Dr Kate Cooper wins 2022 BPS Doctoral Award

This award recognises outstanding contributions to psychological knowledge by postgraduate research students – more information about it is available on our website.

In addition to her work at the University of Bath, Dr Kate Cooper is a HCPC-registered clinical psychologist and BABCP-accredited cognitive behavioural therapist who has worked in a range of clinical settings and neurodevelopmental clinics.

She completed an NIHR-funded clinical doctoral fellowship titled 'How should health services adapt to meet the needs of autistic people with gender dysphoria?' in 2022, which led to academic publications, accessible summaries and co-produced training materials for healthcare clinicians.

Kate is also a researcher on the Autism Depression Trial, supporting the development of a psychological treatment for depression in autistic adults.

She presents a podcast on cultural diversity in clinical psychology alongside Dr Afsana Faheem, which you can listen to online.

Dr Cooper said:

"I am hugely honoured to receive this award and I am so pleased that my qualitative work in this complex research area has been well-received.

"The research could not have happened without an amazing group of autistic and transgender people who helped steer the whole project. I am so grateful to all the research participants including autistic people, parents, and busy clinicians who gave up their time in exceptionally difficult circumstances - during the pandemic and a period of intense public scrutiny on gender diverse people in the UK.

"I am also super grateful to my incredible team of supervisors who provided me with such thoughtful and wise advice throughout my PhD."