Dr Helen Gavinh.gavin@hud.ac.uk | 01484 472789
Helen has been head of Psychology in two institutions, with the responsibility for the divisional resource management and line management of teams of academic and practitioner staff in psychology and allied disciplines. An environment in which research and research-led teaching has always been of paramount importance, and she moved from a management position into a more research focused role when the University’s priorities moved to research in the last few years. She is currently a research leader with special responsibility for the academic leadership of early career researchers across a wide range of disciplines. This entails the guidance, mentoring and direction of colleagues who are embarking on the post-doctoral or post-professional qualification stages of a research career. The role also involves the development, implementation and monitoring of policies to facilitate the attainment of the University’s strategic aims for its research profile.
Outside of academia, Helen has experience of working in the secure communications field, actively involved in the integrity of information in networks. In addition, she has worked on projects examining practice in police and government services.
Helen’s research strengths lie in two areas. her main research profile is in criminal psychology, particularly centred on the study of deviant sexual practices and the expression of aggression. She heads up a research interest group in Sex, Violence, and Aggression, under the umbrella of Psychological Research, but with members across the university and associate members world-wide. Complementary to this research stream, Helen is interested in the psychology of culture, including music and folk tales. These two topics come together in a variety of unexpected ways, and providing a breadth of research opportunities and contacts, and inform teaching and research supervision.
In addition, Helen provides consultancy at all levels of the design and analysis of studies for private companies, the Home Office and NHS R&D units.
Gavin, H (2013) Criminological and Forensic Psychology . London: SAGE . ISBN 9781848607019
Gavin, H. and Porter, T. (2013) Female Aggression . London: Wiley-Blackwell . ISBN 978-0-470-97548-0
Togobo, M., Gavin, H., Rogawski, K. and DeBono, M. (2013) ‘A study to determine the fertility rates of men with congenital and acquired vasal obstruction following the use of three sperm retrieval techniques’. In: 33rd Congress of the Societe Internationale D'Urologie, 8-13 September 2013, Vancouver, Canada , pp. 1-1
Gavin, H (2013) ‘Evil or insane? The female serial killer and her doubly deviant femininity’. In: Fifth Global Conference on Evil, Women and the Feminine, 18th - 20th May 2013, Prague, Czech Republic
Hinchcliffe, V. and Gavin, H. (2013) ‘Utilising New Media Technology: Web-Based Diaries for Data Collection with Adult Participants with Autistic Spectrum Disorder ’. In: Advancing Research Methods with New Technologies. Hershey PA, USA: IGI Global. . ISBN 9781466639188
Gavin, H (2013) ‘Guess who's coming to dinner? Inside the mind of the cannibal serial killer’. In: Cannibals: cannibalism consumption and culture, 25-26 April, 2013, University of Manchester
Yeadon-Lee, T. and Gavin, H. (2013) ‘Is Nonce the New Queer?’. In: Queer Sexualities. : Inter-Disciplinary Press . . ISBN 9781848881556
Rainford, A. and Gavin, H. (2012) ‘Impressions of evil: the public and professional view of a female murderer.’. In: 4th Global Conference on Evil, Women and the Feminine, 6-8 May 2012, Prague, Czech Republic
Gavin, H (2012) ‘The damsel in distress: not as sweet as she is painted?’. In: 4th Global Conference on Evil, Women and the Feminine, 6-8 May 2012, Prague, Czech Republic
Bent, J. and Gavin, H. (2012) ‘The Maids, Mother and 'The Other One' of the Discworld ’. In: Magic and the Supernatural. Oxford: Interdisciplinary Press. . ISBN 978-1-84888-095-5
Gavin, H (2011) ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones: An examination of the effects of emotional abuse’ Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma , 20 (5), pp. 503-529. ISSN 1092-6771
Bent, J., Porter, T. and Gavin, H. (2011) ‘Sugar and Spice, But Not Very Nice: Representations of Evil Little “Girls” in Cartoons and Comic Books/Strips ’. In: 3rd Global Conference: Evil, Women and the Feminine, 13-16 May 2011, Warsaw, Poland
Gavin, H (2011) ‘Deadlier than the male? An examination of representations of female aggression as evil’. In: 3rd Global Conference: Evil, Women and the Feminine, 13-16 May 2011, Warsaw, Poland
Walker, J. and Gavin, H. (2011) ‘Interpretations of domestic violence: defining intimate partner abuse’. In: The 12th Conference of the International Academy of Investigative Psychology. Crime, Criminalistics & Criminal Psychology: New Directions in Investigative Behavioural Science, 31st March-2nd April 2011, Amsterdam
Bent, J., Porter, T. and Gavin, H. (2011) ‘Sugar and Spice, but Not Very Nice: Depictions of Evil Little Girls in Cartoons and Comics’. In: The Evil Body. Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press. pp. 152-160. ISBN 978-1-84888-074-0
Gavin, H (2011) ‘Deadlier Than the Male? An Examination of Female Aggression as Evil’. In: The Evil Body. Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplnary Press. pp. 261-270. ISBN 978-1-84888-074-0
Gavin, H (2010) ‘ “Mummy wouldn’t do that” The Perception and Construction of the Female Child Sex Abuser ’. In: Grotesque Femininities: Evil, Women & the Feminine. Oxford: Inter-Disciplnary Press Ltd.. pp. 61-78. ISBN 9781848880382
Gavin, H (2010) ‘Sex, food and the pursuit of happiness (with apologies to John Locke)’. In: British Psychological Society North East of Britain Branch Third Annual Conference, 22nd October 2010, Durham, UK
Gavin, H (2010) ‘Mummy Wouldn’t do That: The Perception and Construction of the Female Child Sex Abuser’. In: Grotesque Feminities: Evil, Women and the Feminine. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary.Net . . ISBN 978-1-84888-038-2
Gavin, H. and Bent, J. (2010) ‘Sexual Deviancy and the Sex Police: An Examination of the Religious, Cultural and Psycho-Legal Antecedents of Perceived Perversion’. In: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll:Psychological, Legal and Cultural examinations of sex and sexuality. Oxford, Uk: Inter-Disciplinary Press. pp. 3-11. ISBN 978-1-84888-031-3
Palit, V. and Gavin, H. (2010) ‘Prognostic indicators & overall survival in men presenting with PSA levels greater than 1000ng/ml.’. In: British Association of Urological Surgeons Annual Meeting, 21-24 June 2010, Manchester Central
Porter, T. and Gavin, H. (2010) ‘Infanticide and Neonaticide: A Review of 40 Years of Research Literature on Incidence and Causes’ Trauma, Violence and Abuse , 11 (3), pp. 99-112. ISSN 1524-8380
Gavin, H. and Bent, J. (2010) ‘Sexual deviancy and the sex police. An examination of the religious, cultural and psycholegal antecedents of perceived perversion.’. In: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll: Psychological, Legal and Cultural Examinations of Sex and Sexuality. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press. pp. 3-12. ISBN 978-1-84888-031-3
Appleby, V., Gavin, H., Kon , M., Georgiades, I. and Moreea, S. (2010) ‘The adequacy of liver biopsies can be predicted from the length of fresh tissue obtained at the time of biopsy – review of ’. In: European Association for the study of liver diseases , April 14-18, 2010, Vienna, Austria
Bent, J. and Gavin, H. (2010) ‘The Maids, Mother and “The Other One” of the Discworld: Exploring the magical aspect of Terry Pratchett's Witches. ’. In: 1st Global Conference: Magic and the Supernatural, 15 - 17 March 2010, Salzburg, Austria
Gavin, H. and Hockey, D. (2010) ‘Criminal Careers and Cognitive Scripts: An Investigation into Criminal Versatility ’ The Qualitative Report , 15 (2), pp. 389-410. ISSN 1052-0147
Gavin, H (2009) ‘The Psychology of Sexual Deviance’. In: The [British Psychological Society] North East of England Branch 2nd Annual Conference, 26-27 June 2009, Sheffield Park Hotel
Hinchcliffe, V. and Gavin, H. (2009) ‘Social and Virtual Networks: Evaluating Synchronous Online Interviewing Using Instant Messenger’ The Qualitative Report , 14 (2), pp. 318-340. ISSN 1052-0147
Gavin, H (2009) ‘“Mummy wouldn’t do that” the perception and construction of the female child sex abuser’. In: Evil, Women and the Feminine, 1-3 May 2009, Budapest, Hungary
Pressler, S., Hilton, N. and Gavin, H. (2009) ‘'I can't wear my cosy pink hoodie to keep warm when I go to the shop for my mum': a phenomenological exploration of being a young person in the UK in 2008’. In: University of Huddersfield Research Festival 2009, 23 March - 2 April 2009, University of Huddersfield, UK.
Hinchcliffe, V. and Gavin, H. (2008) ‘Internet mediated research: a critical reflection upon the practice of using instant messenger for higher educational research interviewing’ Psychology and Society , 1 (1), pp. 91-104.
Gavin, H (2008) Understanding research methods & statistics in psychology . London: Sage . ISBN 978-1412934411
Gavin, H (2007) ‘Criminal mind set and internalised justification’. In: 3rd International Congress of Psychology and Law, Adelaide Australia, 3rd-8th July 2007, Adelaide, Australia
Gavin, H (2007) The psychology of pants, or how to interpret personality from his underwear drawer . Manchester: Brazen PR .
Gavin, H (2006) ‘Intrusive music: The perception of everyday music explored by diaries’ The Qualitative Report , 11 (3), pp. 550-565. ISSN 1052-0147
Gavin, H (2005) ‘The Social Construction of the Child Sex Offender Explored by Narrative’ The Qualitative Report , 10 (3), pp. 395-413. ISSN 1052-0147
Gavin, H (2005) Police recruitment in the 21st century, fair and transparent practice Central Police Training and Development Authority (Unpublished)
Gavin, H (2001) ‘Reconstructed Memories and Adult Musical Expertise’ Music Education Research , 3 (1), pp. 51-61. ISSN 1461-3808
Gavin, H (2001) The Third Person Effect and Perceptual Elements of Television London: Hallmark Channel (Unpublished)
Several previously supervised students have successfully submitted doctoral theses in areas such as Mental models, Psychological function under fire and Clinical psychology. Helen is currently supervising doctoral students researching areas such as Sexual deviancy and non-offending psychopathy, Mental disorder in sex offender prisons, Police officers and traumatic events and Intimate partner violence.
She has examined several PhD candidates presenting topics such as Homicide and Intelligence networks. She will consider supervision of research students in most areas of criminal psychology, personality disorders or music psychology, and is also happy to undertake examination of theses in these areas.
Courseleader MSc Social Research.
I teach areas such as personality disorders associated with criminality, violent offending, sexual offending/deviant sexual practice, serial offending, offender profiling murder. On the undergraduate psychology programmes I am module leader for HHB1005 Forensic Psychology, and contribute to HHB1051, Offender Profiling and Investigating Serious Crime. On the MSc Investigative psychology I contribute to HMB1031 Investigative psychology theories and models for violent, acquisitive and sexual crime, HMB1035 Clinical forensic psychology and HMB1036 Methodologies for investigative psychology: tactics and strategies for studying criminal action. I also contribute to the accredited Mental Health Professional course.
In addition to substantive areas of psychology outlined above, I teach social science research methodology, including complex experimental and correlational methods and analysis, hierarchical thematic analysis, factor analysis, survival analysis and statistical modelling. This supports not only my own research and consultancy, but also my ability to mentor other staff, supervise a wide variety of research students, provide academic and course leadership (e.g. of the MSc in Social Research and Evaluation) and teach psychology and research methods on a range of taught programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level. My research students are specifically sought as teachers across the university, as the team has a reputation for providing a thorough grounding in all aspects of research methods. I am module leader of research skills and project modules at undergraduate (HHB1020), postgraduate (HMB1018, HMB1017) and professional doctorate (HDG1001) level.
I am a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. I am a Chartered Scientist (Science Council). I was a member of the Graduate Qualifications and Accreditation Committee.
