Alexandra Hendry

Alexandra Hendry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, specializing in early childhood executive function development. Her work focuses on identifying and supporting children at elevated likelihood of autism or ADHD through interventions like the START programme. She leads the START initiative, a longitudinal study investigating attention and executive function development from infancy to preschool age, and collaborates on the BICYCLE study analyzing pandemic impacts on child development.

Dr. Hendry completed her PhD at King’s College London, investigating executive functions in infants with familial autism/ADHD risks. She developed novel assessment tools including eye-tracking tasks and touchscreen games. In 2021, she received an NIHR and Castang Foundation Advanced Fellowship to advance the START programme’s translational research.

Her research integrates developmental psychology, neuroscience, and community engagement. Key themes include neurodiversity-inclusive measures, socioemotional regulation, and early intervention efficacy. She collaborates with institutions like the Oxford Early Executive Functions project and has published extensively on touchscreen effects, sleep patterns, and sensory processing in neurodivergent populations.

Dr. Hendry’s grants include the NIHR fellowship and projects funded by the Castang Foundation. She advises on caregiver sensitivity, early childhood education, and pandemic-related developmental challenges. Her lab’s work is disseminated through journals like Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Scientific Reports.