CeDAR (Centre for Developmental Adversity & Resilience)

Healthy Neurodivergence Research Group

Healthy Neurodivergence Research Group (Healthy NRG) is an interdisciplinary research group based within CeDAR in the University of Glasgow’s School of Health and Wellbeing. We bring together researchers, clinicians, practitioners and people with lived experience to develop research that helps neurodivergent people to thrive.

We define healthy neurodivergence as being able to thrive as the neurodivergent person you are, with the environments, systems, relationships and resources needed to support wellbeing, autonomy and participation. Our work therefore moves beyond a narrow focus on diagnosis or deficit. We study how individuals, families, services, schools, communities and wider systems interact to shape neurodivergent lives.

Our research spans seven connected areas:

• recognition, identification and formulation
• mental health, crisis and prevention
• identity, narratives and epistemic injustice
• education, participation and family services
• systems, culture and implementation
• healthy lives across the lifespan
• models of human cognition

These themes are connected by a neuro-affirming, systems-focused approach and a commitment to ensuring lived experience shapes the questions we ask and the way research is designed.

Current activity includes research on neurodevelopmental identification and crisis pathways, school inclusion and reflective practice, family and service experiences, professional sense-making, epistemic injustice, communication and diagnostic narratives, and implementation of neuro-affirming approaches.

Healthy NRG is also developing international collaborations through the emerging ENLACE network, including partnerships with Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.

Key projects

TANDA: Therapeutic Assessment for Neurodevelopmental Difference in Crisis
A feasibility programme exploring rapid, collaborative neurodevelopmental identification and therapeutic assessment for children and young people presenting in crisis.

Neurodiversity in Scottish Schools (NISS)
A programme of research examining neuro-affirming school culture, inclusion, belonging and the development of structured reflective practice for school staff.

Ghost Parents
Research examining the experiences of parents and carers who become central coordinators of care when formal systems fail to meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people.

Professional sense-making in neurodevelopmental identification
Qualitative research exploring how professionals recognise, interpret and make sense of complex neurodevelopmental presentations before formal diagnosis or specialist involvement.

Epistemic injustice and neurodivergence
A programme of work examining how neurodivergent knowledge and testimony are heard, interpreted, valued and sometimes discounted within health, education and research systems.

Neurodevelopmental communication and diagnostic narratives
Research examining how diagnostic and assessment language shapes identity, family experience and understandings of neurodivergence.

ENLACE international collaboration
An emerging Scotland–Spain collaboration connecting research, clinical practice, education, community organisations and lived experience. Initial partnerships include Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, with developing links to clinical and community partners in Spain.