Founded in 2024, the Neurodivergent Researchers Network is a space for Âé¶¹ÒùÔº members – whether diagnosed or self-identifying as neurodivergent, or friends and allies – to share and reflect upon their lived experiences of education and research. The network aims to foster inclusive opportunities for members to support and encourage one another, acknowledging the breadth of neurocognitive diversity and its strengths and benefits as well as its struggles and challenges.
In this Âé¶¹ÒùÔº Blog Special Issue, curated by the convenors of the Neurodivergent Researchers Network, Elizabeth MacGregor and Adam Hart draw back the curtain on neurodivergent experiences of higher education, ranging from those of undergraduate and postgraduate students to those of navigating portfolio careers and senior leadership.
The contributions to this issue explore:
- the challenges of negotiating institutional systems and bureaucracies, as well as the importance of holistic understandings of neurodiversity and wellbeing
- the intensity of ‘imposter syndrome’
- how neurodivergence intersects with the institutional precarity affecting early career researchers
- the potential benefits of portfolio careers, self-employment and hybrid working for some neurodivergent employees
- how deficit framings of repetitive and defiant behaviours often mask valuable alternative and creative perspectives
- the process of training as a teacher and the ups and downs of juggling planning demands, pastoral responsibilities and professional expectations in a neurotypical workplace
- the institutional practices that may both help and hinder neurodivergent teachers in a position of senior leadership.