Hannah Merdian

Head of Interprofessional Portfolio

Hannah is an Honorary Professor in Applied Psychology at the University of Lincoln and a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society.

As an established senior leader in higher education management, she held previous roles linked to partnership and tender development, curriculum design, and quality assurance within higher education. Prior to her appointment to the trust, Hannah was Deputy Head of the School of Psychology, Sport Science, and Wellbeing at the University of Lincoln.

Hannah’s research and scholarship both inform and are informed by professional practice, working to advance social impact through research and innovation, predominantly within criminal justice and mental health professional practice. Alongside Prof Derek Perkins (Royal Holloway University of London & West London NHS Trust), she is Founder and co-Director of onlinePROTECT®, the UK’s sole research group focused exclusively on protecting children from online harm. OnlinePROTECT offers multiagency consultation, training workshops, and regularly presents at conferences and stakeholder events. It collaborates with intervention and prevention service providers to conduct applied research that informs strategic decision-making.

Hannah has published widely on applied topics, with a specific focus on online sexual offending behaviour; this work broke new research and practice ground and has substantially advanced the understanding of online offending pathways, captured in two impact case studies in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. 

 

Current professional memberships and expert advisory roles

·       Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

·       Member of the Society for Research into Higher Education

·       Member of the Leadership and Management Faculty of the British Psychological Society

·       Inaugural member of the Expert Network Addressing Child Sexual Abuse

·       Member of the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers (NOTA; 2012-2020: Member of the NOTA Research Committee)

·       Member of the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO; 2016-2021: Elected Vice President, Member of Executive Committee)

 

For enquiries about onlinePROTECT’s training or research services, please contact us via onlinePROTECT@tavi-port.nhs.uk