Adam Blanchard’s research interests involve this intersection of psychology and the law, focusing broadly on issues such as forensic assessment, risk assessment, and personality disorders. For his master’s thesis, Mr. Blanchard studied psychiatric patients and criminal offenders in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

Specifically, his research examined the changeability of ratings on two prominent violence risk assessment instruments. He discovered that not only are these instruments capable of capturing change in risk factors over time within an individual, but also there is an association between changes in these dynamic risk factors and subsequent violence — his research findings will have important applications in clinical practice.

Throughout his academic career, Mr. Blanchard has been the recipient of a number of honours and awards. As an undergraduate student at SFU, he was awarded the Dean's Undergraduate Convocation Medal in 2011. Upon entry to the clinical psychology Master’s program, he was awarded the C.D. Nelson Memorial Graduate Scholarship. He graduated with a stellar 4.23 GPA in his Master’s program.

Dr. Kevin Douglas, his supervisor, says, “Mr. Blanchard is exceptionally smart, motivated, creative and thorough. His contributions to research have been excellent, and they are progressing on a steadily rising upward trajectory.”

Currently, Mr. Blanchard is continuing his studies at SFU in the experimental psychology doctoral program. His most recent award is for $105,000 from SSHRC to support his doctoral research. For his PhD, he plans to study gang-involved offenders in Canada. He plans to investigate the shared and unique risk factors for gang involvement and violence in an attempt to better assess the risk for violence in gang involved offenders.

• Thesis: Dynamic Risk Factors in Violence Risk Assessment: A Multiple Time-Point Evaluation of the HCR-20 and START
• Supervisor: Dr. Kevin S. Douglas
  
• Douglas Lab: Biography of Adam Blanchard

See also: All 2014 Convocation Award Winners

Tags: achievements; arts and social sciences; psychology