Striving towards better neurodiversity research
Networking and learning event.
14 July 2023
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Join us for this event organised by the BPS Developmental Psychology Section Committee & Supported by the BPS Cognitive Psychology Section on 11 September 2023.
The neurodiversity framework is a growing social movement that proposes that autism, ADHD and other conditions currently classified as neurodevelopmental disorders are differences and not disorders. In this networking session, our panellists will discuss traditional approaches to research on neurodiversity, why they have been influenced by this movement, and what they are trying to do differently considering the neurodiversity movement.
They will use examples from their own research on autism, ADHD and developmental language disorder to highlight how we can change the goals of our research to achieve systemic change, align research with community goals, highlight how publishing is changing, and the opportunities and challenges at the intersection of open science and neurodiversity. This will pave the way to open conversations with attendees to understand how we can strive to do better neurodiversity research.
Chair: Dr Saloni Krishnan, Royal Holloway, University of London
Panellists
Dr Hannah Hobson (left) is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of York. She joined York in 2019, having previously lectured at the University of Greenwich, undertaken postdoctoral work at King’s College London, and having completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford.
Dr Hobson’s interests are in language and communication abilities and groups commonly considered to have communication needs, such as developmental language disorder and autism. She is especially interested in how language and communication abilities impact mental health and wellbeing.
She also has an interest in the application of Open Science methodology to neurodevelopmental research.
Dr Cathy Manning (right) is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Reading. Prior to this, she completed her PhD at the Centre for Research in Autism and Education at the Institute of Education, and then moved to Oxford to take up the Scott Family Junior Research Fellowship at University College, Oxford, followed by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Cathy researches sensory processing and decision-making in typically developing, autistic and dyslexic children. She is also an editor at the journal Autism.
Dr Amy Pearson (left) is an autistic developmental psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sunderland.
Her research focuses on understanding factors that impact on wellbeing among autistic and other neurodivergent people across the lifespan, such as interpersonal relationships and victimisation, social identity and stigma, and increasing accessibility for neurodivergent people in higher education.
Dr Punit Shah (right) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Bath. After training at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, Punit now leads a diverse team of staff and students in Bath. They are interested in socially-relevant psychological processes in neurodevelopmental conditions, like autism and ADHD, mainly in adulthood.
Recent neurodiversity research from the group includes studies on psychological strengths and judgement and decision-making in autism (Taylor et al., 2022; 2023), exploring the best ways to measure sex differences in autistic traits (Waldren et al., 2022), and quantifying the relative contributions of autism and ADHD to creativity (Taylor…Shah, under revision) and mental health difficulties (Hargitai et al., 2023).
Punit leads the GW4 Neurodevelopmental Neurodiversity Network, spanning Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, and Exeter, and is Deputy Director of the Centre for Applied Autism Research at Bath. Punit is also the Editor-in-Chief of Neurodiversity and Associate Editor at Cortex.
