When I became a full professor here at King’s, I thought carefully about how I wanted to approach this new role. I want to champion the careers of my colleagues in low and middle-income countries. As long as they don’t have a seat at the table, I will be their voice, and I will speak up to try and get them a seat at the table in the future.
Professor Rosa Hoekstra
10 July 2026
Rosa Hoekstra delivers inaugural lecture on collaborative research to improve the lives of children with developmental disabilities
Rosa Hoekstra gave her inaugural lecture as Professor of Developmental Disabilities at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) on 2 July, highlighting collaborative research improving the lives of children with developmental disabilities and their families in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Speaking to a packed room of colleagues, friends and family and international colleagues online, Professor Hoekstra reflected on a career that has taken her from the Dutch countryside and the University of Cambridge to leading one of the largest developmental disability research trials ever undertaken globally.
Her lecture, ‘Every Child Counts: Working collaboratively to improve support for children with developmental disabilities worldwide' focused on improving the identification and support of children with autism and intellectual disabilities in Ethiopia and Kenya, where specialist services are scarce.
Opening the event, IoPPN Executive Dean Professor Matthew Hotopf praised Professor Hoekstra’s promotion highlighting her achievements in both research and education. He noted her role in developing King’s undergraduate psychology programme while simultaneously building an internationally recognised research portfolio.
Inspired by travel and interdisciplinary learning
In her lecture, Professor Hoekstra described growing up in a family that encouraged curiosity and critical thinking. A formative experience came when at the age of 11 she travelled through North West Africa with her parents, sister and grandmother, spending time in countries including Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria.
Her academic journey began with an interdisciplinary degree programme at the University of Amsterdam that combined natural and social sciences, an experience she credits with laying the foundations for the interdisciplinary collaborative approach that now characterises her research.
A research placement at the Cambridge University’s Autism Research Centre, sparked her enduring interest in autism research. She later completed a PhD in twin studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam before returning to the UK for research and teaching positions.
Finding a new direction
While early autism research had used twin studies to demonstrate that autism was strongly influenced by genetics and not caused by parenting, Professor Hoekstra increasingly wanted to undertake research that could deliver more direct benefits for families.
That opportunity emerged through a collaboration in Ethiopia, where she worked with Ethiopian experts to develop training for rural community health workers. This work helped reduce stigma surrounding autism and developmental disabilities by equipping frontline health workers with better knowledge and understanding. The training was subsequently incorporated into national curricula, reaching thousands of health workers across Ethiopia.
Building a global partnership
Professor Hoekstra’s work has evolved into the SPARK project, a major international collaboration co-led with Professor Amina Abubakar at Aga Khan University. The SPARK project aims to improve early identification and support for children with developmental disabilities in Ethiopia and Kenya through community-based approaches that do not rely heavily on scarce specialist services.
A key innovation has been the development of community-based identification methods delivered by trained non-specialist workers who already know local families well. More than 1,800 families participated in the programme’s identification pathway, with exceptionally high levels of engagement and acceptance from communities.
Professor Hoekstra used her lecture to highlight broader inequalities in global research. She described the barriers often faced by researchers in lower- and middle-income countries, including limited funding opportunities, challenges publishing research conducted in non-Western low-income contexts and difficulties obtaining visas for international conferences.
In his vote of thanks, Professor Emeritus Tony Charman praised her ability to combine scientific rigour, compassion and leadership while overseeing a complex international programme involving hundreds of families and collaborators across multiple countries.
Professor Amina Abubakar echoed those sentiments, describing Professor Hoekstra as a collaborator with an exceptional commitment to quality, impact and capacity building.
In this story
Professor of Global Autism and Developmental Disability Research