Dr. Monique Botha
Research Fellow, University of Stirling

Dr. Monique Botha is a Community Psychologist with a focus on autism, social psychology, equality, and mental health. Passionate about producing research that can help autistic people of all ages to live equitably in communities, Dr. Botha’s approach to research, training and service design is "Nothing About Us Without Us". Everything should be done from a participatory, or group led approach, where the expertise of the community is appreciated and embraced. Research and services should aim to be inter-disciplinary, rigorous, and accessible.

Dr. Botha is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Stirling on a project entitled "Fragile Knowledge: Dehumanisation and Interpretation Bias in Autism Research". This three-year project has been funded as an Early Career Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme trust, and aims to address the dehumanising and objectifying rhetoric researchers use in discussing autistic people.

Previously, Dr. Botha was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Stirling, having secured a one-year long fellowship from the Economic and Social Research Council. Before this, Dr. Botha completed my PhD in Psychology from the University of Surrey (2016-2020). Their thesis investigated the role of autistic community connectedness in buffering against the effects of minority stress (such as stigma and discrimination) on mental health in the autistic community. Similarly, Dr. Botha completed my MSc in Psychology at the University of Surrey too (2015-2016).

Prior to entering Psychology, Dr. Botha studied for a BA in Social Care Practice at Athlone Institute of Technology (2011-2015). During this time, they worked as a Social Care Practitioner within a care-providing service, where they worked with autistic children and their families for four years. Dr. Botha’s background in Social Care Practice has allowed for an interdisciplinary psychology with a focus on impact and application.