Professor Joanne Williams
Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology
- Centre for Applied Developmental Psychology
- Children, Adolescents and Animals Research (CAAR)
Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 650 9962
- Email: Jo.Williams@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Room 2.4, Doorway 6, Medical Quad, Teviot Place
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
I am an applied developmental psychologist with research interests in child and adolescent health and mental health, the development of health concepts, and children’s interactions with animals.
My career at The University of Edinburgh began in 1993 as a post-doctoral research fellow examining psychological factors associated with child and adolescent injuries. In 1996, I took a two-year lectureship in Psychology, and from 1998 to 2012 I was Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Psychology, in Moray House School of Education.
Since 2012 I have been Senior Lecturer/Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology in Clinical and Health Psychology. I coordinate Children, Adolescents and Animals Research (caar), and am a member of Human-Animal Interaction Research. I contribute developmental psychology teaching on a range of postgraduate programmes including the MSc Psychology of Mental Health (Conversion).
I am a Board member for the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ) and led the organising committee for ISAZ 2023, which was in Edinburgh. I am also a member of the SCAS Mental Health Working Group.
Postgraduate teaching
- Developmental Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology
- PhD and MSc research supervision
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
I am always interested to hear from students wishing to pursue research degrees. I am particularly interested to work with students on the role of animals in children’s development and mental health, animal-assisted therapies for children and adolescents, and psychological factors in child and adolescent cruelty to animals. Please also contact me if you wish to research children’s understanding of mental health/illness or evaluate psycho-education interventions. Below I have listed my students along with the themes of their PhDs.
Current PhD students supervised
I am fortunate to have excellent PhD students. I list my current students and their broad topics below:
Amber Ramos (Human-animal interaction with military marine mammals)
Rowena Piers (Digital mental health interventions for adolescents)
Peilin (Ruby) Lin (Gardening and mental health in Chinese older adults)
Xiaoshan (Sylph) Yin (Pet effects in Chinese adolescents and emerging adults)
Hamdulla Tunc (Values and mental health in adolescents)
Isobel Voysey (Zoomorphic robots for childhood animal cruelty prevention)
Liron Blajwajs (Joint hypermobility in adolescent dancers)
Katie Baynham (Adolescent mental health and pets)
Suzanne Lawrie (Evaluation of RSPCA 'Breaking the Chain' intervention)
Rea Michalopoulou (Children's understanding of Covid-19 and VR interventions)
Rina De Luna (Farm animal welfare in the Philippines)
Past PhD students supervised
I have been fortunate to work with some brilliant PhD students in the past who have all been awarded their PhDs and gone on to amazing careers. Below I list them and their board topics:
Dr Lynne Binnie (Childhood neurodiversity and biology and physics concepts)
Dr Lesley Smith (Children's and adolescents' understandings of disabilities)
Dr Diana Gossrau (Adolescent substance use)
Dr Katherine Myant (Children's and adolescents' understandings of illness)
Dr Ai Keow Lim (Theory of Mind and Pretend play in pre-schoolers)
Dr Monica Odinko (Pre-school education in Nigeria)
Dr Lynsey Burke (Children's thinking skills)
Dr Dia (Daisy) Qian (British-born Chinese children's identity development)
Dr Jennifer van Bekkum (Cycling Behaviour)
Dr Julie Moote (Children's self-regulated learning in science)
Dr Jia (Ava) Guo (Adolescent development in China)
Dr Elpida Pavlidou (Developmental dyslexia and implicit grammar learning)
Dr Carol Thompson (Farmers welfare beliefs and behaviour)
Dr Nikki Georgakakou-Koustonikuo (Children's and adolescents' understandings of depression)
Dr Susannah Johnston (Adolescent perfectionism and mental health)
Dr Siti Norhedayah Abdul Latif (Social, emotional and behavioural issues among adolescents in Brunei)
Dr Kiyoshi Nasir Bhuiyan (Autisitic children's interactions with tablets)
Dr Loukia Bololia (Autistic adolescents and drama therapy)
Dr Roxanne Hawkins (Animal welfare education for children)
Dr Ho Nam (Amy) Cheung (Depression in China)
Dr Jingni Ma (Nature-based interventions for mental health)
Dr Hasan Huseyin Ates (Eating disorders, disordered eating and neurodivergence)
Dr Unaiza Iqbal (Pets and vulnerable children)
Dr Laura Wauthier (Evaluation of Scottish SPCA 'Animal Guardians' programme)
Research summary
Research Interests
- Child and adolescent health and mental health
- Children’s and adolescents’ interactions with animals
- Psychological impacts of pets
- Children’s understandings of mind, body and mental health
Research Centre
Research Themes
- Applied Developmental Psychology
- One Health
Knowledge exchange
I have won a series of research impact awards, including:
ESRC Impact Accelerator Award: Breaking the cycle of cruelty and harm: Promoting positive interactions between children and animals through impactful research
Affiliated research centres
Research activities
- Curiouser and Curiouser: Why Research Mattters
- Listening to children's voices in relation to animal cruelty
- Children and animals: Cruelty and compassion
- The links between animal cruelty, adverse childhood experiences and human violence: Research and practice
- The links between animal cruelty, adverse childhood experiences and human violence: Research and practice
- Human-Animal Interactions: Human Wellbeing and Animal Welfare
- Children's emotional attachment to pets
- The 'pet effect'
- Research in Developmental Disabilities (Journal)
- Puppy Trade Working Group Meetings (Event) to
-
The physical and psychological health effects of pet ownership among children in China: A systematic review
In:
Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Hypermobility prevalence, measurements, and outcomes in childhood, adolescence and emerging adulthood: A systematic review Rheumatology International
In:
Rheumatology international
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-023-05338-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Effectiveness of mindful walking intervention on nature on sleep quality and mood among university student during Covid-19: A randomised control study
(12 pages)
In:
Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, vol. 19, pp. 405-416
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2022.08.004
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The relationships between valued living, depression and anxiety: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression
In:
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, vol. 28, pp. 102-126
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2023.02.004
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Understanding Animal Abuse and How to Intervene with Children and Young People
(200 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003165552
Research output: › Book (Published) -
Animal abuse: A concern for all
(13 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003165552-1
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
Psychological risk factors for animal harm and abuse among children and young people
(22 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003165552-2
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
What parents and professionals working with children and young people can do about animal abuse
(17 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003165552-7
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
A toolkit for evaluating animal welfare education interventions
(20 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003165552-9
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
Animal abuse: What we know, what we can do, and what we need to know
(16 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003165552-10
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published)