Written by Jaja Choktanasiri

I am just finishing up my final year of the BSc Education degree at The University of Manchester. In this blog, I detail my experience and takeaways from working as the Autistic co-production officer at Autism@Manchester.

Before I joined Autism@Manchester, I had no idea I could be so closely involved with research. I interviewed in early August 2023 and was appointed in the following weeks. I was thrilled to receive this opportunity and to work with Emma Gowen, Kathy Leadbitter, Alex Sturrock and Katie Twomey – many names I have seen whilst previously researching Autism.

The opportunity for an undergraduate student like myself to work on the same level as these pioneering researchers is invaluable. Opportunities like this opened my eyes to what was possible in research, and seeing the amount of time and consideration researchers must put into a piece of research has really allowed me to further appreciate research and how it benefits our lives.

What I do

In my role, my primary responsibilities consist of managing the Autism@Manchester social media channels, connecting with Autism researchers in the Manchester area, co-producing the research toolkit (an exciting initiative by the Autism@Manchester team) and collating and editing the Autism@Manchester blogs and magazine.

I learnt a lot of skills through these tasks. For example, in connecting and meeting Autism researchers with a wide range of specialisms, I truly understood and embraced how different research requires different types of dissemination and advertisement to reach its target audience.

On the other hand, through building the research toolkit with the Autism@Manchester team, I acquired many skills around using a learning management system (LMS) and implementing accessible learning content in our toolkit modules. I also learnt to incorporate the different feedback received to improve the toolkit and actually celebrate these diverse perspectives.

Key takeaways

There are countless things I could take away from this role. One of my most notable takeaways is the importance of research and accessibly disseminating said research to bridge understanding for different stakeholders in Autism. Through our social media channels, I learnt how other research papers attract different audiences on various platforms, and how posting the right content on the right platform can help us maximise visibility for our topical research.

Through the toolkit, I understood the significance of writing research resources in an accessible way. Through the magazine, I realised the importance of creativity in sharing research findings and connecting with people. All these things mean that research gets out to a broader audience and, therefore, has the impact it intends to have.

If it was not for my time at Autism@Manchester, this fact is something I might never have realised – it matters just as much to do research well as it does to understand how to connect research with people. Solving world-level inequality is undoubtedly complex, whether this be health inequalities or educational inequalities. However, an excellent way to begin contributing to the solution is through connecting people with education – in my case, in the form of research.

It has been the most beautiful occasion to work with the Autism@Manchester team, and I would like to thank everyone involved for their unwavering support. I cannot wait to see where the next co-production officer takes us next.

Jaja was funded by the School of Health Sciences “Dragons Den” funding scheme”

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