Simon is Professor of Child Abuse and Neglect in the Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse at Durham University, UK.
Simon has worked in the field of childhood harmful sexual behaviours for over 30 years. Simon has researched and written extensively about harmful sexual behaviour in childhood. He is first author of the NSPCC's operational framework for responding to children who have displayed harmful sexual behaviours and is co-author of the AIM3 assessment model which is widely used across the UK. Recent reports on this subject include expert reviews for the UK's Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and also an evidence review to inform the Council of Europe's review of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Simon was also a significant contributor to the 2016 UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidelines on Harmful Sexual Behaviour which represent the UK's first public health guidance on the subject of sexual abuse by children and young people.
Simon is involved in a wide range of professional associations involved in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse, including being a Board Member of ATSA. In the UK, he also sits on the Advisory Board of the Home Office funded Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse.