At the EARA, Carolien contributed to an invited symposium, organized by Jane Hurry (UCL), about how autistic youth experience in their daily school environment, and how factors in the social and built environment can contribute or hinder their equity and sense of belonging. The findings were based on different studies published in our lab, including research using wearable sensing technologies and self-reports to capture peer interactions in various spaces, the effects of interventions and the importance of architecture. Curious? Read more about the overarching schoolyard project!

The 19TH EARA (European Association for Research on Adolescence) Conference 2024 was held in Cyprus. The symposium consisted of 4 presentations, including Jane Hurry (UCL),  Myrofora Kakoulidou (KCL) and Georgia Pavlopoulou (UCL), and covered how environments impact neurodiverse adolescents' mental health, ways to include more neurodiverse participants in research, the emotional experiences of ADHD and autistic teens, and ideas for creating emotionally healthy schools.