by Mitzi Waltz, Daniela Del Carlo Goncalves and Monserrat Vasquez Ladron de Guevara Our team at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam were tasked with taking the findings from the IMAGE Project so far, and using them as the basis for a short training programme for careers advisors. The target group included advisors working at universities, and also…
Neurodivergence in Learning, Teaching and Assessement
Dr Marc Fabri took part in a panel discussion on neurodiversity in the higher education environment today (16 June 2021). The panel was chaired by Dr Abdoolkarim Vakil from King’s College London as part of the Inclusive Classrooms Conversations Series, with a focus on the issues and challenges facing neurodivergent learners and lecturers. Other panel…
Employment aspirations and experiences of autistic graduates in Finland
Research around the employment of autistic adults has been on the rise during recent years but there’s still very little data on the employment of autistic graduates in Finland. In her master’s thesis Pinja Turja focused on the employment aspirations and experiences of a small group of autistic university students and recent graduates. Previous studies…
Employment support provided by universities in Finland from autistic students’ viewpoint
Transition from university into employment is a huge step towards the next phase in students’ life. Many graduates make the transition with ease but for some it can be challenging. Minja Lahdelma examined the support structures of this transition phase from autistic graduate’s perspective in her master thesis. Previous research shows that the number of…
Day 7: Case Studies
All good things must come to an end. Last but not least we want to take a look at case studies that we have gathered during our research. Over the last few months, researchers at IMAGE have been conducting interviews with students, graduates, university support groups, job coaches and more, to find examples of good…
Day 6: Training material for career advisors
Our project aims to give professionals the tools they need to succeed in supporting autistic students and graduates. Today we want to share a glimpse of our training material for career advisors. How the training material came to be As we interviewed students and graduates for the IMAGE Project, it soon became clear that some…
Day 5: Employability Toolkit for autistic students and graduates
Today is World Autism Day and we’re celebrating it with a sneak preview of the IMAGE Employability Toolkit, one of the key outputs from our project. What is the toolkit? The Employability Toolkit is an online resource that helps autistic students and graduates better understand their career goals, develop employability skills and advocate effectively for…
Day 4: Higher education managers as promoters for inclusion
We start April by introducing our last but not least Good Practice Guide. It’s designed for higher education managers to help them make their institution more inclusive. Introduction to Good Practice Guide for Higher Education Managers More and more higher education managers (i.e. people with a responsibility in the university organisation whether they be deans,…
Day 3: Autism-friendly careers advice – small changes, big impact
During Autism Awareness Week we want to give you a sample of the materials produced in the IMAGE project. Our third Good Practice Guide is designed for careers advisors. It gives you a basic background in autism and lots of tips and techniques to support autistic career-starters. Employment of autistic graduates Autistic students and graduates—like…
Day 2: Three things you can do today if you want to employ autistic employees
In the course of the Autism Awareness Week, we want to give you a sneak peek of Good Practice Guide for Employers. It is designed for employers who want to employ and include autistic workers in their organization and gain some insight and awareness of autism. Introduction to Good Practice Guide for Employers There are…
Day 1: Academics at the heart of employment support
This week we are giving you a sneak peek into our research-based materials that are designed to support autistic graduates to gain employment. We begin the week by introducing our Good Practice Guide for Academics. Introduction to Good Practice Guide for Academics This Good Practices Guide has been written especially for academics, by academics with…
World Autism Awareness Week is coming! – Are you ready?
In the IMAGE project we aim to support autistic university students to gain employment after graduation. Our focus has been on creating support material for skills development, self-advocacy and also gathering good support practice among universities and employers. During World Autism Awareness Week (29 March – 4 April) we want to give you a first…
Participatory design with autistic adults – what does the literature tell us?
Recently, Rachael Maun, Dr Marc Fabri and Dr Pip Trevorrow of Leeds Beckett University had a paper accepted for presentation at the Human-Computer-Interaction International Conference in Washington, DC, in July 2021 (http://2021.hci.international/). The paper presents a literature review investigating the suitability of participatory design methods when used with autistic adults. The IMAGE project uses a…
Meet Daniela Del Carlo Gonçalves, Masters Student in Amsterdam
My name is Daniela, and I am currently pursuing my Global Health Masters degree in the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Among the reasons for which I decided to join the IMAGE project, I would highlight my great interest in scientific research in the context of Mental Health and interventions for diverse populations. This theme is in…
Meet Monserrat Vásquez, a junior researcher and lecturer from Amsterdam
My name is Monserrat Vásquez or Mona, and I’m a junior researcher and lecturer at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Together with Mitzi, Daniela and Elena, we are working on the training material for career advisors. I am very happy to have joined this team and to contribute, share knowledge and raise awareness for more inclusive work…
Impact of Corona Virus on Autistic Students – Tips and Guidance
Hi, I’m Rachael Maun, PhD student and researcher for IMAGE Autism. Since March of 2020 I have been doing all of my research from home and know how difficult this can be. I hope that you find the tips and articles included in this blogpost helpful! If you want to take part in my research,…
Academic publishing in the IMAGE project
Dr Henri Pesonen from the University of Helsinki reflects on what it is like to conduct research to a given schedule and also publishing work as soon as the data is gathered and analysed. The entire IMAGE team has been enthusiastic about writing academic peer-reviewed papers ever since the beginning of the project in October…
What do careers advisors and autistic students want?
Dr Mitzi Waltz from the Athena Institute at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam shares insights about the needs and wants expressed by these two key stakeholders during a series of workshops. As part of the IMAGE project, we had already asked careers advisors (CAs) and autistic students about their experiences of working together. This resulted in a…