Alexandra Sturrock

Dr. Alexandra Sturrock is a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Manchester's Division of Psychology Communication and Human Neuroscience. Her work focuses on autism spectrum disorders, particularly language and communication differences in autistic children and adults, with an emphasis on sex/gender disparities and intervention development. She leads modules in speech and language therapy programs, supervises doctoral and master's students, and collaborates on projects like the Nuffield Trust teacher training initiative and the SPAACE speech perception study.

• Education: BA Hons Linguistics & Spanish (2005), MMSc Human Communication Disorders (2009), PGDip Autism (2014), PhD (2020 part-time)
• External roles: External Examiner at UCL, Autism Diagnostician at The Roundway Centre

Research Interests:
- Language and communication profiles of autistic females vs. males
- Speech perception challenges in complex environments
- Development of emotion vocabulary measures (EVER)
- Teacher training for neurodiverse classrooms
- Quality of life in autistic women
- Co-produced methodologies with autistic communities

Awards:
- 2020 Betty Jackson Memorial Award (Speech Therapy Innovation)
- Multiple engagement awards for patient/public involvement
- 2019 Higher Education Academy Fellowship

Advising & Grants:
- Supervises PhD students in autism, audiology, and linguistics
- Co-leads Nuffield Trust-funded classroom intervention project
- Manages EU-funded Autism@Manchester network

Labs/Teams:
- Lead on the SPAACE project (Speech Perception in Autistic Adults)
- Co-developer of the HAVEN neurodiversity-affirming school groups
- Collaborator on EVER emotion vocabulary measure validation