5th August 2013
The Autism Research at Kent (ARK) team would like to invite you to a networking and information event on 19 Sep 2013 from 12.30pm onwards in Keynes Lecture Theatre 4.
ARK (Autism Research at Kent) is a collaboration recently set up by researchers at the School of Psychology and Tizard Centre. Our aim is to develop a single identity for conducting excellent research on autism at the University of Kent. This will be facilitated through the development of a website (see: www.autismresearchkent.co.uk [1]), a database of willing participants in the Kent area and beyond (across the spectrum and ages), and a coordinated recruitment and dissemination agenda.
To kick things off, we are organising a networking and information event for UoK staff and PhD students, in order to establish a network of researchers across the University of Kent and other health-related groups, with shared interests in ASD research on 19 September. The ARK team will introduce the new website and database, and invite you to become a part of the collaborative venture. To help us get to know each other, we invite you to join us in sharing your experiences in the field, through a short 10-minute presentation on your current/future research interests and plans, and as part of a group discussion regarding ideas/suggestions/requests for the website, database and recruitment. We have also invited a few representative ‘users’ (including individuals with ASD and their carers, and local ASD support groups) to tell us what they want from our research and database. We hope that this event will inspire our new venture to put the University of Kent ‘on the map’ as an innovative centre for ASD research.
A proposed timetable of the day’s events is:
12.30pm Buffet lunch (supplied)
1.30pm Welcome by ARK team
1.45pm Short presentations
3 pm Coffee break
3.30pm Open group discussions/networking
We will send on a final schedule nearer the time, with details of speakers etc. You are welcome to attend either the full event or stay for a shorter period.
At this stage, we would like to hear from you if you would like to attend the event on 19 September. Please let us know if you will join us for lunch, and whether you would like to contribute with a 10-minute presentation outlining your interests and/or your (proposed) research with ASD populations.
Thank you for your interest, we look forward to seeing many of you there.