Francesca Happé

Francesca Happé
Francesca G. Happé
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Corpus Christi College, Oxford and University College, London University
Known for	Research on autism spectrum conditions
Scientific career
Fields	Cognitive neuroscience
Institutions	MRC Institute of Psychiatry King's College London
Thesis	Theory of Mind and Communication in Autism (1991)
Doctoral advisor	Uta Frith

Francesca Gabrielle Elizabeth Happé, FBA is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Director of the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. Her research focuses on autism spectrum conditions, specifically attempting to understanding social cognitive processes in these conditions.

Happé has stated that her grandfather worked as a scientist for Technicolor, and "made some real innovations" and that her parents always encouraged her to "ask questions".

Happé read Experimental Psychology at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. She then completed her PhD at University College, London University supported by a MRC Studentship at the Cognitive Development Unit. Her thesis was entitled Theory of Mind and Communication in Autism for which she was supervised by Uta Frith.

Happé has held a number of research roles, working first at the MRC Cognitive Development Unit between 1991 and 1995, before moving to the Department of Psychology and Aphasia Research College, Boston College in the USA for a year in 1995. Since 1995, she has held a role at the SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry(IoP) first as Senior Scientist in Cognitive Psychology (1996-2000), then as Reader in Cognitive Neuroscience (2000-2008) and finally as Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience since 2008. In October 2012 she became Director of the MRC SGDP Centre at the IoP.

Her work explores the nature of social understanding in typical development and "mind-reading" difficulties in autism. She is also actively engaged in studies of abilities and assets in people with autism, and their relation to detail-focused cognitive style. As well as cognitive methods, her research has involved functional imaging studies, exploration of acquired brain lesions, and behaviour genetic methods. She is the author of numerous research papers, as well as a book on autism for general readers. Her work funded by grants from the Wellcome Trust, MRC, ERSC and Autism Speaks, has won her a variety of awards.