About us

We aim to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

Our distinctive approach is centred on working with people with learning disabilities, autistic people, and their families — including involving them as co-researchers.

How we work is vitally important to us. We seek to creatively break boundaries and find new ways of working.

Our research brings into the light the inequalities people face, and helps to understand why this happens and how to support people to enjoy flourishing lives.

We put the evidence we find in the hands of people who can make use of it to drive positive social change.

An essential part of our work is building capacity for the future — helping people with learning disabilities, autistic people and family carers to develop research skills and play a full part in our research. As well as researching equity, we aim to promote it through our research practice.

Our research cluster is underpinned by a commitment to social justice and ethics.