Background

I finished a B.Psych. (Hons.) at Flinders University in Australia in 2006 and started a PhD at the CIDDRG in 2007. My supervisors are Dr. Howard Ring and Dr Simon Baron-Cohen.  My Ph.D. project is called: A Difference in Degree or in Kind: The Neurological Changes that Occur During Intervention Programs for People with Autism Spectrum Conditions. Intervention programs such as Mindreading, developed at the University of Cambridge, have shown good efficacy in increasing the ability of people with autism to recognise emotions. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this change are unclear. My project is investigating this, to help to determine if it is a change in degree or in kind. That is, is emotional recognition one continuum on which people with autism improve as a result of intervention, or does the intervention make use of other abilities held by people with autism such that although emotions are recognised, they are recognised in a different way to that used by typically developing people? Answering this question will help improve intervention programs, perhaps making use of the particular abilities of people with autism.

For more information about my project ...                              Recent presentations ...  

I’m a psychiatrist and I’m interested in the use of involuntary treatment from ethical, legal and clinical perspectives. I studied medicine at Imperial College London, intercalating a BSc. in Neuroscience. I graduated in 1996 and began work as a junior psychiatrist in Manchester in 1998, combining clinical training (on schemes based in Manchester and Cambridge) with academic study in law and ethics. I studied English Law part-time at the College of Law. My dissertation was a comparative analysis of the influence of medical and social models of disability in English and American disability discrimination legislation. I passed the Common Professional Examination and Post-Graduate Diploma in Law in 1999, a few months after the birth of my daughter. After a career break, I studied for my MA in Medical Ethics and Law at King’s College London. My dissertation considered the issue of preventive detention, against the backdrop of controversial plans to reform the Mental Health Act 1983. I returned to clinical psychiatry in 2002 and joined the CIDDRG in 2004, using research time to undertake a comparative analysis of mental health legislation in 32 Commonwealth jurisdictions.

For more information about my project ...             My CIDDRG publications and presentations ...

My PhD project is entitled ‘The possibility of friendship with people who have profound intellectual disabilities’.  I am interested in friendship as a possible framework for ethical relations with people with profound ID.  Some of the questions I am considered are:  Is friendship a feature of the local contexts in which people with profound ID live?  If, so, how is achieved and what value do people attach to it?  What is the status of friendship in comparison with alternative frameworks such as care, family and citizenship?  My supervisors are Dr Marcus Redley and Dr Howard Ring.  Prior to starting my PhD in October 2007, I worked in statutory and voluntary sector services as a social worker and care manager with adults with a range of disabilities and needs.  I continue to be registered as a social worker and learning disability nurse, and am a social work practice teacher.  I am interested in interdisciplinary working in practice and academic settings, and am one of the convenors of an interdisciplinary study group on health and welfare (http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/page/33/health--welfare.htm).

For more information about my project ...      My CIDDRG publications ...       My presentations ...              

Background

I received an MSc in Exercise Physiology from the University of Chichester in September 2006, having previously received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southampton. My MSc research project investigated the short-term power spectral analysis of heart rate variability in patients with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes. For many years I have worked with children and adolescents with a variety of intellectual disabilities such as Down’s syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. I am currently researching under the supervision of Professor Tony Holland the physical activity patterns of people with intellectual disabilities and the physiological mechanisms that contribute to this for people with Down’s syndrome. I am kindly funded by the Down’s Syndrome Association and the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Health Professions Student Grant.

I graduated from the University of Bristol in 2007 with a BSc in Experimental Psychology, and in 2008, with an MSc in Neuropsychology. During my Masters degree and for six months after graduating, I worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Experimental Psychology Department at the University of Bristol, with  Dr. Christine Mohr. I worked on a project exploring individual differences in cognition, personality and creativity. I joined the CIDDRG in May 2009, as a Research Assistant. Funded by the CLAHRC for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, to work with Dr. Isabel Clare. I have been awarded a CLAHRC funded PhD Studentship and, from October, 2009, will be working with Dr. Andrew Bateman at the Oliver Zangwill Centre, Ely, and Dr. Howard Ring, on a project exploring  new interventions for the rehabilitation of acquired brain injury, in particular executive dysfunction.