Awards for Fiske, Freeborn, Towl and Tribe

Psychologists working in fields spanning vicarious trauma in journalists, forensic psychology, social justice and discrimination, and developmental psychology have won four British Psychological Society awards.

Dr Abigail Fiske is the 2024 winner of the BPS Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research Contributions to Psychology. Fiske's work encompasses developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience and focuses on understanding the development of early executive functions – particularly inhibitory control and its associated brain mechanisms.

Fiske carried out her doctoral research at the University of Oxford – supervised by Dr Karla Holmboe and Professor Gaia Scerif. She worked on a large longitudinal study that aimed to examine the development of attention and executive functions in the first two years of life.

'Despite a global pandemic, we were able to follow the same cohort of children in the first, second and fourth years of life,' she said. 'This provided fascinating novel insights into how the brain and behavioural correlates of executive function develop in early life.'

Fiske's PhD research was also recognised by the International Congress of Infant Studies in 2024 and by the British Neuroscience Association in 2023. After she completed her degree, Fiske was funded by the Medical Research Council to work as a visiting postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia in Canada, where she worked alongside Professor Lauren Emberson to advance and adapt existing analytical techniques for use with infant fNIRS (Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy) studies.

'In September 2024, I started my lectureship in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University, where I am excited to begin my independent research journey as part of the Infant and Child Development Lab.'

The Practice Board awards have been announced in three categories – Innovation in Practice, Lifetime Achievement in Psychology, and Distinguished Contribution to Practice.

Julie Freeborn has won the Innovation in Practice Award. A founding partner of Kinder Media, an organisation which provides mental health support to journalists and assists journalists with their duty of care responsibilities, she also previously worked as the BBC's subject matter expert for mental health. During her time there, Julie partnered with ITV to create pioneering training for psychologists working in media. She also developed innovative approaches to addressing vicarious trauma, managing critical incidents, and mitigating moral injury, as well as designing psychosocial risk assessments specifically tailored for the media industry.

Freeborn said she was deeply honoured to win the award for her work supporting journalists facing vicarious trauma and improving access to trained psychological support for production teams. 'This recognition underscores the importance of addressing mental health in the media in various ways, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this vital area. Collaborating with talented psychologists and dedicated professionals across various organisations, industries and professions made these initiatives possible. Their expertise and commitment were instrumental in developing interventions and integrating psychological support into media environments.'

Freeborn also thanked Dr Noreen Tehrani, Professor John Oates, Professor Peter Kinderman, Dr Matthew Gould, and Dawn Beresford for their work on those projects. 'This award reflects our collective effort to prioritise well-being in journalism and productions, ensuring that whether bringing critical stories to light, or entertainment and joy, production teams and contributors are cared for and supported.'

Professor of Forensic Psychology Graham Towl (Durham University) has received the Lifetime Achievement in Psychology Award. Prior to moving to Durham in 2008, where he served as Pro Vice Chancellor, Towl worked as Chief Psychologist at the Ministry of Justice, where he grew psychological services from around 400 to more than 1,000 psychological staff.

Towl was the co-founding editor of Forensic Update, the Journal of Forensic Practice, and also the Journal of Leadership. He is co-editor of the BPS-endorsed Forensic Psychology textbook, now in its third edition.

A former council member of the Health and Care Professions Council, Towl was also peer-nominated as the UK's most influential forensic psychologist in 2003. His two areas of research and expertise are in suicide in prisons and the prevention of sexual violence at universities.

He was a member of the 2015 Harris Review – one of the largest and most detailed studies undertaken into prisoner suicide with a focus on 18-24-year-olds. His research with Helen Baird evaluating the extent to which universities had implemented the Office for Students' guidance on the prevention of sexual misconduct at universities has influenced the process of regulation of the sector and their independent research has directly contributed to improved regulation due to come into force in August.

'I was surprised and delighted to hear that I had won the British Psychological Society lifetime achievement in psychology award. I am touched by it – it really was unexpected but much appreciated, an honour, thank you.'

Professor Rachel Tribe (University of East London) has won the Distinguished Contribution to Practice Award. Tribe has worked in around 40 countries and is currently engaged in working with colleagues on mental health projects across the UK and is involved in work in India, Sri Lanka, Senegal, and Pakistan.

Tribe, who also works with the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of London, is a trustee and volunteer for three international mental health charities, including Careif. A chartered counselling and organisational psychologist, and Fellow of the BPS, Tribe has experience working in the private, public, charity and academic sectors and has published more than 140 journal articles and book chapters and eight books – including her latest, co-edited with Dinesh Bhugra, Social Justice, Social Discrimination and Mental Health: Theory, Practice, and Professional Issues.

Tribe is also a member of the BPS Human Rights Advisory Group and the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry. She is also a member of the Special Interest group of the World Psychiatric Association on Geopsychiatry and an International Advisory Board member for the Institute of Geopsychiatry.

Tribe said she was delighted and honoured to have received the BPS Distinguished Contribution to Practice Award. 'I would like to thank all the people I have worked with in the UK and around the world who have enabled the work underlying this award to take place. None of us work in isolation. I have been lucky to have had great colleagues.'