Research group links

• College of Social Sciences and International Studies
• Egenis, the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences

Research interests

Prof. Russell is an interdisciplinary scholar of critical diagnosis studies and psychiatric epidemiology. Her research interests encompass diagnosis, COVID, neurodiversity, including autism, ADHD and dyslexia, and the socio-biological nexus of classification and narrative. Prof Russell is working on direct and indirect mechanisms linking diagnosis, identification and intervention with health inequalities. Her research to date is concerns neurodiversity in child and adolescent mental health, especially with reference to autism and ADHD. She has used secondary data analysis and qualitative methods to examine both causes and outcomes, and effects of diagnosis. 

Research projects and interests

• Trends in diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders
• Modeling  links between socio-economic status and ADHD
• Gender differences in ADHD
• Exploring diagnosis: Autism and the Neurodiversity movement

•  Autistic Experiences of Breast Cancer WordPress site https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/aebcstudy/.

   

Research supervision

Academic lead of postdocs

• Steven Kapp
• Jean Harrington
• Ruth Gwernan Jones
• Chris Elphick

Supervisor of PhD and masters students

• Abigail Russell
• Selina Nath
• William Thompson
• Michelle Whitham Jones
• Max Tucker
• Jennie Hayes
• Victoria Wren
• Tom Lister
• Rhianna White
• Kath Jones
• Elinor Jones
• Sawako Shinomiya
• Margaret Chirgwin
• Louise Toller
• Lucie Grando

External impact and engagement

Dr Russell was PI on an ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative project which ran from 2013-2014.  The primary aim was to examine whether the proportion of children with the symptoms that underpin autism increased over a ten year period, in tandem with increasing diagnosis. 

The findings from this analysis are discussed in an associated podcast and published as a journal article.

Another project assessed the association between ADHD and socio-economic disadvantage. This led to a PhD studentship for Abby Russell.

Dr Russell is currently PI on a Wellcome Trust funded project, Exploring Diagnosis. An associated film project has enabled autistic artists to create their own film work, and use the work to provoke dialogue around our research themes. Footage provides an insight into how adults with autism view the world, but visually not verbally. The idea is to give something back to the community whose voices and ideas we aim to document.

Magazine articles

An accurate diagnosis? Nasen: Special. (July 2015) National Association of Special Educational Needs Coordinators, p24-25.

·         Across the Spectrum. Britain in 2015. ESRC Publications. p230-38.

Modules taught

• ANT2088 - Health, Illness and Bodies in Contemporary Society: Part 2: Bodies in Society
• ANT3088 - Health, Illness and Bodies in Contemporary Society: Part 2: Bodies in Society
• SOC2088 - Health, Illness and Bodies in Contemporary Society: Part 2: Bodies in Society
• SOC3088 - Health, Illness and Bodies in Contemporary Society: Part 2: Bodies in Society
• SOCM019 - Research Methods in the Social Sciences
• SOCM020 - Research Methods in the Social Sciences

Biography

I trained as a researcher at the BBC’s Natural History Unit in Bristol, becoming a television producer/director (Full list of TV credits). In 2002 I joined the University of Exeter in a communications role, during my PhD I was retained as Public Engagement Officer and was involved in science communication through Exeter’s Café Scientifique.

I was awarded an ESRC/MRC PhD studentship in 2008 and completed my PhD in 2011. Since then I have been an interdisciplinary researcher in critical diagnosis studies, studying child and adult mental health, with a particular focus on neurodiversity.