Read all about what the STAR team have been up to over the last few months! Download our latest newsletter here: STAR Newsletter Autumn Winter 2022

Dr Eilidh Cage is attending Autism Europe to present recent research on the topic of adult autism diagnosis. You can view/download the poster below to find out more about the project. We are currently writing up this study for publication and hope to share the preprint soon!

Autism Europe poster download

You may have noticed that at around this time of year, lots of researchers are looking for participants on Twitter! Part of the reason for this is because Masters students are looking for people to help them with their dissertation research. Studying the Autism Research MSc means that students get to investigate a topic of interest to them, under the supervision of an academic member of staff. 

The following projects are currently looking for participants, and all have received ethical approval from the University of Stirling. Most surveys take between 15 to 30 minutes to do. 

Focused Interests, Wellbeing and Museum Experience in Autistic and Non-autistic Adults

Sarah Dantas is looking for autistic and non-autistic people to complete an online survey that involves questions about focused interests, wellbeing, and experiences in art galleries and/or museums. This survey is open to anyone who is aged over 18 and lives in the UK.

You can take part here.

What is the relationship between masking and making sense of identity?

Ammaar Amjad is looking for autistic people to complete his survey about experiences of masking (or camouflaging) and how this relates to identity (sense of who you are). The survey is open to autistic people aged over 18. 

You can take part here.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Openness towards Autistic Athletes within Athletics Coaches in the United Kingdom

Emily Greenan is looking for athletics coaches in the UK to do her survey about their knowledge, attitudes and openness towards autistic athletes. You can take part if you are an active coaching member at an athletics club within the United Kingdom, or you are involved in a club committee in a non–coaching role.

You can do the survey here.

A survey of Scottish mental health professionals’ autism knowledge

David Myers is doing an online survey looking at autism knowledge and self-confidence in working with autistic people, among clinical staff working in mental health settings within NHS Scotland. You can take part if you currently work in NHS Scotland in a mental health-related setting.

Do the survey here.

Understanding the attitudes of social care professionals toward autistic people

Jen Dow is looking at attitudes towards autistic people held by social care professionals in Scotland. You can take part if you work in social care in Scotland.

Find the survey here.

For all of our surveys, your time and consideration is much appreciated! Contact details for each student and their supervisor is available within each of the links provided above.

We have recently learned of a newly funded project at the University of Stirling called “The Cortical Head Direction System as a Model for Systems-level Alterations in Three Rat Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder/Intellectual Disability”. The project has been funded by the Simon’s Foundation and is in collaboration with the University of Dundee and McGill University in Canada. We first learned of this project after the funding had been awarded. 

We believe it is important to make clear that the Stirling Autism Research (STAR) team is not associated with this project in any way. We do not believe that rat (or any other animal) models can reflect the autistic experience. Such research is incompatible with the values and priorities of our team and the wider autistic community.

We would like to reiterate that STARs values are: Humility, Compassion and Inclusion. We aim to do ethical, rigorous and inclusive autism research that will ultimately make a meaningful difference in autistic people’s everyday lives. We research topics such as mental health and wellbeing, community, identity, minority stress, masking, aging, memory and everyday thinking. You can find out more about the individual team members and our research here. We have also updated our ‘useful links‘ page to include some helpful resources and recommended papers. 

STARTS – Striving to Transform Autism Research Together-Scotland – is a new network organised by Dr Eilidh Cage, Dr Monique Botha (both University of Stirling) and Dr Catherine Crompton (University of Edinburgh). The network is funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh for two years. The network aims to bring together autistic people and autism researchers in Scotland. We believe that one way to improve autism research is to use participatory research – involving people who are being researched in the research process as equal partners. STARTS therefore aims to create a new network where autism researchers (both autistic and non-autistic!) can do research with autistic people in Scotland on topics that are important to them.

You can find out more about STARTS on the new website: https://startsnetwork.co.uk/about or by following STARTS Network on Twitter: https://twitter.com/STARTSNetwork

We are currently looking for autistic co-researchers to get involved with STARTS. We will be running an event on March 8th at 4pm where you can find out more about what being a co-researcher means, and ask any questions. You can register to attend the event here. The event will be online via Zoom, hosted by Dr Eilidh Cage but the whole STARTS team will be there to say hello. We will have a British Sign Language interpreter and the event will be recorded and shared afterwards. 

If you have any questions about STARTS, you can contact the team at startsnetwork@stir.ac.uk 

We are delighted to share our latest newsletter! Find out what’s been happening with STAR over the past few months, and some of our plans for 2022:

Newsletter Spring 2022_v2