Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson
Professor of Developmental Psychology; Director of the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre

- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences (Division of Psychiatry)
- Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre
- Patrick Wild Centre for Research into Autism, Fragile X Syndrome & Intellectual Disabilities
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Kennedy Tower
Royal Edinburgh Hospital - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH10 5HF
Background
I first became interested in developmental disabilities, and autism in particular, through my work with the Oundle School Mencap Holiday, an organisation I’ve been volunteering with since 1997 and of which I became a trustee from 2006-2016. Inspired by OSMH, I am continuing this work as founder of SuperTroop, a charity providing residential holidays for children and young people with learning disabilities.
As an undergraduate I studied Psychology at the University of St Andrews, and then went on to a Masters and PhD at Durham University, where I was fortunate to be supervised by the wonderful Professor Sue Leekam. My PhD research explored the spontaneous social attention preferences of autistic and non-autistic adults and adolescents, using a range of methods, including verbal descriptions, change blindness and eye-tracking. Since then I have worked under the fabulous mentorship of Professor Helen McConachie including a Nuffield Fellowship which funded the Click-East project. I became a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh based in the Patrick Wild Centre and in 2019 I moved into the role of Director of the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre.
I am a former trustee of Scottish Autism and working closely with this organisation, and autistic-led organisations such as ARGH and AMASE, to inspire and contribute to high-quality, respectful, evidence-based practice in Scotland. Public engagement is very important to me and I try to provide useful insights into research and accessible summaries of knotty academic issues in the DART blog.
Qualifications
- BSc (hons) Psychology, University of St Andrews (first class), 2003
- MA, Developmental Psychopathology, Durham University (with distinction), 2004
- PhD., 'Understanding social attention in adults with and without autism spectrum disorders', Durham University, 2008
Responsibilities & affiliations
Convenor of the Scottish ADOS Consortium
Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society
Research summary
I am interested in how children grow and learn, with a particular focus on non-normative experiences, such as autism and preterm birth.
My work aims to apply rigorous methods from psychology to questions with clinical, educational and societal impact. I strive to achieve meaningful partnerships with community representatives and to support neurodivergent leadership in research.
I am an advocate for open science and good citizenship in research.
Research aims and areas of interest
- Cognitive and behavioural approaches to understanding neurodiversity in (social) development & consequences for practice in education, health and social care
- Applied research for autism, drawing on Psychology, Medicine, Informatics and Education
- Complex intervention development and evaluation, including rigorous outcome measurement for clinical trials, and community trial methodology
- Infant cognition, and studying long-term outcomes in infants born premature
- Technology for learning; development of novel technologies to provide effective support, and evaluation of these in practice
- Methodologies: randomised controlled trials; eye-movement recording; experimental group comparisons; focus groups; interviews; online surveys, Delphi studies
Current project grants
Autism & Bilingualism in Childhood: http://dart.ed.ac.uk/research/bilingualism-childhood/
Theirworld Edinburgh Birth Cohort: www.tebc.ed.ac.uk/
Mental Health Data Science Scotland: https://mhdss.ac.uk/
-
“A Group of Fellow Travellers Who Understand”: Interviews With Autistic People About Post-diagnostic Peer Support in Adulthood
In:
Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 13
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.831628
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Transdiagnostic research and the neurodiversity paradigm: commentary on the transdiagnostic revolution in neurodevelopmental disorders by Astle et al.
In:
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13589
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment/debate (E-pub ahead of print) -
Experience of clinical services shapes attitudes to mental health data sharing: findings from a UK-wide survey
In:
BMC Public Health, vol. 22
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12694-z
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Social gaze in preterm infants may act as an early indicator of atypical lateralization
In:
Child Development
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13734
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Language function following preterm birth: prediction using machine learning
In:
Pediatric Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-021-01779-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)