William C Goodall

Biography

Following consultation with NHS stakeholders in 2003, National Health Service Education for Scotland (NES) supported the development of a new role for psychology graduates in NHS Scotland as Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology.  A steering group, chaired by Dr Goodall, was established to work with NHS Scotland, NES and University stakeholders to design and implement a postgraduate training programme that would equip psychology graduates with the competence required to deliver the evidence-based psychological interventions required in circumscribed areas of practice defined by service need. The first cohort of trainees began the MSc Psychological Therapy in Primary Care programme in 2005 and Dr Goodall took over as the University of Dundee programme director in 2011.

Research Interest

Dr Goodall began a career in industrial management in the 1970s and exposure to academic psychology led to a return to university to study psychology in the 1980s. After completion of a first degree in psychology at the University of Stirling, Dr Goodall went on to pursue a PhD in neuroscience, collaborating with members of Stirling's Centre for Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience on a variety of research projects in the areas of vision and cognitive neuropsychological studies of language and brain injury. After several years working in the Department of Psychology at Stirling, Dr Goodall spent another spell in industry commercialising neural network applications developed by colleagues from Stirling's neuroscience group. It was following this in 2003 that Dr Goodall joined the steering committee to work on the development of the MSc training programme. Dr Goodall still maintains an interest in neuroscience but not an active research role with a large part of his time spent teaching, managing and monitoring clinical placements and the progress of clinical trainees and the integration of the new role into mental health services across Scotland.