The next Mini-Conference will be held on Tuesday 14th April 2026. This Mini-Con will be focusing on Neurodiversity in Learning and Teaching, and are interested in sessions around the following themes:

• Navigating university life as a neurodivergent student
• Neurodiversity in the workplace
• Inclusive teaching and learning practices
• The role of support services in fostering neurodivergent success

 

Time	Session	Resources
09.45-10.00	Tea and Coffee
10.00-10.05	Welcome  Kate Parsons and Laura George
10.05-10.25	It All Makes Sense Now: Late Life Diagnosis in the Middle of a PhD (Hybrid) Sarah Howells
10.25-10.45	Neurodivergent opportunities in a A.I. world trained on a neurotypical internet Clive King
10.45-11.05	Career Readiness Support (CRS): Supporting Neurodivergent Students Lewis Richards
11.05-11.20	Break
11.20-11.40	Critical Neurodiversity and ableism: concepts for better teaching Emma Sheppard
11.40-12.00	The Neurodivergent in the workplace: Help get me out of here! Sally Pierse
12.00-12.20	The Joys and Tribulations of PhD study as an Autistic Student Lewis Bullen
12.20-13.00	Lunch

	Session 1	Session 2		Session 3
Time	Workshop	Resources	Workshop	Resources	Workshop	Resources
13.00-13.45	Lost in space: a sensory experience Mel Long		Pulling Together: Supporting more effective and accessible group work Scott Tompsett and Cal Walters-Davies		What we would like you to know: neurodiverse students’ perspectives on higher education Corben Maars and SU ND Society
13.45-14.00	Break
14.00-14.45	DSA Support & Reasonable Adjustments at university:  how does it work? Students and Accessibility Team Panel		The importance of lived experience in research and teaching. Kate Parsons
14.45-15.00	Closing Remarks Kate Parsons and Laura George

Session 1 - 13.00-13.45

Lost in space: a sensory experience

Neurodivergent/autistic people have a high likelihood for experiencing the senses in unusual ways. This not only applies to the usual 5 senses, but also Vestibular (balance/movement), and Proprioception (body position in relation to self, space and other people and objects). This workshop will explore why and how this happens, using experiential tools, and then we will consider how such an understanding can help develop our inclusive practice, not just through greater acceptance, but also through developing creative innovations in how we teach and assess. 

Pulling Together: Supporting more effective and accessible group work

The Department of Life Sciences (DLS) regularly employs group work tasks in coursework assignments. However, group work can be challenging and often has negative outcomes, particularly for neurodivergent students. In this workshop we’ll explore joint work to address these issues by a DLS and Accessibility and Inclusion led team, as part of project funded by the Education and Student Experience award. In the session we'll give you an overview of our progress towards creating a suite of resources that we hope to make available to students and lecturers to support better group work experiences and assessment, grounded in the idea that what is better for neurodivergent students is generally better for all students. This will be an interactive workshop, where we will engage your help by providing input and opinions on some of these resources.

What we would like you to know: neurodiverse students perspectives on higher education 

In this workshop, Corben will discuss some of the common issues faced by Neurodivergent students when accessing higher education teaching, recommend strategies which you can take back to your teaching to improve accessibility and have Q and A segment where members of the audience can ask questions. As well as this, throughout the talk, Information around Neurodiversity will be given to increase awareness and understanding. Speech will be delivered in English. Any questions please email cbm15@aber.ac.uk

 

Session 2 - 14.00-14.45

DSA Support & Reasonable Adjustments at university:  how does it work?

This will be a panel discussion between students in receipt of DSA support, a support worker, and an Accessibility Adviser.  We will cover what support can be offered at Aberystwyth University and how this gets put in place.  Does it help?  Come and hear from those receiving it.  There will be an opportunity to ask questions during the session.

The importance of lived experience in research and teaching.

I will be introducing three experts by experience who are neurodivergent and have a wealth of experience in delivering teaching materials, supporting research, writing grant applications, writing lay-summaries, interviewing student applicants amongst other things. They will be discussing their past work and their future goals with the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) at AU. 

Participants at the workshop will engage in a Q&A. Engagement is optional.