Theresa's main research interests are in the areas of arson or firesetting and sexual offending.
Over the past few years Theresa has developed two empirically based standardised treatment programmes for offenders who have set fires: The Firesetting Intervention Programme for Prisoners (FIPP) and the Firesetting Intervention Programme for Mentally Disordered Offenders (FIP-MO). The FIPP has been run in South East prisons and the results of this programme are currently being evaluated. The FIP-MO is being run nationally across the UK within private hospitals and the NHS.
Theresa is interested in research examining the treatment needs and characteristics of female sexual offenders. Her research has focused on examining the offence supportive beliefs and offence styles of these women, and the specific factors that lead them to offend.
More recently, she has begun to investigate the sexual fantasies and attachment styles of females who sexually offend.
Theresa's research on male sexual offenders is concerned with examining the offence supportive beliefs and cognitions of this population and developing methods of increasing honest disclosures in men who have sexually offended. In 2010, she and her CORE-FP colleagues won a Ministry of Justice tender to evaluate mandatory polygraph testing for sexual offenders released on license in the UK. As a result of their research new legislation was passed to allow polygraph testing for men who have sexually offended in the UK.
Project supervision
Theresa is interested in supervising projects examining:
- Child sexual offenders
- Rapists
- Attitudes towards sexual offenders
- Female-perpetrated violence
- Arson and firesetting
Current research students
2017 | J. Wood (PI), T. Gannon (Co-I), C. Ó Ciardha (Co-I) & E. Alleyne (Co-I) The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria "Evaluating polygraph use for managing sexual offenders and suspects in five police areas" 1.7.17 to 30.6.19 | £331,260 |
2014 | T. Gannon North London Clinic (Enterprise Award) Good Lives Offender Rehabilitation Training | £1,050 |
2014 | T. Gannon, C. Ó Ciardha & E. Alleyne British Psychological Society (Enterprise Award) Training on firesetting | £1,932.54 |
2014-2015 | T. Gannon Kent and Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust (Research Award) Fire intervention programme for mentally disordered offenders | £24,748 |
2013-2016 | T. Gannon Kent and Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust (Research Award) Development of a risk assessment tool for mentally disordered offenders | £27,422 |
2014-2015 | T. Gannon University of Kent Research Faculty Fund Extending the evaluation and impact of a firesetting treatment programme for mentally disordered offenders | £4,202.46 |
2010-2011 | T. Gannon Kent and Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust (Enterprise Award) Arson treatment programme development | £14,790 |
2011-2014 | T. Gannon ESRC The development and evaluation of a treatment programme for firesetters | £563,311 |
2010-2012 | T. Gannon, J. Wood, A. Pina, & E. Vasquez Ministry of Justice (Tender Bid). Evaluation of the Mandatory Polygraph Pilot. (SRG/09/015) | £324,417 |
| T. Gannon British Academy Overseas conference attendance grant | £400 |
2008-2009 | T. Gannon Kent and Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust (Enterprise Award) Sexual offender treatment programme development | £13,042 |
2007 | T. Gannon Nuffield Foundation Violent social information processing: An experimental study | £7,497 |
2006-2008 | T. Gannon ESRC What were they thinking: The cognition of women sex offenders | £83,000 |
2010-date | Doctorate in Forensic Psychology Practice, Masters in Forensic Psychology Practice, Masters in Criminological Psychology, Masters in Clinical Criminology, University of Birmingham. |
2008-2012 | MSc in Forensic Psychology and Criminological Psychology, University of Gloucestershire. |