👤 Dr Eloise Stark
DPhil (Oxon), DClinPsych (Oxon) | Clinical Psychologist & Clinical Research Fellow | Doctoral Supervisor Part of IDEAS
🧠Broad Area of Supervision
Clinical Psychology, Neurodivergence & Developmental Neuroscience — with sub-areas spanning autism and ADHD research, trauma and the traumatised brain, parent-infant attachment and caregiving neuroscience, and wellbeing/eudaimonia research.
Specialist sub-areas: neurodivergence and autism (clinical and cognitive) · trauma, PTSD, and brain network dynamics · parent-infant attachment and the neurobiology of caregiving · wellbeing, eudaimonia, and flourishing · systemic and integrative clinical practice · participatory/co-production research with autistic adults.
🔎 Short Bio
Dr Eloise Stark is a Clinical Psychologist in the NHS and a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing. She holds two doctorates from Oxford — a DPhil in Cognitive Neuroscience and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsych) — alongside postdoctoral research funded by the Medical Research Council. Her expertise spans neurodivergence, attachment, trauma, and clinical complexity, with a substantial peer-reviewed publication record spanning Nature Human Behaviour, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Human Brain Mapping.
🔬 Full Profile
Dr Eloise Stark brings a rare combination of front-line NHS clinical practice and a sustained, high-impact research career to doctoral supervision at IDEAS. She currently works as a Clinical Psychologist across two Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust CAMHS services — the CAMHS Neuropsychiatry Service and North Oxfordshire CAMHS Getting More Help — providing highly specialist assessment, formulation, and therapy for neurodivergent children and young people with severe and complex mental health needs, while also serving as Clinical Research Fellow at Oxford’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing.
Her academic training is unusually deep: a DPhil (Oxon) in Cognitive Neuroscience examining the cognitive neuroscience of parent-infant attachment and the brain basis of caregiving, followed by a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsych, Oxon) with specialist training in systemic practice, CBT, and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). Between the two, she held a Medical Research Council-funded Postdoctoral Researcher position in Oxford’s Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, researching autistic cognitive patterns and their relevance to wellbeing.
Her research already directly involves supervision and mentoring: she supervises Trainee Clinical Psychologists in both clinical practice and doctoral research, has supervised Oxford MSc students in experimental research, and served as External Examiner for a PhD viva at the University of Hertfordshire. She is a member of the NHS England Task and Finish Group developing National Guidance on psychological therapies for autistic adults, and was part of the clinical team that developed the Online Video Autism Assessment Tool (OVAAT) during Covid-19. Her work has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, and she peer-reviews for journals including Nature, Scientific Reports, and Autism.
She is a BABCP Accredited CBT Therapist and HCPC-registered practitioner, and brings a strong commitment to participatory research — co-producing, with a group of clinicians and autistic adults, a widely used guide to adapting psychological therapies for autistic clients.
🔬 Areas of Research Interest
Neurodivergence & Autism Autism and ADHD in children, young people, and adults · neuroaffirmative clinical practice · autistic cognition and anxiety · co-production research with autistic adults · identity development in neurodivergent young people
Trauma & the Traumatised Brain PTSD and brain network dynamics · psychological vulnerability to chronic stress · trauma-focused CBT and its neural correlates · childhood maltreatment and episodic future thinking
Caregiving, Attachment & the Parental Brain Parent-infant attachment · neurobiology of caregiving and the parental brain · learned infant emotionality · developmental histories and early relationships
Wellbeing, Eudaimonia & Flourishing Neurodivergent flourishing · hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing · social constructionist approaches to neuronormative ideas of wellbeing · neuroaesthetics and the neuroscience of pleasure
Clinical Practice & Systemic Integration Systemic and family therapy · integrative practice across CBT, CFT, ACT, DBT, and DDP · complex case formulation · multi-agency and multidisciplinary clinical liaison.
Supervisory Approach & Methodological Range
Dr Stark supervises across both quantitative and qualitative traditions, reflecting the dual grounding of her own doctoral training. Her DPhil work involved neuroimaging and systematic quantitative meta-analysis; her clinical doctorate and subsequent NHS and research work have been built around participatory, co-produced qualitative research conducted directly with autistic adults and clinical populations. She already supervises Trainee Clinical Psychologists in both clinical practice and doctoral research, and welcomes candidates working at the intersection of clinical psychology, neuroscience, and lived-experience-led research — particularly those whose work will translate into applied clinical practice rather than remain purely theoretical.
🎯 Ideal Candidate Fit
| If your research is about… | Dr Stark is a strong match because… |
| Autism, ADHD, or neurodivergent identity and wellbeing | Her core clinical and research specialism, with a substantial publication record in the field |
| Trauma, PTSD, or the neuroscience of chronic stress | DPhil-level neuroimaging training and multiple high-impact publications on trauma and brain networks |
| Parent-infant attachment or the neurobiology of caregiving | Doctoral research specialism, supervised by leading caregiving neuroscience researchers |
| Co-production or participatory research with autistic adults or other clinical populations | Direct, sustained co-production research practice, including a publicly available clinical adaptation guide |
| A clinical doctorate (DClinPsych) or research bridging clinical practice and neuroscience | Rare dual-doctorate background spanning both cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology |
| Wellbeing, eudaimonia, or flourishing research | Current Clinical Research Fellow at Oxford’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing |
📬 Contact / Enquire
Ready to talk about doctoral admissions, supervision, or researcher development? Contact the Knowledge Edge team.
