The award was announced at the BPS Professional Practice Board annual awards.
Dr Adrian Needs from the University of Portsmouth has been given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Psychological Society (BPS).
The award was announced at the BPS Professional Practice Board annual awards.
Every year the BPS Professional Practice Board's awards recognise the outstanding personal achievements of those who have made significant contributions to psychological knowledge and practice. The awards are aimed at psychologists at different stages of their career.
Dr Needs’ career includes 14 years in the Prison Service, some of which involved working with prisoners with a life sentence for violent and sexual convictions in high security prisons. He also worked as a hostage negotiation advisor and pioneered support for workers suffering from post-traumatic and other forms of stress.
To receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the British Psychological Society's Practice Board and its Division of Forensic Psychology is a huge honour. My work has been quite an odyssey.
In 1997 he left the Prison Service and started his academic career and since then has played a major role in the development of academic and professional training routes for forensic psychologists.
During Dr Needs’ involvement in many society committees he has maintained, and sustained, a consistent focus on excellence in all aspects of practice in the field of forensic psychology. Through his research, writing and practice he has continually highlighted the value of forensic psychology in the UK and internationally.
Dr Needs, Principal Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, said: "To receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the British Psychological Society's Practice Board and its Division of Forensic Psychology is a huge honour. My work has been quite an odyssey."