Dr Mirabel Pelton

Research Associate

Mirabel is committed to working in partnership with autistic people to better understand and prevent suicide amongst autistic people.

Mirabel's PhD research (PhD awarded February 2024) comprises the first studies exploring suicide mechanisms amongst autistic people. Her post-doctoral research builds on this where she works within the suicide prevention team, leading the bereaved voices project, which aims to understand why autistic people are proportionally more likely to die by suicide whilst mental healthcare patients than non-autistic people.

Mirabel's post-doctoral grants include the first study to explore feasibility and acceptability of using EMA (ecological momentary assessment to explore the daily lives of autistic people ‘in the moment’. Impact of Mirabel's research is evidenced by four first author publications in high impact journals (Autism, JADD, Autism in Adulthood and Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior), and her position as editorial board member of Autism in Adulthood (the highest impact factor of all autism journals) and presentation record at international conferences including invited and competitively selected presentations at INSAR 2023 and IASP 2023.

Her expertise has been called upon by international (International Association for Autism Research, Inter-agency Co-ordinating Committee, United States) and, national (Autistica, All-party Parliamentary Group for Autism, National Autism Training Program) policy organisations and most recently in the UK Government Suicide Prevention 5-year plan for England. She has received prestigious awards (PsyPAG Rising Researcher Award, Post-graduate Researcher of the year award) for the outstanding quality and contribution of her research at this early stage of her career.