Department of Health. We have now presented over 100 events on offender health in the North of England.

Currently, funding, facilities and personnel are provided by the following Supporters who provide the core membership of the PORSCH Advisory Board and Management Group:

  • Cumbria Northumberland Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust

  • Durham University Department of Sociology

  • NHS England & NHS Improvement Health & Justice Commissioners (North East and Yorkshire)

  • Newcastle University Population Health Sciences Institute

  • North East Prison Group, HMPPS

  • Northumbria University Criminology

  • Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust Grounded Research Team

  • Spectrum Community Health CIC

  • Sunderland University Centre of Applied Social Studies and DISCRIM Network

  • Tees Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Offender and Forensic Community Services

  • University of York CrimNet

The other pages on the website provide information about the Network's activities. If you would like more detail or a copy of the latest Annual Report please use the form provided on the Contact page.

Durham Cathedral

LATEST NEWS from Management Group and Advisory Board Meetings

August 2024:

Professor Graham Towl is appointed as the new chair of PORSCH.

Graham Towl is Professor of Forensic Psychology at Durham University. Since arriving at Durham in 2008 he has undertaken a number of roles including Pro Vice Chancellor (2011-2016) and Principal of St Cuthberts Society (2008-2011) and also acting Principal at University College (2019-2020). Prior to his arrival back to the North East he was Chief Psychologist at the Ministry of Justice (2005-2008). When he was Head of Psychological Services for England and Wales at HMPPS (2000-2005) he grew the psychological staff group from 400 to over 1000 to include practitioner psychologists, trainee practitioners and psychological assistants. He was an expert member of the influential Harris Review (2015) into self inflicted deaths of 18-24 year olds in prisons and undertook an analysis of all self inflicted deaths on record between 1978 and 2013. Uniquely he is the recipient of the British Psychological Society Awards for distinguished practice – he is HCPC registered – and also distinguished contributions to forensic psychological knowledge. His work on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion led to his inclusion in Who’s Who? He is widely published with his latest books on gender based violence in Higher Education and sexual harassment in African countries. His next book, with Clarissa DiSantis is due out in March, 2025 – it is the second edition of the ground breaking ‘Addressing Student Sexual Violence at Universities’ first published in 2020. Over the coming year he intends working (with David Crighton) on a 4th edition of the British Psychological Society endorsed ‘Forensic Psychology’ textbook – widely read amongst cohorts of trainee forensic psychologists since the first edition in 2008. Formerly he was a council member of the HCPC and Chaired registration appeals. Currently he is Chair of the Scottish Advisory Panel on Offending and Rehabilitation (SAPOR). He currently teaches two modules at Durham University – ‘Criminological psychology’ and ‘psychological practice’. In his spare time he trains his dogs – currently a rottweiler and standard poodle.

PORSCH is working on a new programme to enhance offender health research and development capacity in the North East and Yorkshire.

The PORSCH collaboration with Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber (RDaSH) NHS FT and partners on Meeting Needs and Building Resilience of Health and Justice Staff in Secure Settings has completed Project 1 - What do we currently know?

Project 2 - What do health and justice staff identify as their needs and support requirements? - Will be carried out by the team at Sheffield Hallam University.