Research Requests
AV regularly receives requests from researchers to advertise opportunities for our community to participate in their research projects.
Each of the research studies listed below are current academic studies researching various aspects of the lives and experiences of individuals within our community.
They include information about the goal of the study, the participant eligibility criteria, what participation involves, and any remuneration or compensation for your time and input.
If you meet the eligibility criteria for any of the below studies and would like to participate, please click the link provided for that study to find out more or to register.
If you would like to know more about any of the studies, please contact the nominated researcher for more information.
Information for researchers
If you are an academic researcher seeking participants for a current study relevant to our community and you would like to advertise your study on our website, we would be happy to assist you with this.
Please complete our research request form.
This form will ask you a series of questions about your study. Our admin team will use your responses to prepare a dot-point summary for upload to our website.
The form will also ask you to upload a PDF of your study's ethics approval. Please note that we cannot upload a study without an ethics approval.
When both of these steps have been completed, our research volunteer will be in contact with you to confirm that we have all of the required information and to advise you of the next steps.
Note: as of February 2023, our Research Support volunteer role is vacant.
All research requests are being processed by our Community Administration Manager, which means that it may take a little longer for your study to be uploaded or for you to receive a response.
If you or someone in your team may be interested in joining the AV team as our Research Support volunteer, we would love to hear from you! Please complete our online application form or contact our AV admin team for more information.
Studies currently seeking participants
Exploration of Differences in Autistic and Non-Autistic Women’s Pregnancy Experiences
Who is conducting this study?
Associate Professor Mark Stokes, Deakin University
Who is eligible to participate?
Women who are over 18, who are currently pregnant, or who have been pregnant in the past twelve months.
What does participating involve?
Participants are asked to take an online survey that will take approximately 30 minutes. The survey will ask participants about their pregnancy and following pregnancy experiences, and whether sensory sensitivities associated with autism made their experience more challenging at times.
How will this research help people with Aspergers / autistic people?
Our findings will identify aspects of pregnancy that autistic women find particularly challenging. We hope to help prenatal and postnatal services to become better informed, and more inclusive of autistic women in their care and their needs.
How can I register to participate? Register via the study page on Deakin University website
Where can I find further information? Via the study page on Deakin University website
Researcher contact details: Jessica Hooley (intern) - j.hooley@deakin.edu.au
Closing date: 31 December 2023
Autistic Experiences of Interpersonal Violence
This research project is autistic-led and has undergone the co-design process.
University / Institution / Faculty conducting the study
Kassandrah Cooke, PhD Candidate, The Healthy Autistic Life Lab (HALL) at Deakin University
Who is eligible to participate?
Autistic adults (18 years or older) with low support needs (i.e., without a co-occurring intellectual disability) and non-autistic adults (18 years or older) with a previous history of interpersonal violence.
What does participating involve?
Participants will be asked to engage in a recruitment briefing (phone call with the primary researcher). You will be able to ask questions about the research and to provide additional verbal consent. Participation will also involve completing an online survey that asks questions relating to demographics, mental health, social behaviour, and violence experiences. Interested participants may also engage in an interview to describe their violence experience(s).
How will this research help people with Aspergers / autistic people?
In addition to the aims stated in the above summary, it is also hoped that the findings from this research will assist in identifying key areas for future research, and inform the development and implementation of interventions, policies, or procedures aimed at identifying, preventing, and supporting autistic individuals affected by violence.
How can I register to participate? Participants can register their interest by contacting the student researcher, Kassandrah Cooke: cookek@deakin.edu.au
Where can I find further information? Email Kassandrah Cooke: cookek@deakin.edu.au. She can send you a plain language and consent form and arrange a recruitment briefing for interested participants.
Researcher contact details: Kassandrah Cooke, PhD Candidate at cookek@deakin.edu.au
Closing date: 31 December 2024
Neurodivergent adults' attitudes towards early supports
Participants will be asked about their lived experience of early supports/interventions, and to respond to vignettes where an early support/intervention has been recommended for a young person. There is also a questionnaire that asks about the participant's attitudes towards different intervention goals for neurodiverse young people
Who is conducting this research?
Dr Nerelie Freeman, Lecturer and educational/developmental psychologist, School of Educational Psychology & Counselling, Monash University
Who is eligible to participate?
Any adult who has been diagnosed or self-identified as neurodivergent
What does participating involve?
Completing a 30 minute online survey. Reflecting on your own experiences of early supports may be triggering, so be aware of your own needs before deciding whether to participate in this survey. Support services are provided on the explanatory statement and within the survey if participants get distressed and wish to seek support. Participants will be able to go into the draw to win a $25 Coles voucher. Identifying information is provided in a separate survey that is not linked to survey responses.
How will this research help people with Aspergers / autistic people?
We want to explore attitudes and lived experiences of neurodiverse adults to help inform supports for young people, and whether certain supports and goals are considered more acceptable than others.
How can I register to participate? Visit the study registration page.
Where can I find further information? The explanatory statement appears on a page prior to participants entering the survey. Interested participants can also email the student researchers directly.
Researcher contact details: Probationary psychologists Isabella Montesano - imon0007@student.monash.edu or Katherine Cail - kcai0004@student.monash.edu
Closing date: 30 June 2023
Autistic adolescents, examining what helps or hinders their successful experience of secondary school
Seeks the views of autistic secondary students, parents, educators, on what is working/not working for this group at school. Adolescence can be a tough time for autistic teens and they are more likely to have a negative experience of school. Also, very little research includes their perspective. One aim is to write a set of guidelines for schools so that they can better support these students.
Who is conducting this research?
Clare Kermond, PhD candidate, Latrobe University, Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre.
Who is eligible to participate?
Autistic teens in mainstream secondary schools, parents of autistic teens, educators.
What does participating involve?
One or two interviews of half an hour each, either in person or online, not connected with schools. Autistic interviewees will be given options of many accommodations including camera on or off (for online interviews), questions spoken, in writing or a sound recording, answers given verbally, in writing or drawn, some answers using emoticons, breaks as needed.
Participants will be recompensed at the rate of $30 per interview.
In person interviews will be at a location convenient to the participant but not at school, for example a park or library near school or at home.
How will this research help people with Aspergers / autistic people?
A key aim is the development of a set of guidelines for autism -informed schools to guide the whole school community to better support autistic students and their families/carers. The results will also be disseminated widely to raise awareness and understanding of the challenges of autistic secondary students and how to better support them.
How can I register to participate? Contacting the researcher, Clare Kermond. They will send interested participants an information statement and consent form.
Where can I find further information? Contact the researcher, Clare Kermond.
Researcher contact details: Clare Kermond - C.kermond@latrobe.edu.au
Closing date: 31 July 2023
We are conducting research to investigate whether a potential new intervention could be useful for people on the autism spectrum. This intervention is called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. TMS is a safe and non-invasive means of stimulating nerve cells in a particular part of the brain via the administration of brief magnetic pulses. TMS has been developed for a range of conditions, including depression.
Who is conducting this research?
Children’s Health Queensland, Deakin University, Epworth HealthCare, Monash University, Murdoch University, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Telethon Kids Institute, University of Adelaide, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, University of Western Australia
Who is eligible to participate?
Individuals between 14-40 years with a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder by a registered psychiatrist, paediatrician, neurologist, or psychologist.
What does participating involve?
This study involves questionnaires and interviews on the topic of quality of life, cognitive assessments (e.g., computer tasks); neurophysiological recording (i.e., EEG), neuroimaging, genetic tests, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Participants will need to travel to Deakin University, Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health (ECIMH), Monash Biomedical Imaging (Monash University). Participants will receive a $200 Prezzee voucher.
How will this research help people with Aspergers / autistic people?
The outcome of this study is to establish effective interventions for the core social communicative symptoms in autism.
How can I register to participate? Visit the study website
Where can I find further information? Visit the study website
Researcher contact details: Natalia Albein-Urios - natalia.albeinurios@deakin.edu.au
Closing date: 1 May 2025
Working out dads for fathers of children with a disability: Acceptability Study
Who is conducting this research?
Tweddle, MCRI and Swinburne University of Technology
Who is eligible to participate?
Fathers of children aged 0-4 years who have been diagnosed with a disability or special health care need (e.g., developmental, intellectual, neurological, physical) who reside in Australia.
What does participating involve?
Participants will attend a weekly online workout once a week for 6 weeks from 7:00pm to 8:30pm in Term 2 of 2023 (day to be decided). There is no charge.
Prior to completing the program, participants will be asked to participate in a baseline survey followed by a post-survey after completing the program.
Following completion of the study, participants will also be asked to complete a brief telephone interview about their thoughts of the program.
After completing the study, fathers will receive a $25 supermarket gift card via email.
How will this research help people with Aspergers / autistic people?
The research aims to help fathers of children with additional health care needs (including autistic children by evaluating whether the Working Out Dads program is acceptable for this cohort and/or needs altering. The program aims at developing parenting skills, managing stressors, and maintaining relationships. Overall, improving the well-being of fathers, and therefore, the family system autistic people / people with autism are from.
How can I register to participate? Visit the study website
Where can I find further information? Visit the study website
Researcher contact details: A/Prof Rebecca Giallo - rebecca.giallo@mcri.edu.au; Dr Monique Seymour - monique.seymour@mcri.edu.au; A/Prof Catherine Wood - cwood@swin.edu.au
Closing date: 15 September 2023
Parental Acceptance and Understanding of Autistic Children
A team of researchers from the University of Queensland are working to improve the support we can offer to families of autistic children. As part of this important work, we are developing a new questionnaire to measure parents’ acceptance and understanding of their autistic child.
Who is conducting this research?
Sarah Lee (Clinical Psychologist & PhD Candidate), The University of Queensland
Who is eligible to participate?
Parents (i.e., adults fulfilling a parental role, including adoptive and foster parents or legal guardians) of autistic children (including diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or Asperger’s syndrome) between the ages of 2 and 18 years are invited to participate.
What does participating involve?
Parents are invited to complete an online survey which will take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.
Parents will be sent a second much shorter (approximately 10 minutes) follow-up survey 2 weeks later.
How will this research help people with Aspergers / autistic people?
The mental health of autistic people is strongly influenced by whether or not they feel accepted by those around them. We already know that parents’ acceptance of their child’s autism diagnosis is linked to better outcomes for autistic children and their parents, however, there is currently no research on parent’s acceptance of their whole autistic child.
Developing a questionnaire to measure parents’ acceptance and understanding of their autistic child is a crucial next step in helping us to promote greater understanding and acceptance of autism and to improve the support that we can offer to families of autistic children.
This is part of a series of studies ultimately aimed at developing a parenting support program for parents of autistic children. In a previous study, we asked autistic adults to reflect on their childhood experiences of being parented, including what was helpful and important, and what was not helpful. They told us that unconditional acceptance and understanding of autism was extremely important to them. From their responses, we have created a new questionnaire to measure parents’ acceptance and understanding of their autistic child. The purpose of the study is to test this new questionnaire, which may be used in future research and clinical practice with families of autistic children.
How can I register to participate? Visit the study website
Where can I find further information? Visit the study website
Researcher contact details: Sarah Lee (Clinical Psychologist & PhD Candidate) - lee.jy.sarah@uq.net.au
Closing date: 31 August 2023
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