Professor Mary Hanley from our Department of Psychology has been awarded the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Impact and Engagement Award for 2024.
The award recognises Professor Hanley’s significant contribution to impact and engagement in the field of developmental psychology.
Professor Hanley joined Durham University in 2013 and co-founded our Centre for Neurodiversity and Development with Professor Deborah Riby in 2017.
She specialises in understanding strengths and difficulties for neurodiverse groups and is particularly interested in autism and Williams Syndrome. Her work focuses on attention, sensory arousal, and anxiety needs, especially in relation to educational provision and outcomes.
Over the last decade Professor Hanley has championed evidenced-based practice in her field. She is committed to finding ways to secure research engagement and impact far beyond academia.
As part of this, Professor Hanley has developed strong working collaborations with organisations including Williams Syndrome Foundation UK, Williams Syndrome Association of Ireland, North East Autism Society and Investing in Children.
A cornerstone of Professor Hanley’s work has been her commitment to working with the autistic community, to ensure her work brings tangible benefits.
In 2022, Professor Hanley led a partnership between the Centre for Neurodiversity and Development and the Communication and Interaction Team from Durham County Council, to launch a teacher training tool to support the needs of autistic and neurodivergent pupils.
The tool is based on over a decade of research into the challenges that autistic pupils face around attention, anxiety, and was aptly named the Triple-A training. The role that the school environment plays in the challenges that autistic publics can face is a key focus of the training.
It was developed in partnership with key stakeholders including the autistic community and freely available for anyone to access. To date the training has been used by over 7600 individuals with the majority of users being education professionals. As well as users from across the UK, the training has also been accessed internationally by professionals from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, India and Malaysia.
Triple-A has become the Centre for Neurodiversity and Development’s flagship translational project that speaks directly to the Centre’s commitment to engagement and meaningful impact from research.
Professor Hanley’s commitment to public engagement in psychology research extends beyond her own work.
She has led on the delivery of public lectures and webinars, as well as co-hosting events including the ESRC Festival of Social Science events for our Centre for Neurodiversity and Development.
However, Professor Hanley’s biggest contribution to public engagement with developmental psychology has been her work to establish the Junior Scientist event for Durham University.
This event, now in its third year, has established an efficient and fun way for our psychology researchers to carry out public-facing, practical research with children. It has also helped to connect a wide range of families in our psychology research, leading to positive impacts on children’s aspirations and engagement in science.
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