Professor Francesca Happe CBE FBA FMedSci

Francesca Happé is Director and Head of Department at MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre. An outstandingly good communicator she has been very active in fostering the public understanding of science. Her specific research contributions include the development of an advanced test of “theory of mind”, the development of the notion of weak central coherence as a feature of autism and the demonstration that this reflects a cognitive style rather than a cognitive impairment, and pioneering the use of functional neuroimaging to interrogate the brain bases of social cognition in individuals with autism.