Welcome
I am a postdoc in the 'Health Neuroscience' lab led by Prof Paul Fletcher at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge.
This site contains information about my research interests, projects, events and also a little bit about what I do when I am not in the lab.
Outside of my PhD I am also interested in music, linguistics, maths, computer science and occasional nature photography. My (dubious) Erdős-Sabbath number is 12.
My research explores sensorimotor integration and somatosensation in autism spectrum conditions. In particular I aim to understand how optimal control and predictive processes may differ in individuals with autism spectrum conditions and how those can be related to the observed phenotypic heterogeneity. If you live close by and would like to take part in studies please don't hesitate to get in touch!
Using diagnostic and other assessment tools has sparked my interest in psychometrics and measurement theory. I've used item response theory and structural equation modelling to investigate some of these questions. My current online survey about personality traits can be found here.
We are interested in using virtual environments to investigate the effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on autonomic processes (cardiac and respiratory mechanisms) and behaviour.
As a follow-up of the EU-funded project Autism in Pink, we are now investigating the needs, quality of life and experiences of women on the autism spectrum in the UK.
Recent years have seen an increased awareness of the cultural and ethical challenges in autism research and the unease within the autism community with regard to the perceived attitudes of scientists conducting research into autism spectrum conditions. I'm interested in this apparent 'rift' and the interactions between researchers and volunteers.
I also help out with research on the computational and neurobiological basis of visual hallucinations drawing from both psychophysics as well as computer vision paradigms.
I am involved with the SPICE project which investigates the hormonal, behavioural and neural contributions to eating behaviour.
I have also done some work on the cognitive link between prospection (thinking about the future) and mentalising in individuals with ASC as a way to investigate various forms of mental self-projection.
I was part of an international randomised controlled trial of music therapy for children with autism. As a musician I am also more generally interested in how the arts and sciences can interact.