Projects
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Inspiring Teaching Delivery
The CRAE team is incredibly proud of our Director, Anna Remington, who has been nominated for an award for Inspiring Teaching Delivery in the UCL Student Choice Awards 2019!
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World Autism Awareness Week
For #WAAW our autistic colleagues and collaborators shared their views and experiences of autism research on Facebook and Twitter. Kana Umagami: 1st year PhD student at CRAE Robyn Steward: Autism trainer, consultant, broadcaster, author, musician and researcher. You can find out more about Robyn here https://www.robynsteward.com/ Autistic Peer Group: Siena Castellon: 16-year old autism and neurodiversity…
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CRAE 9th Annual Lecture
We are delighted to announce that the 2019 CRAE Annual Lecture will be given by Peter Vermeulen, who will speak on ‘Autism and Happiness: from Neurodiversity to Neuroharmony’. Peter explains that with more than 10 scientific articles per day, autism is just about the most studied condition in the world. We need all this research…
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IoE Postgraduate Evening
Come and say “hi” at the UCL Institute of Education postgraduate open evening tomorrow, 6th March 2019! From 4.30- 7pm you can learn more about courses on offer at the UCL Institute of Education. Members of the CRAE team will also be there, using Muse headbands to see how calm or active your brain is!…
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Autistic Peer Group
The Autistic Peer Group was set up by Kana Umagami. Kana is a PhD student here at CRAE. Kana is autistic herself, and founded the group so that autistic students at UCL have a space to share their experiences and support each other. The group meets every Wesnesday 4-5pm in 55-59 Gordon Square. Autistic students,…
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Brett Heasman interviewed by LSE
CRAE’s Brett Heasman was recently interviewed about his PhD research at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) by Social Science Space. As the winner of the ESRC Future Promise prize (2018), Brett discusses how he was able to make an impact through his research, which focused on how autistic people are perceived…
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CRAE Christmas Card Competition
Now in its sixth year running, the CRAE Xmas Card Design Competition is one of the highlights of the CRAE calendar! We invite all autistic children and young people, including pupils from the schools with whom we work, to take part in designing our festive greetings card, sent out annually from our Centre. We received…
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Celebrating CRAEtivity
On 13th December 2018, CRAE hosted Celebrating CRAEtivity: An Evening of Autistic Art & Music. This extra special event featured incredible performances. World-renowned blind and autistic pianist Derek Paravicini, shared the stage with Professor Adam Ockleford (Director of the Applied Music Research Centre at the University of Roehampton). We were also treated to live painting…
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Mental health and autism
Mental health is a major public health issue, particularly for autistic people. Know your Normal: In 2017, members of the CRAE team (Laura Crane and Liz Pellicano) collaborated with a group of young autistic people from the charity Ambitious about Autism (Fern Adams, Georgia Harper and Jack Welch) to co-produce a research study as part…
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Access to justice
Access to justice is a key issue for many sectors of society, but can be particularly problematic for those with communication difficulties. This makes us think that autistic people may be at risk in the justice system (in both criminal settings and family courts). CRAE, together with colleagues at City University of London, the University…
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SUPER
Superior perceptual capacity in autism: investigating universality, specificity and practical applications for learning Our previous research has found that autistic people can take in more information at any given moment, e.g., are better at detecting a target sound hidden among other sounds, compared to non-autistic people. This could be useful in some situations, but problematic…
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Puberty and menstruation in autistic women and girls
Autistic women and girls are heavily underrepresented and understudied in research. In particular, we know very little about autistic women and girls’ experiences of puberty and menstruation. Puberty in Autistic Girls: CRAE researchers identified that very little research exists on the experience of puberty for autistic girls, especially for those who are minimally verbal with…
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Autistic people’s access to diagnosis and healthcare
Accessing an autism diagnosis Accessing an autism diagnosis is a key milestone for autistic people and their families. Yet, lengthy delays in receiving an autism diagnosis are commonly reported. This can be stressful for the person and their family, and is not helped by the lack of support offered post-diagnosis. Led by Laura Crane, CRAE…
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Autism and education
All children and young people deserve access to a high-quality education. Yet we know that autistic people often report negative experiences of school. CRAE research focuses on better understanding the educational experiences of autistic children, and identifying effective, evidence-based ways to best support them. Some examples of our educationally-focused research projects are listed below: Pan…
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Robots, artificial intelligence and autism
The DE-ENIGMA Horizon 2020 project is a large, EU-funded project. It studies the potential of human-like robots as tools in autism education. This project brings together the UCL Institute of Education and partner institutions across Europe, representing both technical and autism-focused expertise. This research project explores the feasibility of robot-assisted teaching as part of autism…
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Clare Truman
PhD reseracher Clare has been teaching for ten years, most recently in a school for autistic children and young people. Clare is founder of Spectrum Space, providing distance learning to autistic children who find it difficult to access school. Clare completed her BA in Education Studies at Cambridge University and her PGCE and Masters in…
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Alison Livemore
Alison joined CRAE as a part-time PhD student in 2018 under the supervision of Laura Crane. Alison’s research investigates good autism practice in Additional Resource Provisions (ARPs) for autistic pupils. She studies the perspectives of professionals, parents and pupils with regards to educating autistic pupils in ARPs. Alison wants to develop a greater understanding of…
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Jana Brinkert
Jana is a post-doctoral researcher at CRAE. Jana completed her BSc in Psychology at the University of Kent, and her MSc in Psychology of Education at UCL Institute of Education. Jana completed her PhD at CRAE, studying perceptual abilities in autistic people. Jana is interested in strengthening cognitive control in autism. By investigating behavioural performance…
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Anna Remington
Professor of Autism Research, and former CRAE Director (2017-2026) Anna joined CRAE in 2013 and was our Director from 2017 through to 2026. She began working in the field of autism research in 2004 after receiving a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. She obtained a Masters in Human Communication Science and…
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Laura Crane
Laura joined CRAE in 2015 and currently holds the role of Professor of Autism Research and Education and Deputy Director of CRAE. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the educational experiences of autistic children and young people (in mainstream and special schools), and identifying evidence-based ways to support pupils, their families and their educators. Laura also…
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Collaborators
Ali Northcott: Artist in Residence & Honorary Researcher Ali is CRAE’s Artist in Residence, undertaking a research and development project exploring potential links between neurodiversity and creativity, funded by the Arts Council England. As part of her residency, Ali is looking at adults with autistic traits in the Arts, focusing on those involved in body-based…
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Kana Grace
Bio: Kana is an Honorary Research Fellow at CRAE where she completed her PhD. Her doctoral research investigated and characterized loneliness in autistic adults, with particular focus on measurements and lived experiences. You can read her thesis here. Kana is multiply-neurodivergent, and she is keen to co-produce her research with other neurodivergent people. She is…
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Ellie Buckley
Ellie, now graduated, was a PhD student at CRAE, where she examined the prevalence of autistic traits in the performing arts. She investigated autistic traits, and their links to creativity in the performing arts. She identified areas of strength and challenge, and designs interventions to promote inclusion, both in education and employment. Her research project was…
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Previous CRAE Members
CRAE STAFF:Eloise Ainger – Research AssistantAlyssa Alcorn – Postdoctoral ResearcherJoe Barker – Research AssistantMelissa Bovis – Research Communication and Engagement OfficerJanina Brede – Research OfficerTony Charman – Former DirectorSarah Crockford – Research AssistantJake Fairnie – Postdoctoral Research OfficerAnne Fritz – Research Communication and Engagement OfficerAlexander Hay – Research Communication and Engagement OfficerBrett Heasman – Postdoctoral…
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Mel Romualdez
Mel is Director of CRAE, Associate Professor, and a Lecturer (Teaching) in Psychology at the IOE. Mel joined CRAE as a doctoral student under the supervision of Anna Remington and Zachary Walker. She completed her PhD focusing on the diagnostic disclosure experiences of autistic adults in workplace settings. Before coming to London, Mel worked for…
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Maria Ashworth
Maria is a PhD student at CRAE, tracking and evaluating an education to employment programme for autistic young people called Employ Autism, which was set up by the autism charity Ambitious about Autism. Anna Remington (CRAE) and Brett Heasman (York St John University) supervise Maria’s research. Maria’s PhD research is tracking and evaluating an education…