Katrine Callander - autistic-led research on trauma, misrecognition, identity and belonging
Email: katrine.callander1@gmail.com
About me
Research Interests
I’m an autistic PhD researcher at the University of Kent and a lecturer in Mental Health and Wellbeing at the University of Central Lancashire London, working at the intersection of trauma, identity and autistic experience.
Until 2021, I never considered myself autistic. I know how transformative, and sometimes difficult, it can be to revisit a lifetime of experiences through a new lens. My self-identification and diagnosis were positive but also prompted profound re-valuation of life experiences, including trauma. Through my engagement with the autistic community, I became aware of the prevalent lack of trauma-informed support. My personal experiences as an autistic woman are included in my research and I consider the impact of this in terms of reflection, positionality and personal bias.
My research is qualitative, autistic-led and grounded in a commitment to meaningful inclusion. I am particularly interested in how autistic people make sense of identity, trauma and belonging, and in creating research spaces where lived experience is valued as knowledge rather than treated as an afterthought. Through collaboration, conversation and critical reflection, I hope my work contributes to more compassionate, informed and genuinely inclusive understanding.
Originally from Denmark, I have lived in the UK since 2001. Outside academia, I’m a parent to two delightful neurodivergent young people, a multilingual traveller, reader, organiser, animal and nature lover, and an enthusiastic walker with an ever-growing list of projects and passions.
My research interests include the intersection of trauma, identity and adult autistic identification, the experiences of autistic individuals in higher education as well as autistic connections with natural environments.
My doctoral research, Misrecognition and the Complexities of Trauma among Autistic Women in Social and Gendered Relations of Power, examines how trauma can become cumulative in autistic women’s lives. It moves beyond explanations that locate vulnerability within autistic individuals, asking instead how social, relational and institutional conditions shape whether harm is recognised, believed and responded to.
Using a participatory, trauma-informed and narrative-based approach, I centre autistic women’s accounts of violence, coercion, exclusion and distress. My research explores how gendered expectations, masking, stigma and unequal credibility can affect experiences of harm, as well as what happens when autistic women seek understanding or support.
A central concern of my work is systemic misrecognition: the ways in which autistic women’s experiences may be minimised, misunderstood or reframed through deficit-based assumptions. By foregrounding lived experience, I aim to contribute to more responsive trauma-informed care, safeguarding practices and policy, approaches that take autistic women’s knowledge of their own lives seriously.
Academic Experience
Professional Experience
My academic strengths lie in connecting critical research with practice-informed teaching. I draw on social sciences and lived experience to explore complex questions and create inclusive, trauma-informed spaces that value different ways of knowing.
Lecturer and Module Leader
BSc Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Central Lancashire London
Teaching and leading learning on mental health, wellbeing and inclusive practice.
Associate Lecturer and Module Convenor
Social Work and School of Social Sciences, University of Kent
Teaching and convening modules across social work and the social sciences.
PhD Researcher in Social Policy
School of Social Sciences, University of Kent
Researching trauma, misrecognition and autistic women’s experiences within social and gendered relations of power.
MA with Distinction in Environmental and Social Anthropology
School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent
BA with First-Class Honours in Journalism
Middlesex University
Alongside my doctoral research, I am a Lecturer and Module Leader in BSc Mental Health and Wellbeing at the University of Central Lancashire London. I have experience teaching and leading modules across mental health, social work, social policy, sociology and research methods, with a particular commitment to inclusive, trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming learning.
My wider professional practice brings together academic teaching, peer support, mentoring, editorial leadership and community engagement. I have supported neurodivergent university students, contributed to family peer-support and community-based mental health provision, and led operations and volunteer support within a user-led charity.
Before entering academia, I worked in trade media and online journalism, editorial directorships, events management and commercial operations. This background continues to inform my approach to research communication: making complex ideas accessible, creating spaces for dialogue, and connecting academic knowledge with lived experience, practice and wider public conversations.
