Neurodivergent Women Changing Education: From Invisible to Influential

For too long, neurodivergent women have been missing from the stories we tell about neurodivergence in research, education and popular culture.

That is changing.

The final Dean’s Lecture for 2026 brings together internationally recognised autistic actor and community advocate Chloé Hayden with three of the Faculty of Education’s leading neurodivergent researchers – Associate Professor Erin Hoare, Dr Sarah Timperley and Associate Research Fellow Jess Rowlings – to explore what happens when neurodivergent women are authors of knowledge and agents of change, using research and lived experience to challenge barriers and reshape how society understands neurodivergence.

From Chloé’s advocacy and work amplifying neurodivergent voices to research transforming how education systems understand and support neurodivergent women, the conversation will ask what becomes possible when lived experience is recognised as expertise.

Please see access details below.

Please only register for a seated ticket if you are sure to be attending in person. While this event won't be live streamed, a ticket type to receive a copy of the recording is available for those that are unable to attend.
Filming and Photography:
This event will be photographed and recorded for later viewing/listening.

The material may be used on the Faculty of Education Website, YouTube, print, digital publications, social media and for other marketing purposes.

Please be aware that attendees may be included in photography, video and audio from this event. Wide-shot photographs of the audience may be captured.

If you do not wish to be photographed or filmed, please inform events staff on arrival and prior to the presentation. You will be provided with a red lanyard to assist our photographer and AV team in identifying attendees to be avoided when photographing/filming. We also ask that you to sit toward the back of the theatre, closest to the wall sides.

Chloé Hayden, Associate Professor Erin Hoare, Dr Sarah Timperley, Associate Research Fellow Jess Rowlings

Chloé Hayden is an award winning actress, author of bestselling book “Different Not Less - A neurodivergent’s guide to embracing your true self and finding your happily ever after", disability rights advocate, public speaker, and content creator.

Chloe has received recognition both at home and abroad for her commitment and success in communicating on neurodivergence and disability rights. Chloe is also the Disability Co-Chair for the Entertainment Diversity Committee (EDC) of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), an ambassador for autistic girls group Yellow Ladybugs, and an ambassador for Connective Tissue Disorders Network Australia (CTDNA).

is a Fulbright Scholar, Sir Winston Churchill Fellow, and Registered Psychologist (Educational and Developmental Registrar). She holds a multidisciplinary background spanning mental health, neurodiversity, child and adolescent health, school-based interventions, sport, and implementation science. Currently, A/Prof Hoare serves as Principal Research Fellow with the Neurodiversity Project Team at the Faculty of Education. She previously acted as Director of the Manna Institute, University of New England, a mental health research institute with over 200 affiliate researchers where she remains an Honorary Fellow. A/Prof Hoare also holds an Honorary Fellowship at the Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, Deakin University. A/Prof Hoare completed her postdoctoral training University of Cambridge as an NHMRC Sidney Sax Early Career Fellow and Research Associate, Peterhouse.

(she/her) is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne with a background in psychology, education, and neurodiversity. Drawing on her professional and lived experiences of ADHD, she now co-leads the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project. She is passionate about improving the lives of neurodivergent people, including adults like herself, and has delivered dozens of seminars and workshops on supporting neurodivergent staff and students. Her current research focuses on neurodiversity in the workplace, including disclosure, accommodations, and universal design of spaces and processes so that everyone can work to their strengths.

is a qualified speech and language pathologist and co-founder/CEO of Next Level Collaboration, a social enterprise that runs strength-based programs to support neurodivergent children in developing collaborative skills and social connection through cooperative video games. She is proudly the first openly neurodivergent (AuDHD) CEO from a University of Melbourne spinout, and led the application for the first successful Genesis Pre-Seed Fund investment in a social enterprise (University of Melbourne/Breakthrough Victoria). As the leader of Next Level Collaboration, she leads a team of 15 neurodivergent staff across a growing portfolio of programs. Jess is also a researcher at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Education.

View of outside of The Spot building

The Spot building has lifts or stairs available from the ground floor entrance to Copland Theatre on Level B1 (one floor down from ground floor)

Transport

Parking:

On-street parking may be available in Barry St, Leicester St and surrounds. Alternatively, public parking can be found at University Square Car Park. The entrances are at 244 Bouverie Street or 206 Berkeley Street. A map can be found here: https://maps.unimelb.edu.au/parkville/building/107

Tram:

The closest tram stop is 9-Pelham St/Elizabeth St (Melbourne City), Melbourne

The event venue is then a short walk along Pelham Street.

Train

The closest train station is Parkville Station, part of the new Metro Tunnel and located just below the Student Precinct on Grattan Street. From here, it is a short walk to the southeastern corner of the campus where The Spot (Building 110 on Berkeley Street) is situated.

Inside the Copland Theatre, seats 405.

More images below.

The University of Melbourne is a global leader in higher education where brilliant minds come together to address important questions and tackle grand challenges.

We equip our students with a future-facing education personalised around their ambitions, enriched by global perspectives and embedded in a collaborative research culture. As active citizens and future leaders, they represent our greatest contribution to the world.

We engage our communities to ensure that education and research is inspired by need and for the benefit of society. In this, we remain true to our purpose and will fulfil our mission as a public-spirited institution dedicated to the principles of fairness, equality and excellence in everything we do.

The University of Melbourne acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which we work, learn and live: the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong peoples (Burnley, Fishermans Bend, Parkville, Southbank and Werribee campuses), the Yorta Yorta Nation (Dookie and Shepparton campuses), and the Dja Dja Wurrung people (Creswick campus).

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Event venue & nearby stays

Copland Theatre, The Spot, Faculty of Business and Economics Building, Carlton, Australia

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