I passed my PhD viva!

Thrilled to announce that I’ve successfully defended my PhD titled “The Role and Impact of Family on Autistic Students’ University Journeys: A Community-Informed, Mixed-Methods Investigation” with minor corrections at the University of Portsmouth! My research explored the role and impact of family for autistic university students across 3 studies — a scoping review, an interview study, and an online survey.

Thanks to my supervisors, Emine Gürbüz, Steven Kapp, and Beatriz Lopez, for their guidance throughout the PhD journey. Special thanks to my examiners, Iris Nomikou and Jonathan Vincent, for an enjoyable viva discussion, and especially to Jonathan for making the trip down from Lancaster. Thanks also to the independent chair Jeremy Mills for making the time. Finally, thanks to the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership for the funding that enabled me to do this PhD.

Looking forward to the next chapter! Feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat about autism, family, higher education, or some combination of these — I’m always open to collaboration 🤓