Dr Lauren Powell

BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, SFHEA

School of Education

Co-Director for the MSc Psychology and Education

EDU - photo of lauren powell
Profile picture of EDU - photo of lauren powell
l.a.powell@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 8179

Full contact details

Dr Lauren Powell
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
Research interests

Lauren’s research interests focus on placing the voices of young people at the centre of her work through the use of innovative participatory methods. She aims to shift the field of psychoeducation to ensure that in addition to their proxies, children and young people are informed about their neurodiversity in an age appropriate and accessible way to empower them to accept and live well with their neurodiversity.

To this end, Lauren has led the development of two psychoeducational resources for 1) young people with ADHD and 2) autistic young people. This involved collaborations with young people, their support networks and services, Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Derby and NIHR Children and Young People MedTech. These resources are used nationwide by NHS services, schools, local authorities, and charities and can be accessed here:

The ADHD Hero Activity Book

Learning about Autism

Lauren also provides consultancy on a project ‘Safety Nets’, which provides a weekly physical activity and psychoeducation group for children and young people with mental health difficulties across the UK.

More recently, Lauren has used her own research and lived experiences to provid presentations and training for higher education institutions, schools, and local authorities around neuroinclusive approaches in these settings. She is passionate about ensuring neurodiverse individuals are celebrated, included and not disadvantaged.

Lauren would love to supervise doctoral students adopting predominantly qualitative methods in the following areas:

  • Developing collaborations with those who are interested in developing psychoeducational resources and interventions for neurodiverse children and young people such as those with ADHD and Autism as well as the psychoeducational needs of parents/carers and teaching professionals.
  • Exploring transitions of neurodiverse young people such as from primary to secondary school and from secondary school to higher education.
  • Exploring the experiences of neurodiverse girls and women.
  • Exploring neurodiversity in a positive light, working to reduce harmful stigma through psychoeducation and neurodiversity celebration.
  • Exploring what motivates adults to seek a diagnosis of ADHD and/or autism.
Publications

Journal articles

Teaching interests

Lauren is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the School of Education including the BA Education, Culture and Childhood, MA Education and is co-director of the MSc in Psychology and Education (Conversion). She is the module lead for the undergraduate module 'Child Psychology' (EDU107), the MSc module in qualitative research methods (EDU6167) and the MSc dissertation module (EDU6197). Lauren's teaching in the school mainly focuses on child psychology, psychoeducation, research methods and neurodiversity in children and young people with a focus on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism.

 
Professional activities and memberships