About

Prof. Jenny Gibson is Professor of Neurodiversity and Developmental Psychology at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Jenny leads the Play and Communication Lab research group. She is also a co-director of PEDAL the centre for research on Play in Education, Development and Learning, and a co-director of CHIA, the Centre for Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence.

Jenny has long been fascinated by the connections between linguistic and social aspects of child development. Most of her research investigates this link, usually with neurodivergence, play and mental health as key topics. Jenny is also a qualified speech and language therapist, specialising in autism and developmental language disorder.

Research

The PacLab team investigates human development, flourishing and neurodiversity. We also conduct research about specific neurodivergent groups, specialising in autism and developmental language disorder. Our work is rooted in developmental psychology and we have many interdisciplinary influences including; disability studies, linguistics, computer science, psychiatry, literary studies and education.

Play is a major research focus in the PacLab group. We are investigating how this ubiquitous, yet often-overlooked, aspect of human experience is linked to mental health, wellbeing, social development and linguistic development. We are especially interested in over-turning deficit focused narratives concerning neurodivergence and play.

Participatory research is a guiding value in our team. We aim to include and amplify the voices and perspectives of under-represented groups.