Neuro-inclusive Recruitment: lessons learned from research

Perhaps the most important thing to do when conducting research with and about neuroinclusive populations is to include neurodivergent people at all stages of research – from design to dissemination and everything in between. It is critical, therefore, that researchers recruit participants (both research subjects and members of the research team in a neuro-inclusive way.

Recruiting neuro-inclusively and developing neuro-inclusive best practices is a dynamic process – one that involves learning from failures and successes and keeping in conversation with neurodiverse populations.

In this talk, Dr. Liam McDermott will discuss his own successes and failures in recruitment of neurodivergent research participants, trends in neurodiverse data collection, and share what he has learned from the research process.

Date: Wednesday 21 January 2026

Time: 12:30 – 13:30

Location: Quad Two, Rutherford Avenue, Harwell Campus and Online

This opportunity is open to both neurodiverse and neurotypical audiences to gain a deeper understanding of support available. The speaker will be presenting remotely but guests can attend either in-person or online.

About the speaker:

Dr. Liam McDermott is a physics education research postdoctoral fellow at the University of Connecticut – Avery Point. His research primarily focuses on investigating how neurodivergent students engage in physics problem-solving.

This talk is brought to you by the members of The Rosie Project – a Harwell-based neurodiversity networking group. We aim to share best practice to enable neurodiverse teams to thrive in the workplace. We’re open to anyone with an interest, whether or not you identify as neurodiverse.

The Rosie Project is open to everyone who has an interest in getting the best from their neurodivergent teams. We welcome neurotypicals and the inquisitive.