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I joined the Tizard full time in August 2006 prior to which I worked in the NHS as a Specialist Psychologist in Learning Disability & Challenging Behaviour and as a Behaviour Specialist within a peripatetic NHS challenging needs service for a period of 7 years. My interests include mindfulness, person centred planning, positive behaviour support, communities of practice, autism and organisational influences on human service outcomes. I am just beginning a long overdue PhD, conducting an ethnography on communities of practice within learning disability provision and related systems.

Karen has joined the Tizard Centre as a researcher to work with Dr Michelle McCarthy on a project examining Domestic Violence and Women with Learning Disabilities which is funded by the NIHR School for Social Care.

Jennifer Leigh’s doctoral research was a phenomenological study on children’s perceptions, expressions and reflections of embodiment. She is an accredited Somatic Movement Therapist, a Qualified School Teacher and an experienced Yoga Instructor. She currently works as project manager on a study looking at Costs and Outcomes of Skilled Support for Individuals with Complex Needs. This has been funded by the National Institute for Health Research School of Social Care Research and aims to show whether quality of life outcomes are related to the level of skilled support an individual receives, or the costs of providing support. She is also research associate on the evaluation of ‘Imagining Autism’, an AHRC funded drama intervention for primary school children with autism. The Tizard Centre team, working with Dr David Wilkinson, in the School of Psychology, is evaluating the intervention which is building on a pilot study that demonstrated improvements in children’s imaginative and social play.

Rebecca is pursuing her PhD at the Tizard Centre, University of Kent. Rebecca obtained her first-class BSc degree in Psychology at the University of Birmingham in June 2012 and was the Psychology department's nominee for the Vice Chancellor's Prize. During her study Rebecca completed a summer studentship at the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Birmingham, as well as working as an Applied Behaviour Anaylst and volunteering at Special Education Schools.