Jon joined Autistica in 2015. A consultant specialising in innovative policy, public affairs and media campaigns, he previously advised senior leaders in charities, pharmaceutical firms and biotech in areas including lung cancer, leukaemia, genomics, HIV, meningitis, infectious diseases and ADHD. As Head of Public Affairs and Campaigning at Cancer Research UK he led the campaign for smoke-free legislation in England and Wales, a policy hailed as “the biggest step forward in public health for fifty years". With over 400,000 campaigners recruited, he successfully lobbied for national cancer plans, investment in cancer screening and putting tobacco out of sight in shops. He graduated in Linguistics from Cambridge University and served as RAG President for a year.

Jennie Chambers, Director of Fundraising

Jennie joined Autistica in October 2018 and brings 11 years of experience working in the charity sector. From a young age she has had a great love for making a difference and has undertaken numerous volunteer and challenge events from living in India to provide palliative care to HIV/AIDS patients, teaching English language in Uganda through to running the Virgin Money London Marathon and Royal Parks Half Marathon to raise vital funds. Jennie has led fundraising teams at some of the UK’s leading charities including Mencap, RNIB and Unicef UK with notable successes including securing RNIB’s first strategic and largest partnership to date with Specsavers. Jennie started her career at the National Autistic Society therefore is incredibly proud and excited to be supporting the autistic community again and furthering the success of Autistica’s fundraising team.

Dr James Cusack, Director of Science

James Cusack joined Autistica in September 2015 following a career in autism research at the University of Aberdeen. From a young age James has also worked directly with families affected by autism, as well as having experience in clinical, educational and social care settings. James has sat on a number of advisory panels discussing the role of research in autism, and was vocal in the production of the report, 'A Future Made Together'. He was part of a core stakeholder group which successfully campaigned for Scotland’s first ever autism strategy. James has also been a member of Autistica’s Science Review Panel since January 2014. He is proud to lead on Autistica's strong, community-driven research strategy.

Yasmine Davies, Head of Major Giving & Events

Yasmine’s career has always focused on the Charity Sector. Prior to Autistica she worked at the Woodland Trust, an Environmental Charity, where she took on a variety of different roles spanning Individual Donor Management and more widely, Corporate Partnerships where she covered both Account Management and Business Development roles.

Yasmine joined Autistica to use her skills with an organisation that focuses more on people. She brings to Autistica a great deal of experience in Relationship Management and Development and will use these skills to develop the Corporate Fundraising Strategy and manage Autistica’s events programme. Yasmine joined Autistica in January 2013.

Rebecca Sterry, Head of Communications

Rebecca joined Autistica in 2014 to lead on a priority setting exercise to find the autism community's top ten research priorities. Her education started with a degree in English Language and Literature, and her career kicked off in direct marketing before she joined the charity sector at the National Migraine Centre where she worked for 4 years. Having grown up with two parents working in special education Rebecca joined Autistica with an interest in neurodevelopmental conditions but has learnt much more by meeting autistic people and their families. She is passionate about involving families and autistic people in research and communications, and getting the public to value evidence. Alongside her work at Autistica, Rebecca is a member of the Charity Comms Steering Group and volunteers as a befriender with her local Age UK Waltham Forest.

Giorgia Molinari, Corporate Partnerships

Giorgia began her UK career working in diplomacy for the Italian Embassy in London. After gaining significant experience in consular issues and event management she decided to transition into the charity sector where she further developed her relationship management and fundraising experience by working with small and medium sized charities and NGOs supporting various different causes, from national social issues such as homelessness and unemployment to environmental projects in developing countries. She joined Autistica in April 2016 from Cancer Research UK, where she was responsible for managing high value relationships and corporate partnerships within the City and Canary Wharf area.

Having recently become a mum herself, the life-long struggles that many children with autism and their families face because of a lack of research strongly resonates with Giorgia. Her ambition is to strengthen Autistica’s relationship with the commercial industry to help parents of children with autism find the answers they so desperately need.

Delroy Jones, Finance and Administration Manager

Delroy left school at 16 to join BP Oil as an accounts junior for a North Sea Oil project. He then continued his career in finance, working in public practice for nearly 20 years before moving into the fields of real estate and then health. Delroy joined Autistica in August 2016, with a role involving finance, office management, HR and governance administration. He is married with 2 children and lives in London.

Ed Smith, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager

Ed joined Autistica in 2017 from the consultancy sector, where he provided public affairs and public relations insight to leading global pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Ed began his career in the third sector, working as an intern at the Neurological Alliance. He later joined the National Osteoporosis Society, where he grew to lead the charity’s political engagement activities and successfully secured a position for fracture prevention services within prominent NHS policy initiatives. Ed graduated with first class honours in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Manchester in 2013.

Emma Chappell, Senior Corporate Partnerships Executive

Emma is our Corporate Partnerships Executive. She previously worked in corporate sales at Centaur Media in the new business team and before that in recruitment. Emma’s interest in autism began working as a personal care assistant for children with physical and learning disabilities whilst at school. She went on to study Psychology at Coventry University where she started working as a fundraiser for the University’s charitable foundation. Emma continues to volunteer with children with autism. Her experience in care and education motivates her to build excellent corporate partnerships to support Autistica’s life changing research.

Simon Maltz, Digital Fundraising Manager

Simon joined Autistica in April 2018 as Digital Fundraising Manager, following three years working on digital communications at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. His previous work as Digital Fundraising Executive at Premier Media Group gave him a passion for online fundraising and developing supporter journeys, which he's been able to carry into his role at Autistica. Simon hopes that he can play his part in building strong and lasting relationships between Autistica and our amazing supporters.

Georgia Harper, Policy and Public Affairs Officer

Georgia joined our Policy and Public Affairs team in 2018 after completing her Masters degree in human rights law and working in a senior MP's Parliamentary office. She has been involved in autism campaigning for some time, particularly as Youth Patron for the charity Ambitious about Autism, and co-presented the Channel 4 documentary "Are You Autistic?" in March 2018. Georgia is excited to build on Autistica's bold policy strategy to create evidence-led and community-driven change.

Siobhan Shaw, Senior Trusts and Foundations Fundraising Manager

Siobhan joined Autistica as Trusts and Foundations Manager in 2018, having previously been responsible for managing trust and foundation relationships at an international eye charity and a national museum. As her cousin Natalie is autistic, Siobhan understands the challenges autistic people face every day in a world which often does not understand or accommodate them. She is really excited to be working with a cause which is so close to her heart, and to have the opportunity to help raise the vital funds Autistica needs to launch research projects which matter to the autism community.

Bethan Davies, Discover Co-ordinator

Bethan co-ordinates our research network Discover. She joined the charity in 2018. She completed her Masters degree in English Literature, Victorian Studies at Exeter, before going on to work in marketing and comms. Most recently she worked in the Business to Business marketing team at the National Autistic Society, specialising in professional development and events, and she will be bringing that experience into her role at Autistica. Bethan volunteers for a mental health support helpline and has volunteered extensively for Nightline Association.

Lauren Cutler, Trusts and Foundations Officer

Lauren previously worked at Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People and gained fundraising experience in events, community and trusts fundraising. She is keen to support the team at Autistica and help fundraise from trusts and foundations for vital research projects. She graduated in 2016 from the University of Birmingham with a degree in International Relations and got her first fundraising experience at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. Outside of work she has experience working with people with learning difficulties and enjoys travelling, baking and exercise.

Lorcan Kenny, Discover Lead

Lorcan joined Autistica in October 2018 from the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE) at University College London. At UCL Lorcan conducted research on the life experiences of autistic people, their parents and their teachers, before completing a PhD. Lorcan's research focused on the everyday planning and organisational difficulties autistic people often describe, how young people felt when they were excluded from school, what young people liked and what they found challenging about living in a residential special school and how autistic people want to be described. Lorcan is passionate about making research findings accessible and ensuring that autism research matters to autistic people and their supporters. Lorcan is excited to have the opportunity, through Discover, to drive autism research towards answering questions that matter and bringing all those involved in UK autism research closer together.

Silviya Naskinova, Senior Community and Events Manager

Silviya joined us from Barnardo’s where she worked in the Supporter Relations Team and then moved into the Challenge Events team where she looked after a large portfolio of events including overseas and UK treks, RideLondon, Tough Mudder and more. Prior to working in the charity sector Silviya worked in the police for over 4 years. She has always wanted to work in a an environment where she feels like she is making a difference to people. She is a yogi and a feminist and has a strong belief in the power of community. She is looking forward to empowering a growing community of supporters for Autistica.

Jake Mackey, Games Partnerships Manager

Jake joins us from the video games industry with a personal and professional passion for all things games related. His professional passion for games evolved into a passion for the people, players and real connections, how games are often far more than just a hobby for those who play them. Jake also has experience in education, early development and wildlife conservation, and is the founder of a games community of two thousand members. His mission at Autistica is to help the games industry become more inclusive to neurodivergent people and to change the narrative around autism and games.

Cat Hughes, Research and Grants Officer

Cat moved from Ireland to work for Autistica in 2018. She has a background in autism and mental health research, with a PhD focusing on the language heard by autistic infants. She was Research Manager for suicide and self-harm prevention charity, Pieta House, and she previously worked at Dublin City University supporting autistic students. Cat is a long-time advocate within the community having received an autism diagnosis herself when she was a student. She was on the board of autism charity, Aspire Ireland, and ran a support group for autistic women and non-binary people. In her spare time, she volunteers in sighthound rescue.

Rose Matthews, SHAPe Health Checks Policy Officer

Rose joined Autistica to do policy work around health checks for autistic people. Her passion for social justice goes back to volunteering as a teenager in long-stay hospitals, when became acutely aware of human rights issues. After graduating in English at Durham University Rose worked in residential childcare and for the police and probation services. She later completed a master’s degree in Social Work and became a lecturer, researcher and practitioner before taking on management roles in the public and third sectors. Recently, aged 58, Rose discovered she is autistic. She’s delighted to be doing work which may help other autistic people.

Emily Rawson, Digital Content Officer

Emily joined our communications team after completing her Master’s degree in PR, Marketing and Advertising. A passionate advocate for mental health and disability equality, Emily has worked on a variety of charity accounts and social media campaigns and is even leading her own equality workplace project which focuses on expanding neurodiversity and equality opportunities within the creative industry. Emily is excited to be joining Autistica as our online presence grows and can’t wait to bring her passion and creative flare to our work.

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