| Theresa Gannon | |
| Thesis1 Title: | Cognitive distortions in child sexual offenders: fact of fiction? |
| Thesis1 Year: | 2003 |
Theresa A. Gannon is a British academic psychologist and chartered psychologist, and is a full professor at the University of Kent specialising in forensic psychology, especially of deliberate firestarters and sexual offenders. Gannon is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and was awarded the British Psychological Society's Division of Forensic Psychology Lifetime Contribution to Forensic Psychology Award.
Gannon completed a degree in psychology at the University of Birmingham.[1] In her third year she was 'fascinated' by a lecture on forensic psychology.[2] She completed a PhD titled Cognitive distortions in child sexual offenders: fact of fiction? at the University of Sussex in 2003.[3] Gannon then undertook a four year postdoctoral fellowship at Victoria University of Wellington, working with psychologist Tony Ward on the psychology of sexual offenders, before returning to the UK.[4] Gannon worked Kent and Medway Social Care and Partnership NHS Trust, working with a wider range of different type of offenders in a medium secure unit. She took a position at the University of Kent, where she is Professor of Forensic Psychology and Director of the Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology. Gannon is also a Chartered Forensic Psychologist.[5]
Gannon is interested in sexual offending in men and women, and the cognitive behaviour of deliberate firesetters.[6] [7]
She describes providing a treatment plan for a sexual offender, but realising that he had a history of arson, and had never been treated specifically for it. This encounter prompted her to explore what reoffending rates were for people who deliberately set fires, and what treatments were available for them. Gannon obtained funding from the Economic and Social Research Council to explore the characteristics of firesetters, and eventually developed a theory of firesetting. She went on to develop this into a standardised treatment programme for people who set fires, and trained people in the UK and internationally to deliver the programme.
Gannon was editor in chief of the journal Psychology, Crime & Law from 2012.[8]
In March 2015 Gannon was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.[9]
Gannon and her team won the Outstanding Impact on Society Award at the Economic and Social Research Council Celebrating Impact awards in 2016, for "research on deliberate firesetters and a resulting treatment programme". Gannon planned to use the award to translate the standardised treatment programme into other languages.[10] [11]
In 2019 the British Psychological Society's Division of Forensic Psychology awarded Gannon their Lifetime Contribution to Forensic Psychology Award.[12]