Megan Freeth

Professor Megan Freeth serves as Professor of Neurodevelopmental Psychology and School Director of Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield's School of Psychology. Her internationally recognized research focuses on improving the lives of autistic individuals through co-produced studies addressing healthcare access, employment barriers, and societal inclusion, while simultaneously investigating autism's expression in rare genetic syndromes using innovative eye-tracking methodologies.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Psychology, University of Nottingham
• MSc in Psychology, University of Nottingham
• BSc in Psychology, University of Birmingham

Professor Freeth's research program centers on three interconnected themes:

• Societal Barrier Reduction: Conducting co-produced qualitative research to understand and dismantle obstacles faced by autistic people in healthcare systems and employment contexts through interpretative phenomenological analysis.
• Genetic Syndrome Phenotyping: Leading groundbreaking studies on autism manifestations in Sotos syndrome, Russell-Silver syndrome, SOX11 syndrome, and 16p11.2 copy number variations to unravel autism's heterogeneity.
• Real-World Social Attention: Utilizing mobile and laboratory eye-tracking to examine how autistic and neurotypical individuals process social cues in naturalistic environments.

Analysis of her recent publications (2022-2025) reveals a decisive shift toward participatory research methodologies where autistic individuals actively shape study design and implementation. Her work increasingly addresses systemic barriers in healthcare and employment while expanding genetic syndrome characterization through multimodal assessment. This dual focus on immediate quality-of-life improvements and fundamental neurodevelopmental mechanisms defines her impactful scholarly trajectory.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (2011-2013)
• ESRC Post Doctoral Fellowship (2009-2010)

Professor Freeth maintains an active supervisory portfolio with current PhD students Nazli Altin (primary), Aikaterini Giannadou, Louise Stokes, Jiayi Chen (co-supervision), and DClin student Rosie Wilson. Her research program is sustained by major funding including NIHR PDG (£148,622), NIHR RfPB (£249,883), and Colt Foundation (£80,953) grants focused on participatory systems mapping, post-diagnostic assessment, and employment barrier reduction respectively.

She directs the Sheffield Autism Research Lab (ShARL) within the University's Neuroscience Institute, leading interdisciplinary teams comprising cognitive neuroscientists, clinical psychologists, and geneticists. Her research group's collaborative approach with autistic communities and healthcare providers ensures direct translation of findings into practice through the International Classification of Functioning framework.