David Wales, Manager Special Projects of Corrections' Psychological Service, has been awarded one of two £10,000 FCO Aotearoa Fellowships.
The fellowships are sponsored by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and administered by the Leadership Development Centre. The fellowships enable recipients to study leadership, management or human resources in the UK. Awards will be presented to David and the other recipient of the 2003/04 fellowship, Dr Barbara Disley of the Ministry of Education, at a function in March.
David will travel to the UK later this year on a study tour centred around the transferring of skills and knowledge from small groups of highly-skilled staff to generic application in 'front line' settings; maintaining the integrity of the processes transferred, and supporting innovation and continuous improvement.
He plans to study leadership, organisational change and field application of innovations at the London Business School. In addition, he will visit a range of institutions that deliver high-skill tasks, including the Home Office, Her Majesty's Prison Service and the England and Wales Probation Service.
The study topic flows from his work over the past three years as Manager Special Projects, in which he has played a major role in overseeing comprehensive new systems of offender management introduced across prison, probation, psychological and head office work environments.
David Wales was a Senior Psychologist at Kia Marama special treatment unit (for men who sexually offend against children) at Rolleston Prison, Canterbury, from 1993 to 1997; following which he was appointed Principal Psychologist at the Psychological Service's Auckland office, becoming Manager Special Projects at head office in 2000.
The fellowship reflects the high quality of David's work, says David Riley, Director of the Department's Psychological Service.
"Corrections' Psychological Service has been building strong connections in recent years with corrections jurisdictions internationally, particularly in the UK, the USA and Canada, and David’s study trip will help strengthen these connections," he adds.
For more information about FCO Aotearoa Fellowships go to the Leadership Development Centre website.