This is us; this is Edinburgh Neuroscience! This newly commissioned video summarises our purpose and vision. 👇

Our new paper on autism and hypermobility is out! Results indicate autistic people may experience more pronounced symptoms of hypermobility and more co-occurring health conditions. Full paper, open access, at the link 🔽 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Health experiences and outcomes of autistic and non-autistic adults with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorder - BMC Medicine

Background Previous research has indicated an association between hypermobility and autism. This study examined whether being autistic affects diagnosis, symptoms, and health experiences of people wit...

link.springer.com

🔔Fully-funded ESRC PhD studentship opportunity at The University of Edinburgh! Supervised by @katiecebula.bsky.social, Dr Michael Fleming and Patricio Troncoso + in collaboration with Mindroom and Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/...

🎉This #HelplineAwarenessDay we are celebrating our fabulous helpline team! 🎉 Our small and skilled team handle your emails and calls, offering a caring and compassionate ear and sharing advice around additional support for learning. Thank you - you are brilliant! @helplinesuk.bsky.social

We are showcasing a published paper by @cjcrompton.bsky.social et al. (2025), which explored information transfer in autistic, non-autistic, and mixed-neurotype chains in 311 individuals. This study is a replication and extension of the team's diffusion chain study in 2020.

ICYMI: Last week Children in Scotland published this piece about the brilliant Visible Voices project which gives agency to non-speaking learners. Read more: childreninscotland.org.uk/news-article... #complexneeds #ASN #supportneeds #additionalsupportneeds #Scotland

Children in Scotland@childreninscotland.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Stop what you're doing and read about this incredible project happening right here in Scotland 💡 Visible Voices strengthens the voice and agency of young people with complex communication needs. It helps staff notice and respond to non-verbal cues such as eye gaze, facial expressions and smiles...

Our new study, just published in Nature Mental Health: Symptom change in depression and anxiety during psychological therapy for autistic adults... [1/8] 🧵⤵️ #autres #mentalhealth www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Symptom change in depression and anxiety during psychological therapy for autistic adults - Nature Mental Health

Pender et al. evaluated depression and anxiety symptom trajectories in autistic adults receiving routine therapy in UK primary care.

nature.com

This is cool! National Autistic Taskforce offering small funding awards to autistic people based in the UK, for work supporting autistic people to live their best lives. Closing date is 28th Feb. nationalautistictaskforce.org.uk/nat-founders...

NAT Founders Award

The National Autistic Taskforce was founded in 2018 by Dr Dinah Murray, a well known autistic community member and an independent researcher and campaigner. Dinah died in 2021 and is sadly missed p…

nationalautistictaskforce.org.uk

🗞️🗞️NEW PAPER🗞️🗞️ “I think the humanity just gets lost over and over again”: A phenomenological study of the experiences of higher-weight medical students Read free: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... @bsmsmedschool.bsky.social #MedEd

We have a new paper out! We interviewed 8 autistic teachers to ask about their experiences in US schools. www.liebertpub.com/doi/epub/10....

Fully funded 3.5/4 year PhD project examining potential genetic relationships between autism and hypermobility. Full details here ⬇️ lnkd.in/exudY8AN 🙂 Supervisors: Me, Pippa Thomson, Mark Taylor 📩 Deadline: January 12th 2026 📅 Start: September 2026 🌍 Open to international students.

Lovely article from my friend and colleague @cjcrompton.bsky.social exploring the intersection of the double empathy problem and autism diagnostic criteria: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Remember, "Communication difficulties are not exclusive to autistic people; non-autistic individuals also struggle to understand autistic social behaviours, leading to a ‘double’ [empathy] problem in mixed-neurotype interactions." www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #autism #neurodiversity

An excellent letter from @cjcrompton.bsky.social on the profound challenge that the double empathy problem poses to how autism is described and researched.

Professor Julie Hulme@juliehulme-psyc.bsky.social · 8mo ago

This letter to the British Journal of Psychiatry tells us everything we need to know about current thinking in #autism research. Concise, accessible & powerful. Read it if you think autism = social deficits! #DoubleEmpathyProblem www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Applications are now open for 2026-27 Fellowships at IASH! Apply via the portal on our website: www.iash.ed.ac.uk/application-... This round (for visits between August 2026 and July 2027) closes on 27 Feb for mid-career/senior scholars, and on 24 Apr for postdoctoral/early-career researchers.

Representatives of autistic-led organisations giving evidence to Holyrood’s health, social care and sport committee said a national plan is needed to fix significant gaps in neurodevelopmental pathways: healthandcare.scot/stories/4295...

Autistic Scots push MSPs for neurodivergent-led change

A lack of accessible diagnosis and support is driving autistic people and their families into crisis, MSPs have been told. Representatives of autistic-led organisations giving evidence to Holyrood’s ...

healthandcare.scot

Phd alert 👇🏼

Catherine Crompton@cjcrompton.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We are recruiting a fully-funded 3.5yr PhD student to examine the potential genetic relationships between autism and hypermobility. Full details of the project and how to apply here ⬇️ usher.ed.ac.uk/precision-me... Deadline Jan 12th! Within the Precision Medicine DTC at Edinburgh.

We are recruiting a fully-funded 3.5yr PhD student to examine the potential genetic relationships between autism and hypermobility. Full details of the project and how to apply here ⬇️ usher.ed.ac.uk/precision-me... Deadline Jan 12th! Within the Precision Medicine DTC at Edinburgh.

Understanding the relationship between autism and hypermobility | Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme | Usher Institute

Precision Medicine Project - Understanding the relationship between autism and hypermobility

usher.ed.ac.uk

Really looking forward to this- we can probably accommodate a few last minute sign-ups 😊

Theo@earthowned.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Today I'm excited to being talking at the Edinburgh Neuroscience Afternoon about the real cost of academic publishing and big deals. Spoiler: they are expensive and not really transformative.

Yep, “autistic people often experience better rapport in all-autistic groups, and may be more sensitive to mixed [autistic/non-autistic] group environments than non-autistic people.” Research underscores autistic wisdom yet again! www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/... #autism #autistic #neurodiversity

Verbal Collaboration in Same- and Mixed-Neurotype Groups of Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults | Autism in Adulthood

Background: Research suggests that some autistic adults communicate more effectively and build stronger rapport with other autistic individuals than with non-autistic people. This suggests that outcom...

liebertpub.com

BOOKING NOW OPEN! Join us at our upcoming webinar, delivered with Teapot Trust, to discuss how to best support the educational needs of children and young people with long term health conditions. When: Tuesday 19 November, 4pm - 5.30pm Where: Online Book: events.humanitix.com/enquire-supp...

Supporting the education of children with long term health conditions, with Teapot Trust

This webinar will support professionals to understand how long-term health conditions can impact on children and young people’s education.

events.humanitix.com

We are so pleased to announce next month's #CRAEwebinar. Jada Brown will be speaking on 'Understanding the embodied experiences of Black, autistic university students in the UK' Do join us: Thur 6th Nov 4pm

Understanding the embodiment of UK Black, autistic university students

Jada Brown will consider what it might be like to navigate university as an autistic person who is also marginalised by their Blackness.

eventbrite.co.uk

📢 New paper out in Behavior Research Methods! With @cjcrompton.bsky.social we introduce duet, an R package for analysing dyadic motion data from OpenPose. It simplifies data wrangling, kinematics, & synchrony analysis of social interactions. Paper: doi.org/10.3758/s134...

duet: An R package for dyadic analysis of motion data generated by OpenPose - Behavior Research Methods

Research into dyadic social interactions has expanded significantly, enabling a deeper understanding of the dynamic processes underlying interpersonal communication. As the use of larger datasets becomes increasingly common in this field, the need for scalable and efficient analytical tools has grown. Automated coding methods, such as those provided by OpenPose, an open-source software for detecting and tracking human motion, offer significant advantages for analysing the movement of two individuals during an interaction. However, the processing and analysis of large quantities of JSON output files generated by OpenPose remain a considerable challenge. To address this, we introduce duet, an R package designed to streamline the processing and analysis of OpenPose output data, particularly in the context of dyadic interactions. The package provides a suite of functions for data cleaning, interpolation, kinematic analysis, and visualisation, offering researchers a comprehensive and user-friendly workflow. By simplifying the handling of OpenPose data, duet aims to facilitate large-scale, automated analysis of dyadic social interactions, with minimal coding experience, thereby advancing methodological capabilities in social and behavioural sciences.

doi.org

"I practice self-care by turning off the news periodically, and stepping back from the world. I made the realization that in my fight for justice, I was hurting my own mental health." Autistic academic TC Waisman on self-compassion and resilience, at TPGA: thinkingautismguide.com/2025/09/cher...

Cherishing Compassion While Autistic and Marginalized

T.C. Waisman, Monique Botha, and Wenn Lawson—three deeply compassionate autistic experts—on navigating the world while autistic.

thinkingautismguide.com

Don’t miss it and grab some of the last remaining online and in-person spots now for my public lecture at the end of my fellowship! 🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-for...

Centre for Neurodiversity and Development Public Lecture

Why autism isn't what you think it is (and why that matters) - end of fellowship Public Lecture by Dr Monique Botha

eventbrite.co.uk

Here’s our poster on the health experiences and outcomes of hypermobile autistic and non-autistic adults at #AECongress2025 :)

Is there any systemic review software, like Covidence, that is NOT subscription based?

Heading to @autismeurope.bsky.social this afternoon ☘️ looking forward to the conference & catching up with friends old & new. Say hi if you see me!👋 I've got posters on - Hypermobility (Thursday 2pm/Topic 1) - Dyadic interaction (Friday 2pm/Topic 11) - Wellbeing (Saturday 2pm/ Topic 3)

Did I achieve any of the things that I set out to at the start of summer? Absolutely not. But did I get a lovely new notebook because it was September 1st (which also fell on a Monday, so satisfying)? Bien sûr! Happy new academic year to all who celebrate 📓☕🥐✏️👩‍💻🏢

Our Special Issue on The Social Model in Autism Research is now available online & all articles are free until 11th September! journals.sagepub.com/toc/AUT/curr... Here are some of the brilliant things you can find in it... #AutismResearch #AutRes

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