Dr. Elina Birmingham
Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University
The overarching goal of Dr. Birmingham’s research is to better understand and support children, youth and adults on the Autism Spectrum. Her lab leads five main programs of research: creating smart technology using artificial intelligence to support autistic children, youth and adults who experience decreased sound tolerance (sound sensitivity project); incorporating the perspectives of autistic individuals in research and supporting neurodiversity; improving the university experience of autistic SFU students through the Autism Mentorship Initiative; exploring how autistic individuals visually attend to and interpret information in their environments (eye tracking & social attention research); and examining how facial expressionproduction and interpretation may contribute to difficulties in social interactions between autistic and neurotypical individuals. She is joining many others in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research that have started making a concerted effort to incorporate the voices of autistic individuals in the research process, as well as using identity-first language and neurodiversity perspectives. She work closely with SFU’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Lab towards these goals. In addition to autism research, she conduct basic research to understand mechanisms of attention and perception in neurotypical populations.
