Dr Gavin Stewart PhD

Gavin joined the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at Kings College London as a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2023. He is part of Prof Francesca Happé’s Re:Spect lab.

 

Gavin has several strands of active research. He is primarily interested in the 1) health, cognition, life experiences, and support needs of autistic (and other neurodivergent) people in midlife and older age. He is also interested in the 2) impact of social isolation and loneliness in older age. Additionally, his research also explores the 3) provision and accessibility of adult autism assessments in historically overlooked populations.

 

To explore these areas, Gavin works with a range of longitudinal cohorts, including the AgeWellAutism study (a cohort he first formed in 2019 and followed-up in 2023 that tracks age-related change in autistic/non-autistic adults in midlife and older age) and the PROTECT study (a healthy ageing cohort formed in 2015 with annual follow-ups that tracks adults across midlife and older age). He also works with smaller bespoke cross-sectional cohorts collected throughout his PhD and postdoctoral positions. These cohorts enable him to explore cross-sectional differences and longitudinal changes in ageing using categorical (i.e., those diagnosed with autism or who self-identify as autistic) and dimensional (i.e., those with autistic traits) approaches. Gavin also collaborates with clinical colleagues, who work with healthcare record and clinic data.

 

Beyond his current role at King’s, Gavin is also the coordination lead and a founding working group member for NHS England’s Autism Practitioner Network, a quarterly forum for clinicians and allied health professionals working in NHS/private autism-related services in England.

 

Prior to joining the SGDP as a staff member in 2023, Gavin was an ESRC-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College London (2022-2023), a Clinical Study Manager for an autism diagnostic tool development study at East London NHS Foundation Trust (2021-2022), and an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths (2018-2021).

 

Gavin completed his PhD in Developmental Psychiatry at the SGDP (2018-2021), with a thesis titled ‘Ageing and Autism Spectrum Disorders’, supervised by Prof Francesca Happé and Dr Rebecca Charlton (Goldsmiths). Prior to beginning his PhD studentship, Gavin studied MSc in Genes, Environment and Development in Psychology and Psychiatry at King’s College London (2017-2018) and BSc (Hons) in Psychology at Goldsmiths (2014-2017).

 

When he’s not working, Gavin enjoys listening to audiobooks, exploring art galleries and museums, and enjoying food from different cultures.

Research Interests:

• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Ageing
• Health
• Cognition
• Social Isolation and Loneliness

Teaching:

Gavin is involved in the MSc Developmental Psychology & Psychopathology programme. He is the co-leader of the “Psychological Approaches to Treatment” module and provides teaching on ageing in the “Developmental Psychopathology II: Childhood, adolescence, and adulthood” module.

Gavin also supervises project students at BSc and MSc levels in topics related to autism, ageing, social isolation, and loneliness.

 

Expertise and Public Engagement:

Gavin has been published in The Psychologist, the official magazine of The British Psychological Society. His research has also been covered by several media outlets in the UK and USA, including Spectrum News and HealthDay.

 

Gavin is also the coordination lead and a founding working group member for NHS England’s Autism Practitioner Network, a quarterly forum for clinicians and allied health professionals working in NHS/private autism-related services in England.