Neurodivergent Researchers in Autism Research: A Survey within the AIMS-2-TRIALS Consortium

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. four authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Bianco, T. D., Lockwood Estrin, G., Lautarescu, A., Oakley, B., Eaton, E., Terčon, J., Douglas, S., Plas, J. R. D., Belton, D., Loth, E., Doherty, M., & Jones, E. (2026). Neurodivergent Researchers in Autism Research: A Survey within the AIMS-2-TRIALS Consortium [Preprint]. F1000 Research Ltd. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.19394.2

Publication date: 9 Jul 2026 Added to AutiHub: 11 Jul 2026 Type: Preprint Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
12
Publication authors identified as autistic
4 / 12 (33.3%)
  1. Teresa Del Bianco
  2. Georgia Lockwood Estrin
  3. Alexandra Lautarescu
  4. Bethany Oakley
  1. Eliza Eaton *
  2. Jerneja Terčon
  3. Sarah Douglas *
  4. Jan Roderik Derk Plas *
  1. David Belton
  2. Eva Loth
  3. Mary Doherty *
  4. Emily Jones

Abstract

Background Growing emphasis on participatory and community-informed research has increased interest in the representation of neurodivergent researchers within the research workforce. This exploratory study investigated the presence of neurodivergent researchers within a large European autism research consortium and examined associations with selected demographic, occupational, and mental health characteristics. Methods An anonymous survey was distributed to active contributors within the consortium. Participants reported autism diagnosis status, self-identification, other neurodevelopmental conditions, demographic characteristics, career stage, and lifetime mental health diagnoses. Results 33% percent of participants met the study definition of neurodivergence, including researchers with a formal autism diagnosis, those undergoing diagnostic assessment, self-identified autistic researchers, and researchers reporting other neurodevelopmental conditions. Neurodivergent researchers were represented across all career stages within the consortium. Neurodivergence was associated with increased odds of reporting a lifetime mental health diagnosis after adjustment for age and gender. Bayesian sensitivity analyses produced consistent findings. Conclusions These findings provide an initial characterisation of neurodivergent researchers within a large autism research consortium and underscore the importance of considering neurodivergent researchers as part of broader discussions on inclusion in autism research. Further research across multiple research settings is needed to better understand workforce experiences, disclosure, and support needs.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 07:50.

Cited references
25
With a DOI
22
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
3
7 / 25 (28.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 25 (8.0%)
References with detected author names
23 / 25 (92.0%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
3
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
106
From DOI or external metadata
106
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
70 / 106 (66.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 36 / 106 (34.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
12 / 106 (11.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 12 / 70 (17.1%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 12 / 94 (12.8%).
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