Tell us a bit about yourself.... 

I’m originally from Oxford but have spent the last seven years living and working in London – I’m very excited to come to Bristol and be surrounded by green spaces and sourdough pizza!

What is your research background?

I completed my PhD at UCL with Professor Will Mandy, focusing on camouflaging, or masking in autism. I then spent the last two years as a postdoctoral researcher in the NHS, working on a study to improve the way we diagnose autism in adults. 

What is your role with the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute? 

I am honoured to have received an Elizabeth Blackwell Institute Early Career Fellowship, which is partly funded by Rosetrees Trust and Wellcome Trust (via the Institutional Strategic Support Fund). My fellowship project will look at interpersonal and environmental factors that can impact the mental health of autistic children and young people.

What do you hope to discover? 

My aim is to identify factors leading to anxiety and depression for autistic children and young people, such as peer relationships in schools, and improve the way new factors are measured.

How will understanding this help people? 

Autistic children and adults have astonishingly high rates of mental health problems, which may be partly driven by interpersonal factors such as how they are treated by other (nonautistic) people. By identifying these factors, we can develop effective interventions to improve the way nonautistic people interact with autistic people, and hopefully reduce or prevent the development of mental health problems in autistic children and young people.

What does receiving this Fellowship mean to you?

The Fellowship is an incredible opportunity for me to receive world-class training in a variety of research tools, and work with people across disciplines such as epidemiology, clinical psychology, and education. I hope that my research during the Fellowship will make a difference to autistic people’s mental health and wellbeing.