Awards
MHAutism Recognised with Awards!
Our world leading research has been recognised by a number of awards from highly respected organisations in the UK and internationally. These awards recognised the excellence, impact, and quality of engagement of autistic people and those who support them in our work.
Best Policy Impact Initiative 2024
MHAutism project lead Sarah Cassidy received the "Best Policy Impact Initiative" from the Institute for Policy and Engagement at the University of Nottingham. This award recognises the MHAutism teams work in partnership with autistic people and those who support them to influence suicide prevention policy. Their work has meant that autistic people have been recognised for the first time as a high risk group for suicide in the new Department for Health and Social Care Suicide Prevention strategy 2023-2028. The suicide prevention strategy also incorporates and refers to the teams policy brief: "Autism Community Priorities for Suicide Prevention", which was co-produced in partnership with autistic people and those who support them.
April 2024
Rising Researcher 2020
Our PhD student Mirabel Pelton was awarded the Rising Researcher Prize from the Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPag) in 2020. This prize recognises the exceptional quality and impact of Mirabel's research. This was evidenced by highly cited publications in a number of high profile journals, meaningful involvement of autistic people throughout the research, and evidence of developing impact of her published research on public discource and policy.
Find out more about Mirabel's award for her work here and read her publications here.
30 July 2020
"Most Impactful Researcher" 2020
Sarah Cassidy received a National Autistic Society Professionals Award, in the "Most Impactful Researcher" category! This award recognises and rewards outstanding research by a researcher and their team. Applicants had to demonstrate the quality of their research, evidence of meaningfully involving autistic people in their research, relevance of their research to the autistic community, high potential to improve lives and/or influence practice, and evidence of making positive change.
Sarah said "I am honoured to receive this award from the National Autistic Society. I do not see this as just my award, but recognition of all the autistic people and their families who have joined me and my team on this important journey, and all we have achieved together. I know we will continue to work together to prevent suicide in autistic people, and ensure that every autistic person lives a long, happy and healthy life. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all!"
2 March 2020
Innovation in Autism Award 2019
Sarah Cassidy has been awarded the Slifka-Ritvo Innovation in Autism Award at the International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting 2019 in Montreal, Canada.
This is an honor and an award for an exceptional early career researcher, to further support a specific research project. The $25,000 prize will be used to fund a research project, developing a novel test to explore patterns of self-harm in autistic adults, to improve individualised understanding, assessment and treatment approaches. Find out more about this participatory research project here.
May 2019
Autistica Involvement Award 2019
Sarah Cassidy has been awarded the Autistica Involvement Award, at the Autistica Discover Conference in Reading, UK, 2019.
This award recognises dedication to the meaningful involvement of autistic people and their families in shaping autism research. We are delighted at this recognition of our team's dedication to ensuring that what we research and how we research it is led by the priorities of autistic people and those who support them.
You can learn more about our participatory research research projects here.
27 June 2019
Rising Star Public Engagement 2019
Sarah Cassidy has been awarded the Rising Star, Public Engagement Award from the University of Nottingham, Institute of Policy and Engagement.
This award recognises the meaningful involvement and engagement of the public in research. The award was made based on the exemplary work of the MHAutism team in ensuring that autistic people and those who support them set priorities for autism research in the UK and internationally. This has involved a number of participatory research projects, an international policy brief to identify the top 10 prioritise for suicide in autism research, and a number of public engagement events to discuss our progress with our research and next steps.
You can learn more about our participatory research research projects here.
Sep 2019
Rising Star Policy Impact 2019
Sarah Cassidy was nominated for the Rising Star, Policy Impact Award from the University of Nottingham, Institute of Policy and Engagement.
This nomination recognises our progress in achieving meaningful policy impact from our research. This has involved developing relationships with policy makers in the UK and US, having our research cited in policy documents and debates in the UK and internationally, and developing an international policy brief on preventing suicide in partnership with autistic people and those who support them. We are delighted that our progress in achieving policy impact from our suicide prevention research has been recognised with this nomination.
Sep 2019
Young Investigator Award 2015
Sarah Cassidy was awarded the Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Autism Research annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015.
This award recognises the best biological and clinical empirical research papers published or in press in 2014, by an investigator who has been awarded their Ph.D. or M.D. in the past seven years.
Sarah received this award for her seminal research paper, showing high rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in newly diangosed autistic adults in the UK:
You can read this paper for free here.
May 2015