Call for expressions of interest: Collaboration on neurodivergence

Understanding Zoe has been awarded a $50,000 NSW MVP Ventures grant to develop UZPS, our AI pre-screening tool designed to help families identify early signs of neurodivergence before a formal assessment is reached.

The need for this tool is urgent. In Australia, families wait an average of 3.5 years between first raising concerns and receiving a formal assessment. During that time, most children receive no structured support, missing critical early intervention windows. Thirty-two percent of families wait more than two years for an autism assessment alone, with only 26% receiving one within six months. For girls, children who mask, and families in regional or lower-income communities, the wait is often longer and the path less clear. Our own research, based on 1,091 families, found that 9 in 10 parents of neurodivergent children feel their experience is misunderstood or invisible. UZPS is designed to give families something useful, affirming, and clinically grounded from the very first moment of doubt, not years later.

As part of this grant, we are seeking a research partner based in NSW to contribute to two interconnected areas of work, with a project start date of 1 April 2026.

The first area is the validation of our AI pre-screening framework. This involves co-designing the structured questionnaire and observation methodology : validating the AI model's ability to detect neurodivergent profiles across a range of presentations including those frequently missed, such as girls, children who mask, and those with co-occurring conditions; and ensuring the overall framework is clinically grounded, rigorous, and aligned with best practice in neurodevelopmental care.

The second area is the preparation and design of a clinical trial, including ethics submission, participant recruitment methodology, and real-world pilot design with NSW families, with iterative refinement of the AI model based on validated outputs.

The intended outcome of this collaboration is a functional prototype validated in a real-world environment, representing a meaningful and credible step forward in the clinical development of the tool. We see this as the foundation of a longer-term research partnership, with future grant applications, including larger clinical validation funding, planned as natural next steps once this groundwork is complete.

The Understanding Zoe team brings a distinctive combination of strengths to this collaboration. Johan, our CTO, brings deep AI expertise. Laetitia, our CEO, brings lived experience as a neurodivergent parent of neurodivergent children, alongside 15 years of strategy and innovation leadership. Neuroaffirming principles are not an add-on for us; they are embedded in every design decision, from the language used in the tool to the way participant data is collected and interpreted. We believe this makes us an unusually grounded partner for any researcher working in this space.

We are looking for a researcher with expertise in neurodivergence or neurodevelopment, ideally with a childhood focus (ages 2 to 12), though we are open to researchers working across the lifespan. The NSW location is a requirement of the grant. We can allocate up to $50,000 of the consulting budget to the right research partner or combination of researchers.

For more information, and expression of interest, please contact: laetitia@understandingzoe.com

Thank you for your help understanding Zoe!