Dr Gavin R. Stewart
British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow interested in ageing, autism, cognition, health & wellbeing 🧠 Also coordination lead and working group member of NHSE-funded Autism Practitioner Network 📝 He/him 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ Based at KCL 🏫
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartI'm editing a Special Collection for Women's Health on autistic women and girls' health and wellbeing - particularly interested in submissions from the Global South and with under-researched groups! journals.sagepub.com/topic/collec...
- Another new open-access paper (w/ Dr Elly Nuzum, Prof Josh Stott and Dr Amber John) has been published in Nature Mental Health! Using data from PROTECT (n=9979, age 50+), we found that the relationship between #autistic traits and #suicidality was mediated by mental health and social problems.
- Our new open-access paper (with Prof Josh Stott and Dr Amber John) has been published in JAMA Network Open. Using data from the BCS-1970 cohort, we found that childhood #ADHD traits were associated with increased risk of poorer long-term health outcomes and behaviours in midlife.
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartAre you the sibling of a person diagnosed with pathological or extreme demand avoidance? Or are you the parent of someone with pathological or extreme demand avoidance who has another child above the age of 18, who you think would be interested in taking part in research? We have a study for you! 1/
- Pleased to share a new community resource on #autism and #dementia that I co-produced with @dementiauk.bsky.social, @autistica.org.uk, and members of the autism and dementia community. www.dementiauk.org/information-... @kingsioppn.bsky.social
- The resource explains similarities, differences, changes to look out for, & where to find support. The webpage and PDF versions link to a range of different information pages, making it a helpful signposting hub. We're also working on other versions, including one for professionals.
- My former King's College London MSc DEVPP student, Sophie Roper, has published her dissertation on autism, sucidality and ageing. Supervised by me, plus @proffrancescahappe.bsky.social & @goldage.bsky.social The paper is open access in Molecular Autism: link.springer.com/article/10.1... #AutRes
- Here are some key findings: Autistic adults aged 40 to 93 reported far higher rates of suicidal ideation, self harming thoughts, deliberate self harm, and suicidal self harm than a matched non autistic group. #AutRes
- Within the autistic group, women and people assigned female at birth reported significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation and suicidal self harm than men and people assigned male at birth. #AutRes
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View full threadIf you need help or support, please reach out to the Samaritans: www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-h...
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartMy fantastic PhD student @tanachikaura.bsky.social has published her first first-author paper today on self-reported lifetime traumatic experiences, psychological distress, and risk of suicidality among autistic adults. As the paper provides details on these issues, please take care when reading
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. Stewart🚨 Funded PhD on ageing, social cognition & self/other differentiation! 🚨 🧠 Supervised by myself (University of St Andrews) & Prof. Louise Phillips (University of Aberdeen), the project includes EEG & eye-tracking training. 🌍 Open to UK + international students! 📅 Deadline: 15th Dec 2025
- I’ve had a busy few weeks with life, travel & grant deadlines, but I’m really pleased that a letter I wrote has been published. In it, I recommend that autism researchers talk about midlife and old age as separate life stages, not conflating the two. doi.org/10.1177/1362... #AutRes
- Autism & ageing research has advanced a lot over the past several years, and I’m very proud to be part of that movement forward. But, inadvertently, we have often described people over 50 as being ‘older adults’, which isn’t very accurate. It also doesn’t align with the labels used in other fields.
- So I make the recommendation we label our samples accordingly! Midlife and old age. By doing so, we’ll improve the accuracy of our sample descriptions and help generate more information about these different life stages. The open access version is here: kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/pu... #AutRes
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartAre you an autistic person aged 18+ from the Global Majority, who has received talking therapy for support around anxiety? We hope to include a diverse range of voices to inform our study, which involves a 75 minute online interview. To find out more, please follow this link: dub.sh/LzKn6is
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. Stewart📣The ARCH seminar is back! Join us on October 22nd to hear from Nell Fahey (with introduction from Dr Gavin Stewart) about their work on the social experiences of middle-aged and older autistic adults. More info on our mailout - sign up and get tickets @ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/arch-semin...
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartExcited to share my first first-author paper in Journal of Neurology! 🧠 Using the TriNetX dataset (176M patients), we explored co-occurring FND and Autism - work first presented at the RCPsych Neuropsychiatry Conf Read it here: link.springer.com/article/10.1... #Autism #FND #Neuropsychiatry
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartOn the @annualreviews.bsky.social website, there is a new review on autism and aging. It covers areas including underdiagnosis for #ActuallyAutistic adults aged 40 and over. The review is available at www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartNew funded PhD at the University of Greenwich 📚 Study loneliness from age 18–30 using twin data from the E-Risk Study. Join a world-class team in London & explore how early adulthood shapes mental health. Open to global applicants 🌍 🔗 www.findaphd.com/phds/project... #PsychScience #fundedPhD
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartEllen McAdams, a former lab MSc student, will be speaking in the ageing session on Thursday (11-12pm) about trauma and PTSD in middle-aged and older people. Dr Madeleine Walpert (DementiaUK), who has teamed up with Gavin, will also be speaking about a co-produced dementia information resource.
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartWe're looking forward to #AutismEurope later this week! Our lab co-lead, Dr Gavin Stewart @gavrobstew.bsky.social, will be presenting a poster on Thursday, exploring sleep problems and mental health in middle-aged and older people. Drop by and say hello!
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartMost #autism research focuses on young people, so we know very little about about the needs of autistic adults as they age, writes @gavrobstew.bsky.social in the @uk.theconversation.com. www.kcl.ac.uk/news/what-we...
- I'm very pleased that our new narrative review on autism in midlife and old age has now been published in the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology (by me and @proffrancescahappe.bsky.social). We cover a lot of topics... more below! Open access: doi.org/10.1146/annu... #AutRes
- We start by raising the issue that autism in midlife and old age are often overlooked. Using data from O'Nions et al. (2023; Lancet), we estimate that 89% of middle-aged autistic people and 96% of older autistic people in the UK are likely undiagnosed. doi.org/10.1146/annu... #AutRes
- We also recap that research on older autistic people has lagged behind other age groups (from Mason et al. (2022; AiA)) - only 0.4% of autism research focuses on old age, but in recent years it has become a rapidly changing field of research. doi.org/10.1146/annu... #AutRes
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View full threadIf you'd like to hear more about our autism work, including lots on ageing and other topics, you can sign-up to the ReSpect Lab's mailing list here: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/ayFfhqc7pd
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartLarge numbers of older autistic people remain undiagnosed and thus may not have the right support - new @britishacademy.bsky.social supported research by @gavrobstew.bsky.social @proffrancescahappe.bsky.social www.kcl.ac.uk/news/up-to-9...
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartAround 90% of middle-aged and older #autistic adults are undiagnosed in the UK and face higher rates of mental and physical health conditions. Research led by Dr Gavin Stewart & Prof Francesca Happé; funded by @britishacademy.bsky.social @nihr.bsky.social www.maudsleybrc.nihr.ac.uk/posts/2025/a...
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartNEW #AUTISM RESEARCH (@gavrobstew.bsky.social + @proffrancescahappe.bsky.social): Nearly 90% of middle-aged and older #autistic adults are undiagnosed in the UK; autistic adults are facing higher rates of mental and physical health conditions as they age www.kcl.ac.uk/news/up-to-9...
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. Stewart🧠 New study at KCL looking for volunteers with both #FND and #Autism to take part in an interview sharing your experiences! - 15 minute survey followed by a 1 hour interview Interested? ✉️ Please message me: lily.smythe@kcl.ac.uk Thanks for sharing!
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartOur lab lead Dr Jessica Agnew-Blais spoke at the British Menopause Society Annual Conference last week on the links between ADHD and menopause. It was great to hear clinicians in the room share their experiences supporting women through this often-overlooked transition 🙌 #ADHD #Menopause #bmsconf25
- I really enjoyed being part of the Neurodivergence and Menopause panel at the annual meeting of the #BritishMenopauseSociety today, with Rebecca Charlton (@goldage.bsky.social) and Jess Agnew-Blais (@adhdlifecourselab.bsky.social). Lots of interesting Qs for us to ponder for our next steps!
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. Stewart🚨May Talk Announcement!🚨 Join us on May 28th at 2PM to hear Kayleigh Doyle (@kayleighdoyle.bsky.social) discuss her PhD work looking at using the creative arts to teach autistic students. Tickets are available at eventbrite.co.uk/e/arch-semin... We hope to see you there!
- Reposted by Dr Gavin R. StewartInterested in a #postdoc in London investigating hormones and women w/ ADHD? @adhdlifecourselab.bsky.social Happy to supervise Marie Curie postdocs ✅ eligibility marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post... Open to any nationality (📢 to fellow 🇺🇸 looking abroad but open to all!)
- 📝 Our new paper exploring up to 7-years of age-related change in spatial working memory in people over 50 w/ high autistic traits is now out! doi.org/10.1093/gero... The paper was led by our former MSc student, Saloni Ghai, using data from the PROTECT study. #AutRes 1/X
- We found that people over 50 w/ high autistic traits (n=205) had very similar age-related change in their spatial working memory ability over a 7-year period compared to those w/ some autistic traits (n=589) and those w/ low autistic traits (n=13,390). doi.org/10.1093/gero... #AutRes 2/X
- Our findings suggests (in the case of using high autistic traits as a proxy for diagnosis due to high rates of underdiagnosis of autism in autistic folk over 50) that we aren't seeing accelerated cognitive ageing in this domain. doi.org/10.1093/gero... #AutRes 3/X
- We have more work coming over the next year or so looking at other cognitive domains, as well as mental health trajectories, and more. If you're interested in our research, do sign-up to our newsletter here: forms.office.com/e/ayFfhqc7pd #AutRes 4/4
