Dr. Iliana Magiati (she/ her) is an Associate Professor at the School of Psychological Science at The University of Western Australia (UWA).

Originally from Athens, Greece, I have lived, studied, and worked across Greece, the UK, and Singapore before settling in Whadjuk Noongar Country (Perth, WA) in 2020. My academic journey includes previous roles as an Associate Professor (2017–2019) and Assistant Professor (2009–2017) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

I completed my doctoral training in clinical psychology (D.Clin.Psy.) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London in 2006 and earned a Ph.D. from St George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London, in 2005, researching the effectiveness of early interventions for autistic children under the supervision of Professor Patricia Howlin.

With experience as both a research psychologist in academic settings and a clinical psychologist in multidisciplinary child development and community psychology teams in the UK’s National Health Service, my work is deeply rooted in understanding and supporting the mental health and well-being of autistic individuals. My research explores psychological and sociocultural factors that impact well-being, such as camouflaging/ masking, autistic burnout, autistic identity, diagnostic disclosure, and more. I am particularly interested in:

• Camouflaging/masking and autistic burnout in adults, their psychosocial correlates and their consequences and impact on wellbeing
• The assessment and experiences of anxiety and OCD in autistic individuals
• Identification and diagnosis of autism in adolescence and adulthood, and developing post-diagnostic supports for late identified/ diagnosed young people and adults
• Supporting autistic students in higher education
• Enhancing adult outcomes and quality of life for autistic individuals

I am actively involved in the academic and professional autism community. I am an Editor for leading autism journal Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice and currently also serve on the Editorial Board of Neurodiversity. Previously, I served on the Editorial Boards for Autism, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders (RASD), Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and Frontiers in Education (Special Educational Needs). I am currently the Vice-President of the Australasian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR), having previously contributed to the work of ASfAR since 2015 in various roles, including webmaster and social media coordinator.

I am a UK-registered Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical Psychologist) with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a registered psychologist with the Singapore Psychological Society (SPS). I am also an independent Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) trainer and have provided ADOS-2 workshops for clinicians in Singapore, Melbourne and Perth.

At UWA, I coordinate the Graduate Certificate in Autism Diagnosis (GCAD) and led the UWA project team to the development of seven online microcredential courses in autism assessment and diagnosis for professionals developed by the Autism CRC with The University of Western Australia, alongside Dr. Lauren Taylor. These courses were developed to support the implementation of the Australian National Guideline for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism, and they are available through UWA Plus, with 400+ enrolments to date. The development and delivery of these innovative courses won the UWA 2025 award for Innovation and Excellence in Learning and Teaching in the digital transformation category.

I am committed to fostering inclusivity and diversity in psychology and in academia. I coordinated the School of Psychological Science-School of Indigenous Studies peer mentoring program for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander psychology students from 2020 to 2026—a program recently recognized with both School and University Excellence Awards in Learning and Teaching (Inclusion and Diversity programs). I an the Chair of the School of Psychological Science's Inclusion and Diversity Committee and serve as Deputy Chair of the UWA Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Working Group. I am also an active member of the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP) Community of Practice.

Autism; mental health, well-being and safety of autistic people; understanding psychological and social factors contributing to autistic people's poorer mental health experiences and outcomes; masking/ camouflaging in autistic people and its psychosocial correlates and consequences; autistic burnout, its correlates and impact on wellbeing; identification and diagnosis of autism in adolescence and adulthood, and post-identification/ diagnosis supports for late-identified autistic people; supporting autistic people in higher education; improving the measurement and assessment of mental health (anxiety, OCD) in autistic people.

Guided by the autistic community's research priorities, most of my research work is co-produced and participatory, carried out in partnership with autistic advisors and consultants and/or with guidance from autistic community reference groups.

My research has been referenced in policy advisory documents, working papers, and government government reports in Australia, Singapore, the UK, Ireland, the USA, and elsewhere. For example, my work has been referenced in the UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidelines on the diagnosis and management of autism in adults, in the Meeting the Needs of autistic adults in mental health Services NHS England document, and in the Select Committe on Autism Submission 95 (Parliament of Australia). 

To make research findings more accessible and useful to the community, I consult as a qualified expert/ consultant to initiatives and publications, such as this Parent's Guide to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for autistic children by the Raising Children's Network. 

In 2020-22, I have been involved with a team of wonderful autistic and non-autistic researchers from four Australian universities and one charity, interviewing more than 130 autistic people and their families from all over Australia about their experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic. You can find the report from this research here and some news coverage here.  

My article, co-written with Dr. Jac den Houting from Macquarie University, on what can be done to better support autistic people and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyong can be found here.

Current Roles

Chair, School of Psychological Science Inclusion and Diversity Committee (2026-current)

Deputy Chair, UWA Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Working Group (2024-current)

Vice-President, Australasian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR; 2025-26)

Program Coordinator, UWA Graduate Certificate for Autism Diagnosis (GCAD; 2020-current)

Editor, Autism: The international journal of research and practice (Sage publications; 2024-current)

Representative/ Selected Past Roles

Coordinator of the School of Psychological Science- School of Indigenous Studies (SIS-SPS) peer mentoring programme for Aboriginal and/ or Torres Islander Undergraduate Psychology Students (2020-2025)

Member, School of Psychological Science Inclusion and Diversity Committee (2024-2025)

Co-ordinator of the UWA SPS-UniAccess peer mentoring programme for autistic university students (2023-2024)

Deputy Director, School of Psychological Science (UWA SPS) Postgraduate Education Committee (2022)

UWA Faculty of Science Online and Blended Learning Taskforce Working Group (2020)

Acting Director, Masters in Clinical Psychology Programme, National University of Singapore (2019)

Deputy Director, Masters in Clinical Psychology Programme, National University of Singapore (2017-18)

Research Co-ordinator, Masters in Clinical Psychology Programme, National University of Singapore (2010-2018)

Admissions Co-ordinator, Masters in Clinical Psychology Programme, National University of Singapore (2017)

I am working on an umbrella review of Autistic People's safety across life stages and contexts with a team of autistic, neurodivergent and non-autistic collaborators, funded by the National Disability Research Partnership (NDRP).

In addition to ongoing projects focusing on camouflaging/ masking, autistic burnout and their psychosocial correlates and consequences in autistic adults, I have been awarded a UWA Research Collaboration Award for a project titled "What do recently diagnosed autistic adolescents need and want from post-diagnostic support programmes? A preliminary scoping review and feasibility study collaboration", a collaboration with leading autism researchers in UCL, Southampton, UWA, Macquarie and UNSW, which will be completed by the end of 2026.

As I currently supervise several PhD students, I will likely only be able to accept one or two PhD students as the principal and co-ordinating supervisor in 2027.

I have secured a diverse portfolio of competitive national and international internally and externally funded research grants as a Lead/ Chief Investigator, Co-Investigator or Collaborator.

Internal and external sources of fundings in Australia and Singapore include: National Disability Research Partnership, WA Research Collaboration Award, Department of Health Government of Western Australia, Singapore National Medical Research Council, National Council of Social Service (Singapore), Singapore Children's Society, Ministry of Education Tier 1 Academic Research Fund. 

I have also played a key role in knowledge translation, co-leading and managing the UWA team in a project by Autism CRC with The University of Western Australia that developed seven self-paced online microcredential courses to support upskilling of clinicians in autism assessment and diagnosis. Further, I have generated independent consultancy funding through delivering highly specialist Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) training workshops to clinicians in Singapore, Melbourne and Perth. 

I co-ordinate the UWA Graduate Certificate in Autism Diagnosis (GCAD) program and co-teach the GCAD PSYC5522 Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) unit.

I have supervised to successful completion more than 50 Honours students at NUS and UWA. 

I am passionate about teaching and sharing my curiocity and interest in understanding human behavior, clinical psychology and autism. At UWA, I co-ordinate and co-teach PSYC5673 Foundations in Clinical Skills II for first year clinical psychology and neuropsychology postgraduate students. I also teach some of the specialist workshops in PSYC5511 (Special Topics in Clinical Psychology) to third year clinical psychology and neuropsychology trainees and teach the childhood and adolescence lectures and tutorials in PSYC4413 (Psychological Research and Practice). 

Previously, I have taught various undergraduate and postgraduate units at the National University of Singapore, including Pediatric Psychology, Child Abnormal Psychology, Psychological Interventions and Therapies, Child Psychopathology, and have won the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences excellence in teaching awards four times between 2010 and 2019. 

2017-2019: Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore (NUS)

2009-2017: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore (NUS)

2007: Clinical Psychologist, Highbury and Islington National Health Service Trust, Child Development Team and Community Child Psychology Service, London, UK

2003-2006: Clinical Psychologist in Training, South London and Maudsley National Health Service Trust, London, UK

1998-2003: Part-time or casual Research Psychologist or Research Assistant for research studies conducted by the Universities of Keele, Nottingham or St. George's Hospital Medical School on extremely premature children's outcomes, interventions for autistic children, and Turner's syndrome.

English

Greek (native speaker)

French (beginner/ intermediate)