Prof Nickie Shaughnessy

About

My interests in autism and drama are personal and professional. I led the AHRC project ‘Imagining Autism’, an interdisciplinary collaboration between Drama and Psychology that tested the potential of theatre as a creative tool for working with autistic children. This excited my interest in autistic girls and gender identity. Since my first book on Gertrude Stein, my publications have focussed on theatre in educational and community contexts. This includes Applying Performance: Live Art, Socially Engaged Theatre and Affective Practice (2012) the edited collection Affective Performance and Cognitive Science ( 2013) and my latest volume (co-edited with Philip Barnard) Performing Psychologies: Imagination, Creativity and Dramas of the Mind (2019). As the project lead, my role is to integrate the different elements and to ensure that we change the face of autism research by drawing attention to gender, particularly through documenting the identities and experiences of autistic girls.