Centre for Research in Autism and Education

CRAE’s mission is to help enhance the lives of autistic people and their families.

We conduct ground-breaking scientific research to enhance our knowledge about support, education and outcomes for autistic people, their families and those who support them. This research aims to be collaborative in nature; doing research with autistic people, rather than on or about them. 

We work to ensure that this evidence-based knowledge is translated to that it can have meaningful impact and make a real difference to people’s everyday lives. 

We are committed to actively engage with autistic people and their allies (e.g., families, teachers, clinicians), as well as policy-makers and the wider public to promote awareness and acceptance of autism. We strive to achieve this through collaborative research practice, sharing knowledge and hosting an active programme of free public engagement events. 

Director of Centre

• Dr Anna Remington, Associate Professor in Cognitive Science

Academic staff

• Dr Laura Crane, Deputy Director and Associate Professor
• Anne Fritz, Research Communications and Engagement Officer
• Pravina Tailor, Centre Coordinator
• Dr Alyssa Alcorn, Research Associate
• Dr Brett Heasman, Postdoctoral Researcher
• Maria Ashworth, Research Assistant 

PhD students

• Alison Livemore
• Clare Truman
• Ellie Buckley
• Jana Brinkert
• Julia Cook
• Kana Umagami
• Mel Romualdez

Visiting

• Ali Northcott, Artist in Residence
• Jade Davies, Undergraduate Placement Student (University of Manchester) 

CRAE was established in 2009 through generous donations from The Clothworkers' Foundation, Pears Foundation and Kirby Laing Foundation. 

We are also extremely grateful to our funders, including Pears Foundation, Ambitious about Autism, Autistica, The Bloomsbury Colleges, The British Academy, Economic and Social Research Council, European Research Council, UCL Grand Challenges, and Wellcome Trust. 

A huge thank you to all the autistic children, young people and adults, their families and those who support them, and to all of the schools with whom we work. Our work would simply not be possible without their continued support.