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  3. Katy-Louise Payne

  • Katy completed her BSc in Psychology with Ergonomics at Loughborough University and her MSc in Psychological Research Methods at the University of Leicester. In 2018, Katy graduated from the University of Bath with her PhD titled, “understanding offending behaviours and the autism spectrum”.

    Katy now works as a senior lecturer within the Learning Disability Team in the Faculty of Health, Society and Education. She teaches and supervises students from undergraduate to PhD level.

    Katy’s research revolves around improving the understanding of autism and identifying how to best support autistic individuals. She has previously worked in secure psychiatric and forensic services which informs and motivates her teaching and research. Katy’s employment and education guarantee an applied research focus with a rigorous application of research methods.

  • Katy teaches on a range of undergraduate and post graduate modules. She supervises students from undergraduate to PhD level.

  • Katy has three main research interests, autism, offending behaviours and mental health. Her research to date has looked at the risk factors and motivations for engaging in offending behaviours. Katy is interested in understanding autism within the Criminal Justice System and how we can best support autistic individuals and prevent future offending. More recently Katy has investigated non-traditional types of offending (i.e., cyber-dependent offending) and the risk factors and motivations associated with perpetrators of this type of offending.

    Katy has three main research interests, autism, offending behaviours and mental health. Her research to date has looked at the risk factors and motivations for engaging in offending behaviours. Katy is interested in understanding autism within the Criminal Justice System and how we can best support autistic individuals and prevent future offending. More recently Katy has investigated non-traditional types of offending (i.e., cyber-dependent offending) and the risk factors and motivations associated with perpetrators of this type of offending.

    Current funded research:

    In 2023, Katy successfully secured funding and is the principal investigator on two research projects:

    1. Neurodiversity and cyber-dependent offending. This project aims to: (a) Identify whether neurodiversity is over-represented in the cyber sector; (b) Investigate neurodiverse experience of cyber education and employment; and (c) understand whether a relationship exists between certain neurodiverse traits and cyber-dependent offending.
    2. Northamptonshire Autism: Understanding the autistic-identified research priorities & creation of the Northamptonshire Autism Research Network. This project aims to work with the Northamptonshire autistic community to: (a) Identify the research priorities of autistic adults in Northamptonshire; (b) develop a method for sharing information with autistic adults, families, practitioners; and (c) use the research projects findings to inform the Northamptonshire and National Autism Strategy.

  • For publications, projects, datasets, research interests and activities, view Katy-Louise Payne’s research profile on Pure, the University of Northampton’s Research Explorer.