Dr Yonat Rum

Research Associate

Yonat is a post-doctoral researcher at the ARC. Her study focuses on empathic accuracy and empathic synchrony in autism. She arrived at Cambridge following a fellowship at HUJI, where she was leading a research project in collaboration between The Social Development Lab and The Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, on empathy in the context of disability. Specifically, she studied empathy in siblings of children with disabilities, developmental delays, or disorders. As a doctoral student, Yonat was awarded the Azrieli fellowship for her work, focused on autistic children and their typically developing siblings, that was completed at Tel Aviv University in cooperation with Asaf Harofeh Medical Centre. Yonat holds degrees in psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in learning disabilities, and special education from Tel Aviv University. Yonat is also an awardee of the Israeli Ministry of Culture’s prize for young writers. Before her academic and educational career, Yonat was a journalist. She was the editor of the drive-time program Evening News in Galey-Tzahal radio station and edited various programs on Israeli radio and television outlets.

In the field of education, Yonat instructed support groups for siblings of autistic children, mentored in-home care intervention for autistic children, and was the professional manager of the Inclusion Coordinators Program – a post-graduate program for the training of inclusion coordinators for autistic children, at Tel Aviv University.

Yonat’s research focuses on sibling relationships and sibling interactions,  empathy development and empathic accuracy in autistic and non-autistic individuals.