Dr Alexandra Hendry PhD

BA (Hons) English and Cultural Studies (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)

BSc (Hons) Psychology (Open University, United Kingdom)

MSc Research Methods in Psychology (University College London, United Kingdom)

PhD in Psychology (King’s College London, United Kingdom)

Alex completed her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London where she investigated the early development of executive functions and attentional control skills in infants with an increased likelihood of developing autism and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), because they have an older sibling already with a diagnosis. This work was part of the ongoing STAARS project (www.staars.org). Both autism and ADHD have been linked to increased difficulties with executive functions but little is understood about the early development of executive functions in these populations, in part because it is so difficult to measure in very young children. A core part of Alex’s research was developing new ways of measuring executive functions in toddlers, who are limited in terms of their ability to understand complex instructions. Her methods include ‘eye-tracking’ tasks which enable us to record exactly where, and for how long, toddlers look at different images on a screen, problem-solving games and touchscreen tasks, and electroencephalography (EEG) as a measure of activity in the brain.

In January 2018, Alex joined the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford to work on a project investigating executive functions from infancy into early childhood, led by Dr Karla Holmboe. She was awarded an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship to support this work in 2018, and a Scott Family Junior Research Fellowship in Autism in 2019. In 2021 Alex was awarded a 5-year NIHR and Castang Foundation Advanced Fellowship to develop and pilot the START early intervention programme. The aim of the START programme is to support all children to thrive, whether they are neurodivergent or neurotypical.

Alex joined the University of Birmingham as an Associate Professor in conjunction with a 125^th Anniversary Fellowship in 2025. 

Dr Hendry is interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas (primarily with a focus on the first 5 years of life):

• Executive Function
• Neurodiversity (including, but not limited, to autism and ADHD)
• Socio-economic disadvantage
• Cultural diversity
• Parenting and Families
• Early Education and Care
• Early years policy 

Dr Hendry’s research uses behavioural and cognitive measurement techniques, with neuroscience methods (EEG, OPM-MEG) where appropriate. She is open to supervising qualitative and quantitative projects. Please email Dr Hendry before making an application to discuss potential projects

Alex’s research focuses on developing ways to identify and support children most likely to struggle with executive functions – the thinking and regulation skills that help us to plan, solve problems and control our impulses. She leads the START (Supporting Toddlers’ Attention, Regulation and Thinking skills) early intervention programme (https://startproject.info); a neurodiversity-affirming programme originally developed for parents with a family connection to autism or ADHD with support from NIHR, and now being adapted for childminders with support from EEF. She also leads the Leverhulme Trust funded REEF (Reconceptualising Early Executive Functions) study, and the ESRC funded Playful Packs project.

Collaborations include the Oxford Early Executive Functions project – a longitudinal study of attention and executive function development from 10 months to preschool age – and the Born in Covid Year - Core Lockdown Effects (BICYCLE) study – which aims to understand the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns on early language and cognitive development.