He completed his doctoral dissertation under Aaron Doyle at Carleton University (2005–2010). His dissertation research was awarded the Governor General’s Medal. Prior to joining the Department of Sociology in 2011, Walby was a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, Centre of Criminology (2010-2011) and a lecturer at the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Carleton University (2010-2011). He is the prisoners’ struggles editor for the peer reviewed Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JPP), published by University of Ottawa Press.