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14th Autism-Europe International Congress, Dublin, Ireland, 2025

In September 2025, Ireland's vibrant capital hosted Autism-Europe's 14th International Congress under the theme "Quality of Life – Research, Policy and Practice" to advance neuro-affirmative autism research and practice. Around 2,000 experts, advocates, and individuals from across the world exchanged knowledge and experiences to foster understanding and inclusivity for autistic people.

Autism-Europe member AsIAm, Ireland’s autism charity, hosted and co-organized the congress together with AE.

Over three days, the programme featured a wide range of topics, ranging from access health, communication, education and employment, gender and intersectionality, participation and rights and advocacy, etc.

Download the book of abstracts (divided into parts for quicker download): part 1, part 2, part 3

You can watch recordings of many of the keynote speeches, panel discussions and presentations below. (For technical reasons, not all sessions were recorded.)

Watch the welcome address here.

Watch the opening ceremony here.

Watch the closing ceremony here.

All other recordings are grouped by topic. Click on a box with a topic that interests you to reveal the speaker names and titles of the individual sessions. Clicking on a speaker’s name will then take you to the recording of that session on our YouTube channel.

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Day 1:

  • Maja Toudal: Energy accounting – Neurodiversity-affirming stress management and burnout prevention
  • T. Waisman: When research, policy, and practice become a beacon in a volatile world
  • Sue Fletcher-Watson: Neurodiversity: Liberation and Inclusion for all Autistics

Day 2:

  • Mary Doherty: Optimising health and healthcare for autistic people: insights from autistic doctors
  • Bernadette Grosjean: Working together: how what I learned as an autistic psychiatrist enables me to be an advocate inside a profession known for its resistance to change
  • Jeroen Dewinter: Exploring the sexual health and wellbeing of autistic people: from here onwards
  • Kara Dymond: Access, agency, and wellbeing: Possibilities for neurodiversity-affirming classrooms & transformational teaching
  • Joris Lechêne: Decolonising and reindigenising autism

Day 3:

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Michael Ryan: Mindfulness session: Grounding and arrival

Panel 1 (Thursday):

Panel 2 (Thursday):

  • Rachel Moseley: Suicidality in autistic people: a mixed-methods approach to contributing factors
  • Themistoklis Pantazakos: Designing neurodiversity-affirmative mental health interventions for autism
  • Ilse Noens: Insights into lived experiences of suicidality and development of guidelines and tools
  • Anne Kirby: A community-driven study to understand influences on suicide prevention

Panel 3 (Thursday):

Panel 4 (Friday):

  • Rebecca Ellis: Menstruation and autism: a qualitative systematic review
  • Maria Garrido Salcedo: A pilot program for promoting gynecological health in autistic women and complex support needs
  • Ailbhe McKinney: Timing of puberty in neurodivergent and neurotypical girls and the relationship with mental health
  • Claire Planner: General practice support for autistic adults: findings from a realist review

Panel 5 (Friday):

  • Alison Lane: Understanding emotion regulation in autism: a multi-stakeholder investigation revealing shared perspectives on support needs
  • José de Giorgio Schoorl: Preserving well-being and self-determination in autistic children, facilitating parents to break free from modern society’s behavioral focus
  • Amy Coggeshall Laurent: Energy: meeting the regulatory needs of autistic people in accessible, authentic, and validating ways
  • Anita Gardner: Advancing mental health for autistic communities: innovations and insights from the Oceanic region

Panel 6 (Friday):

  • Jessica Paynter: Autistic adults’ ratings of helpfulness of adaptations to therapy for their mental health
  • Katri Friman: Supporting change and improving the wellbeing of autistic and other neurodivergent people with Revion Rehabilitation during imprisonment.
  • Ruth Vidriales: Health, quality of life, and personal outcomes in autistic adults with intellectual disabilities: challenges and support needs
  • Themistoklis Pantazakos: Neurodiversity proponents’ views on developing emancipatory autism psycho-education

Panel 7 (Saturday):

  • Joanna Lawicka: Trauma treatment and mental health care programme for people on the autism spectrum – a chance for health and a better life
  • Amy Pearson: “It’s a long process, and a long journey”: Autistic adults’ experiences of support and recovery after experiencing intimate violence and abuse
  • Katrine Callander: Navigating complexity: autistic women’s lived experiences of trauma and reclaiming agency
  • Sabrina Lasevitch: Re-enchanting the clinic by decolonizing autism: decolonial archetypal psychology for autistics in peripheral capitalist countries

Panel 8 (Saturday):

  • Elizabeth Sheridan + Eziafakaku Nwokolo: Best practices for diagnosing autism: the importance of culturally sensitive, person-centered, and evidence-based autism assessments
  • Lisa J Krijnen: Assessing autistic identity using a self-report questionnaire: evaluating the Dutch version of the Social Identity Questionnaire
  • Christopher Atkins + Joanna Panese: The Affinity programme. A national free goal-directed, time-limited online programme for addressing concerns identified by autistic people and families
  • Gina Gomez de la Cuesta: An international evaluation of the Brick-by-brick® programme (LEGO brick-based therapy) in 7 countries

Panel 9 (Saturday):

  • Cristina Imaguire: ‘It’s not about being Instagram perfect’: Can playfulness improve well-being and understanding of autism in relationships between social care staff and autistic adults?
  • Orlaigh Byrne: Breaking barriers: The experience of autistic therapists
  • Niels Bilenberg: Complete spectrum of physical comorbidities with autism spectrum disorder in a nationwide cohort
  • Anke Scheeren: Masking, social context and perceived stress in autistic adults: An ecological momentary assessment study

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Panel 1 (Friday):

  • Claire O’Neill: Thriving and meaning for autistic teachers: a creative and embodied approach
  • Elinda Ai Lim Lee: Applying the job demands-resource model to support autistic employees in flexible working arrangements
  • Claire Gleeson: Autistic women in the workplace: understanding their journeys and experiences

Panel 2 (Friday; entire panel in one recording):

  • Tracy Turner: Exploring the worklife experiences of UK autistic women
  • Anne Marie McDonnell: Co-creating employment pathways through partnership: facilitating autistic students in National Learning Network to transition to jobs and careers with Mr. Price Branded Bargains
  • Rob Sheridan: Future expectations: a qualitative exploration of perceptions and expectations of autistic adults regarding the IMPACT programme
  • Lars Veerhoff: Navigating career shocks: the school-to-work transition for autistic emerging adults.

Panel discussion: The Role of Businesses in Building Autism-Accessible Workplaces and Society
(Friday; entire panel in one recording):

  • Niamh Biddulph — Congress Scientific Committee & An Post
  • Carolann Lennon — CEO, Salesforce Ireland
  • Moyagh Murdock — CEO, Insurance Ireland
  • Representative from AIB

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Panel 4 (Saturday):

  • Agnieszka Siedler: Preparing teachers for effective learning support in early autism education
  • Anna Cook: An innovative specialist centre model on autistic pupils’ success in mainstream schools
  • Nadia Chabane: A training program for professionals in the education sector: an inclusive strategy
  • Mandira Hiremath: Improving neurodiversity awareness in school students: a scoping review

Panel 5 (Saturday):

  • Isabella Sasso: Why autistic students struggle with school attendance despite wanting to learn
  • Mary Mitchell: Building pathways to success: empowering autistic people through adult education
  • Elle Drohan: Harnessing Autistic Learners’ Absorbing Interests to optimise curriculum access
  • Sinead McNally: Understanding the experiences of autistic pupils in primary and secondary schools

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Sinead Rhodes / Iona Beange: EPIC Think Learn: Translation of co-produced research into services and resources for neurodivergent children and young people

Sofie Boterberg: Motor challenges in autistic children: prevalence and association with autism characteristics

Monique Mitchelson: Being autistic and ADHD: what is it like being an AuDHD’er?

Karen Leneh Buckle: Understanding and supporting autistic inertia

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Panel 1 (Thursday):

Panel 2 (Thursday):

  • Tara O’Donnell-Killen: Leveraging Health Tech to Revolutionise Accessibility: Advocacy ally
  • Chloë Keegan: Addressing public attitudes: to enhance autism inclusion and rights in Ireland
  • Laura Crane: Court and tribunal proceedings involving autistic adults in England and Wales
  • Monique Botha: Imagined futures: addressing systemic ableism in autism research

Panel discussion: Creating Responsive Public Services in the Context of Shifting Demographics
(Thursday; entire panel in one recording):

  • Laura Crane
  • Sharon Barry
  •  Bernadette Grosjean
  • Wenn Lawson

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Barbara Sandland, Andrea MacLeod: Universal Design for Learning principles for postgraduate researchers

Paula Prendeville: Implementing organisational change using SPACE to support neurodivergent adults

Daniel Poole: Data sharing in autism research with autistic people and parents of autistic children

Freddie Jones: Qualitative methods for eliciting the ‘voice’ of nonspeaking neurodiverse young people

 

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