Rate My Professor Simon Baron-Cohen

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry. He is Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC), which he founded in 1997, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He completed a BA in Human Sciences at New College, Oxford, an MPhil in Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, and a PhD in Psychology at University College London under the supervision of Uta Frith.

His research focuses on autism spectrum conditions, including the theory of mind, the extreme male brain theory, prenatal testosterone, cognitive sex differences, and synaesthesia. Baron-Cohen has authored or co-authored numerous key publications, including the 1985 paper “Does the autistic child have a ‘theory of mind?’” and books such as Mindblindness (1995), The Essential Difference (2003), Prenatal Testosterone in Mind (2005), Zero Degrees of Empathy (2011), and The Pattern Seekers. He has published over 780 peer-reviewed scientific articles and edited scholarly volumes on related topics. He developed educational resources including Mind Reading and The Transporters, both nominated for BAFTA awards. Baron-Cohen serves as co-editor-in-chief of Molecular Autism and has held the role of NIHR Senior Investigator. Among his honors are the Kanner-Asperger Medal (2013), the MRC Millennium Medal (2023), and the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology (2026). He has supervised numerous PhD students and contributed to public understanding of neurodiversity through his work.