Get involved

If you would like to be notified about any or all of the initiatives from the neurodiversity project please register your details below.

If you would like to register interest to volunteer for any activities please let us know below! Note this list will grow as initiatives come along.

Express interest in volunteering

Needs analysis – students

Aims

Identify barriers and enablers for neurodivergent students at the University of Melbourne
Inform the resources we develop for staff and students
Inform the development of our neurodivergent peer-peer mentoring program
Inform professional development workshops for staff
Bring awareness to the needs of neurodivergent students within the university
Publish research to help inform best practice in creating neuroaffirming university experiences

Target participants

All neurodivergent students within the university of Melbourne

Note: We understand that the diagnosis process is lengthy, expensive, and cognitively/emotionally demanding. Therefore, obtaining formal diagnoses can be challenging. We also believe that the self-diagnosis/self-realisation process is valid. Therefore, we would like to encourage all students that identify as neurodivergent (or are still investigating the possibility) to participate. Responses will remain anonymous.

This survey is currently open - Click here to participate

Workshops

As part of actioning the Framework for Educational Excellence, we are working with Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education) to facilitate workshops supporting staff members at the University of Melbourne to create inclusive teaching and learning experiences that remove barriers for our neurodivergent students (and will most-likely support every student!).

Neurodiversity-inclusive curriculum co-adaptation pilot workshop: 10am-12pm 30th May

Drawing inspiration from a successful model at UNSW, our first workshop will be Thursday 30th May. Volunteer staff will work with neurodivergent students and our project team to co-adapt their curriculums (what we teach at the University of Melbourne) to better support the full participation and belonging of our neurodivergent students. Staff will be given the opportunity to nominate areas for constructive feedback in a safe environment and to reflect on how they can lead workshops in their own faculties.

Click here to register interest (students and staff)

Neurodiversity-inclusive teaching pilot workshop: 10am-12pm 13th June

We will host a collaborative workshop focused on neurodiversity-inclusive teaching practices on Thursday 13th June. Staff will be invited to bring their learning activities and assessment tasks and to work with neurodivergent students to test their ideas applying the principles of universal design for learning to meet a wide range of needs

Cross-faculty symposium

Aim: to showcase research by neurodivergent researchers, and neuroaffirming research by allied researchers.

This symposium will be split into two streams:

1. Neurodiversity affirming research stream sharing research from across all faculties and schools that seeks to shift understandings of neurodivergences from deficits to differences.

2. Neurodivergent researchers sharing their work in any field, making visible the wonderful contribution University of Melbourne neurodivergent academics make to their fields of inquiry.

A call for expressions of interest for people who wish to present will be sent out to our mailing list in July.

The symposium will be held on Thursday the 14th of November 2024. Registration will be free and will be open to all University of Melbourne staff and students, although some restrictions on numbers may apply depending on space.

Featured Staff Profiles

Aim: To connect the community by featuring neurodivergent staff (both professional and academic) from across the University of Melbourne willing to share their experiences and successes on our website.

Timeline: begin featuring mid-2024

Featured Research

Aim: to showcase the current, groundbreaking research at the University of Melbourne conducted by neurodivergent researchers (all topics accepted), as well as neuroaffirming research about neurodiversity by allied researchers.

Timeline: begin featuring mid-late 2024

Audience: all neurodivergent staff and students. How these are run will depend on preferences expressed in the needs analysis.

Timeline: mid 2024

Student – peer mentor program

Audience: neurodivergent students

Timeline: We aim to begin recruiting interested student mentors for a pilot program mid-late 2024, who will begin mentoring incoming first-year students in 2025

Needs analysis – staff

The staff needs analysis is now closed

A huge thank you to everyone who participated! This was an amazing response and we look forward to sharing the results with you.

Overall we had 388 completed responses, with 234 responses from people who identify as neurodivergent.

This data is currently being cleaned, so this number may differ from the final number included.

It is likely that there will be another survey next year if you wish to participate. Next year's survey will cover additional enablers and barriers for ND staff that we come across as we continue to work in this space, and will inform any future ND-project activities not included in this survey.

Aims

Identify barriers and enablers for neurodivergent staff at the University of Melbourne
Inform the resources we develop for staff
Inform workshop content
Bring awareness to the needs of neurodivergent staff within the university
Publish research to help inform best practice in creating neuroaffirming work environments.

Advisory Group

Advisory group applications are now closed for 2024, but there will be another opportunity to be on the advisory group in 2025.

For advisory group members: The scheduled meeting dates for 2024 will be on Wednesdays at 11am to 12.30pm on 24th April, 12th June,11th September, and 20th November.