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 in 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 I am Director of the Centre for Applied Developmental Psychology (CADP). 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 and will be leading the organising committee for ISAZ 2023, which will be in Edinburgh.
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
Amber Ramos (Human-animal interaction with marine mammals)
Hasan Huseyin Ates (Eating disorders, disordered eating and neurodivergence)
Unaiza Iqbal (Pets and vulnerable children, submitted)
Laura Wauthier (Evaluation of Scottish SPCA 'Animal Guardians' programme, submitted)
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 (Robotic animal for childhood cruelty prevention)
Liron Blajwajs (Joint hypermobility in adolescent dancers)
Rong Ding (Pet dogs in China)
Katie Baynham (Adolescent Mental Health and pets)
Suzanne Lawrie (Evaluation of RSPCA 'Breaking the Chain' Intervention)
Jingni Ma (Nature-based interventions for mental health, submitted and passed viva)
Past PhD students supervised
Dr Lynne Binnie
Dr Lesley Smith
Dr Diana Gossrau
Dr Katherine Myant
Dr Ai Keow Lim
Dr Monica Odinko
Dr Lynsey Burke
Dr Dia (Daisy) Qian
Dr Jennifer van Bekkum
Dr Julie Moote
Dr Jia (Ava) Guo
Dr Elpida Pavlidou
Dr Carol Thompson
Dr Nikki Georgakakou-Koustonikuo
Dr Susannah Johnston
Dr Siti Norhedayah Abdul Latif
Dr Kiyoshi Nasir Bhuiyan
Dr Loukia Bololia
Dr Roxanne Hawkins
Dr Ho Nam (Amy) Cheung
Research summary
Research Interests
- Child and adolescent health and mental health
- Children’s understandings of mind, body and mental health
- Developmental disabilities
- Children’s and adolescents’ interactions with animals
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 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) -
Review: Can digital mental health interventions bridge the 'digital divide' for socioeconomically and digitally marginalised youth? A systematic review
In:
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12620
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Veterinarians’ experiences of treating cases of animal abuse: An online questionnaire study
In:
Veterinary Record, vol. 191
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.1975
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The role of attachment in children’s relationships with pets: From pet care to animal harm
In:
Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2022.0024
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)