Dr Gemma Williams is a Research Officer in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science at Swansea University, working on the Wellcome Trust-funded, longitudinal project ‘Autism: from menstruation to menopause’, led by Dr Aimee Grant. 

Gemma is an autistic researcher, whose Linguistics PhD investigated the breakdowns in mutual understanding that can occur between autistic and non-autistic people, based on the idea of the ‘double empathy problem’. Her doctoral research also included a focus on loneliness in autism and the use of creative and participatory methodologies. 

Before joining Swansea University, Gemma held an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Brighton in Social Policy. She is a member of the Westminster Commission on Autism and an Associate with the National Development Team for Inclusion where she’s contributed to a number of commissioned reports, projects and inquiries aimed at improving service provision for autistic and neurodivergent people within the UK, NHS England and local authorities. 

Gemma is currently working on her monograph, Understanding others in a neurodiverse world, due for publication by Pavilion Press in 2024.