Professor Jane Powell - Pro-Warden (Research and Enterprise)

Contact details:
PA to Pro-Warden (Research and Enterprise)
020 7919 7401

My role at Goldsmiths
I have been based in the Department of Psychology since 1994, initially as a lecturer and latterly (since 2002) as a professor.  I served as Head of Department between 2003 and 2006, and in 2008 was appointed to my current Pro-Warden position.  I continue to carry out research and doctoral supervision within Psychology, but in the majority of my time I am responsible for the development of overall College policies relating to research and enterprise.  I am also directly responsible for overseeing six academic departments (Art, Drama, the Centre for Cultural Studies, History, Media and Communications, and Visual Cultures) and two support departments (the Research and Business Development Offices).  As a member of the Senior Management Team, I am involved in the development of all aspects of College strategy and in related decision-making.

I chair the College’s Research and Enterprise Committee, which during 2009-10 developed a new overarching strategy.  This seeks to guide and mesh closely with academic departments’ own strategies, and I convene regular meetings of the Departmental Research Committee network which discusses issues of shared concern and disseminates good practices.  Major developments on which I’m currently leading include a new policy framework to encourage and facilitate consultancy by our staff, the development of a scheme to fund new internal doctoral studentships, and the implementation of effective systems to support the career development of research staff.

My background
Before coming to Goldsmiths, I trained and worked within the NHS as a clinical psychologist, specialising in addiction and brain injury rehabilitation services. A key attraction in moving to my full-time academic position here was the opportunity to develop and build on my health service activities to generate strong research outputs, to create opportunities for students to gain relevant work and research experience, and to establish collaborative partnerships. There is more information about my research activities and publications on the Psychology webpage.

Addiction: My first clinical post was at the Drug Dependence Unit at the Bethlem Hospital, where I worked with people addicted to opiates and other substances.  I conducted my PhD with this population, investigating the basis for their craving with a view to developing and evaluating new treatments.  With funding from the UK research councils, the Wellcome Trust, and the USA National Institutes of Drug Abuse I have, via large scale studies and supervision of several doctoral students, explored the factors which cause individuals to crave and use substances as varied as opiates, alcohol and nicotine; and investigated possible treatment approaches.

Brain injury rehabilitation:  As a clinical neuropsychologist, I have always been particularly interested in rehabilitation.  For several years I worked in the in-patient Regional Neurological Rehabilitation Unit [RNRU] at Homerton Hospital, and in 1992 we (myself and the consultant neurologist, Dr. Richard Greenwood) established a new community-based multidisciplinary Outreach Team which works with brain-injured adults in their own homes and workplaces to increase their independence and social functioning.  We were awarded a share of central government funding allocated for the development of ‘model services’ in this field, and additionally secured an MRC grant to evaluate the efficacy of the service via a randomised controlled trial. It proved clinically effective in increasing clients’ independence, and I continue as its clinical director, chairing its fortnightly review meetings and serving on its steering group.

I have also collaborated with clinical and academic colleagues to develop questionnaires to measure outcomes after brain injury and the effectiveness of rehabilitative interventions; these include the Brain Injury Community Rehabilitation Outcome [BICRO] scales and the Quality of Life after Brain Injury [QOLIBRI] questionnaire.  We have employed these in several studies evaluating recovery after sub-arachnoid haemorrhage and traumatic brain injury.

Over the last decade I have acted as an advisor to the Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre and Neurodisability Service [BBIRCNS], run by the Huntercombe Group. Building on this link, Goldsmiths and BBIRCNS have developed a flourishing collaborative partnership, co-funding a full-time academic post to support a programme of mutually interesting research and a very successful Masters programme in Cognitive and Clinical Neuropsychology.

I provide clinical supervision to practising neuropsychologists at the Homerton Hospital, and regularly act as an expert witness in medicolegal cases of brain injury resulting from accidents, assaults, and clinical negligence.