Jane Blackwell
Research Fellow (Trial Coordinator)

Profile

Biography

Jane is a Research Fellow (Trial Coordinator) in the York Trials Unit. Jane’s background is in Developmental Psychology. She gained her BSc (Hons) in Psychology from The University of Sheffield in 2013 and her MSc in Development, Disorders and Clinical Practice from The University of York in 2014. She then completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Leeds from 2014-2018. Jane’s research investigated the relationship between sleep, physical activity, cognitive function and psychosocial well-being in children with narcolepsy. Following this, Jane conducted a longitudinal follow up study of the children with narcolepsy (who participated in her doctoral research) funded by a Wellcome Trust ISSF Early Career Fellowship. Jane then worked in the Child Oriented Mental health Intervention Centre (Leeds & York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) before joining the York Trials Unit.

Jane currently coordinates a NIHR HTA funded Randomised Controlled Trial called "Intensive Interaction for children and young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities: INTERACT trial"

Qualifications:

• PhD Psychology (University of Leeds)
• MSc Development, Disorders and Clinical Practice (University of York)
• BSc Psychology (University of Sheffield)

Departmental roles

• Member of the Contract Researchers Forum (CRF) January 2026 - Present

Research

Overview

Jane’s research interests include sleep disorders in children, interventions to promote healthy sleep in children, neurodevelopmental disorders, childhood interventions and randomised controlled trials within educational settings.

Projects

• INTERACT - A cluster RCT of Intensive Interaction to support the communication abilities of children and young people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD)

Previous Projects

• ASSSIST-2 - a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the Social Stories™ intervention to address the social and emotional health of autistic children in UK primary schools
• BAY - An RCT investigating behavioural activation for moderately to severely depressed young people in CAMHS settings
• ComBAT - Community-Based Behavioural Activation Training for Depression in Adolescents: Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) with Economic and Process Evaluations

Research group(s)

• Trials and Statistics

Publications

Full publications list

• Jane Blackwell's publications

External activities

Memberships

• The British Paediatric Sleep Association (BPSS)
• UK Trial Managers Network
• International Behavioural Trials Network
• Yorkshire Youth Mental Health Research Forum
• 0-19 Clinical Research Network (Yorkshire and Humber)

Invited talks and conferences

• Blackwell, J.E. & Standley, E. (2022) Behavioural Activation for Young people with depression in specialist child and adolescent mental health services (BAY): Plans for the trial. Presented at The Child Oriented Mental health Innovation Collaborative 19th Annual Conference online (29.09.22).
• Blackwell, J.E. & Bell, K, J. (2022) The Results of the Autism Spectrum Social Stories™ In Schools Trial 2 (ASSSIST-2). Presented at the Autistica Research Festival online (15.07.22).
• Blackwell, J.E. & Bell, K, J. (2022) Using Social Stories^TM to support children on the autism spectrum in school: Reflections from the ASSSIST-2 trial. Presented at The Autism Show in Manchester (10.06.22).
• Blackwell, J.E. (2022). Autism Spectrum Social Stories™ In Schools Trial 2 (ASSSIST-2): Recruiting participants during COVID-19. Presented at the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Research Forum (31.03.22).
• Blackwell, J.E. (2020) An overview of The White Rose Child & Adolescent Sleep Network. Presented at The British Paediatric Sleep Society Videoconference (11.09.20).
• Blackwell, J.E. & Garside, M. (2020) A Systematic Review of Early Interventions for Parents of Deaf Babies. Presented at The National Deaf Children's Society Happy Futures Conference (01.02.20).
• Blackwell J.E. (2018) The Paediatric Narcolepsy Project: The relationships between sleep, physical activity, cognitive function and psychosocial well-being in children with narcolepsy. Presented at The UK Society for Behavioural Medicine (UKSBM) in Birmingham (12.12.18).
• Blackwell, J.E., Kingshott, R.N., Weighall, A.R., Elphick, H.E. & Nash, H.M. (2018) The Paediatric Narcolepsy Project: The relationships between sleep, physical activity, cognitive function and psychosocial well-being in children with narcolepsy. Poster presented at The International Paediatric Sleep Association Conference, Paris, France.
• Blackwell, J.E., Kingshott, R.N., Weighall, A.R., Elphick, H.E. & Nash, H.M. (2017) Sleep architecture in children with narcolepsy treated with sodium oxybate. Poster presented at The British Sleep Society Conference, Brighton, UK.
• Blackwell, J.E., Kingshott, R.N., Weighall, A.R., Elphick, H.E. & Nash, H.M. (2017) Conducting unattended home sleep studies in children with narcolepsy and healthy matched controls: a feasibility study.  Poster presented at The British Sleep Society Conference, Brighton, UK.
• Blackwell, J.E., Alammar, H.A., Weighall, A.R., Kellar, I., & Nash, H.M. (2016) A systematic review of cognitive function and psychosocial well-being in school-age children with narcolepsy. Poster presented at the 23rd Congress of the European Sleep Research Society, Bologna, Italy.

Media coverage

• ‘Mind the Kids': An Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) podcast recorded on 13th February 2025. Topic: ‘New approach to Autism interventions with Social Stories’. Professor Barry Wright, Dr. Jane Blackwell, Dr. Kerry Bell, and Emma Standley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhRYgumI0f8

• York Trials Unit podcast called ‘The Research Room Podcast’ recorded on 14th May 2025.  Topic: ‘The Autism Spectrum Social Stories in Schools Trial 2 (ASSSIST-2)’. Dr. Jane Blackwell and Dr. Kerry Bell. https://www.theresearchroompodcast.com/Home/Episode/84D74190B706