Frank Porporino Ph.D.

Network Chair, ICPA Research and Development Network, Canada

Frank Porporino has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and has sustained a close to 50-year career in corrections as a front-line practitioner, senior manager, researcher, educator, trainer, and consultant. Frank has promoted evidence-informed practice throughout his career and his contributions have been recognized with awards from a number of associations including the ACA, ICCA, Volunteers of America and the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA). Early in his career, Frank founded the Research Branch of Corrections Canada, an internationally recognized leader in applied research in corrections that has recently celebrated its 35th Anniversary.  Frank was also a founding member of the HMMPS Correctional Services Accreditation Panel, a best practice review committee that was subsequently emulated by many jurisdictions.  He has remained active internationally providing training and technical assistance in effective practice in over 25 countries, most recently in Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, Namibia, Ireland, Singapore and Barbados. Currently Frank is serving as Editor of the ICPA practitioner-oriented journal, Advancing Corrections, Chair of the ICPA R&D Network, member of the ICPA Practice Transfer Taskforce and Board Member and Secretary for the ICPA-North America Chapter. He has been a member of many ACA Committees, was a past member of the ICPA Board of Directors and is also Past-President of the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology (IACFP).

Dr Mana Yamamoto

Research Expert, UNICRI (United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute), Italy

Mana Yamamoto has 19 years’ experience in the field of prison management and reform in Japan and internationally as a correctional psychologist with a Ph.D. in psychology. She had worked for the Ministry of Justice of Japan, where she was responsible for management of the prison rehabilitation programmes, and she was a professor at the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), where she was in charge of international training courses provided technical assistance to developing countries. Mana Yamamoto is currently working as the Research Expert at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) for conducting research and implementing technical assistance projects on rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.

Pia Puolakka

Senior Specialist, Team Leader, Prison and Probation Service of Finland, Finland

Ms Pia Puolakka has been working in the field of corrections since 2008. In 2018-2022, she worked in the Smart Prison project implementing Finland’s first cell devices with digital services to a new women’s prison.
She has specialized in rehabilitative and digital services in prisons and is also a specialist in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications for corrections. She has also done research regarding prison digitalization and use of AI in corrections which has received international attention. She is a member (co-chair) of the EuroPris ICT Expert group, and in 2021-2023 she was part of the Council of Europe’s Council for Penological Co-operation’s (PC-CP) expert group developing recommendations for the use of AI in corrections. By education, she is a forensic psychologist and psychotherapist and is currently studying international leadership.

Victoria Knight PhD

Associate Professor of Research, De Montfort University, United Kingdom

Dr Victoria Knight is associate professor in research at De Montfort University, UK. She directs the Prison and Probation Research Hub and codirects the Institute for Community, Criminology, Education and Social Justice. Victoria has extensively published on the digital prison and continues to actively research this topic both in the UK and across the globe. She also consults with prisons, charities and digital developers on digitization.She is a co-editor of The Journal for Prison Education and Resettlement and supports the Advancing Corrections Journal. She contributes to prison practice and has served for 17 years on English Independent Monitoring Boards.