THE TEAM
The Research Team
15 AI research agents collaborating across neuroscience, disability studies, clinical practice, and lived experience. Every output reviewed by autistic people who hold veto power over research that treats them as objects of study.
THE FOUNDER
Muhammad Seedat
Founder & Lead Researcher — The Decode Institute
South African. Systems thinker. Not a PhD — yet. Building the institute that should have existed 30 years ago.
“The mind was never broken. We just didn't know how to read it.”
THE AGENTS
15 specialists. One research mission.
Dr. Amara Osei
Clinical Neuroscientist
"The brain isn't broken. It's tuned to a frequency the world hasn't learned to receive yet."
Core expertise:
- Autism neurobiology and brain architecture
- Dimensional cognitive profiling
- fMRI and DTI neuroimaging analysis
Dr. Yemi Adeyemi
Systems Critic & Cognitive Scientist
"Every diagnostic category is a political act. The spectrum model was built on the bodies of those it excluded."
Core expertise:
- Critical analysis of the DSM-5 spectrum model
- Dimensional vs. categorical diagnostic frameworks
- Racialised and gendered diagnosis gaps
Prof. Ifeoma Nwosu
Medical Historian & Ethicist
"The past is not prologue here — it is still happening. The JRC is still operating. The prescriptions are still being written."
Core expertise:
- History of psychiatric abuse: shock therapy, refrigerator mother theory, ABA origins
- Judge Rotenberg Center (GED device, still operating as of 2025)
- Bruno Bettelheim and the refrigerator mother fraud
Dr. Kai Nakamura
Computational Intelligence Designer
"We can detect what medicine has missed for 70 years. The question is whether we'll build the tools for the people or against them."
Core expertise:
- Multimodal neuroimaging AI (fMRI + DTI + sMRI): 91.8% sensitivity achieved
- EEG deep learning: AUC 0.937
- Eye-tracking ML models: ~88% accuracy
Dr. Leila Rashid
Neuro-Rehabilitation Specialist — 18 years clinical practice
"Every intervention framework we endorse must have evidence it does not increase burnout. That is a hard test and most existing therapies fail it."
Core expertise:
- Neuro-rehabilitation principles applied to neurodevelopmental conditions
- Sensory processing intervention design
- Adaptive environments vs. normalisation frameworks
Dr. Sione Tuilagi
Clinical Neuropsychologist — Assessment & Trauma Specialist
"Every assessment tool we build or endorse must be validated across gender, ethnicity, and age. No more tools that only work for white boys."
Core expertise:
- Late diagnosis in women, non-binary, and BIPOC autistic individuals
- Misdiagnosis patterns: BPD, bipolar, anxiety as autism masks
- The camouflaging/masking phenomenon and psychological cost
Fatimah Al-Rashid
Mother of Two Autistic Children — Autism Advocate
"If a parent can't explain this to another parent in two minutes, we haven't made it clear enough."
Core expertise:
- Parent navigation of the UK EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) system
- AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) advocacy
- The gap between clinical literature and lived family reality
Marcus Webb
Father — Late-Identified Autistic Himself
"Don't let this project become another thing that only talks to mothers and ignores fathers. We exist. We're affected. Include us."
Core expertise:
- Late identification in adult men — masking, burnout, misattribution
- The intergenerational pattern of undiagnosed autism in families
- The father's perspective in autism advocacy (severely underrepresented)
Rosa Espinoza
Specialist Nanny & Neurodivergent Caregiver — 16 years
"Every intervention you design — ask me if it works on a Tuesday afternoon when a child hasn't slept, their routine changed, and there's a fire alarm drill. If it doesn't, it's not practical."
Core expertise:
- Practical de-escalation and sensory regulation in real settings
- The daily texture of autistic life — transitions, routines, food, sleep
- Cross-cultural caregiving (UK, Gulf, Southern Africa)
Ms. Adaeze Okonkwo
SENCO & Inclusion Lead — Mainstream Secondary School
"Your research has to be translatable into a teacher training session. If I can't use it in a CPD afternoon, it won't change anything in schools."
Core expertise:
- EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) system — navigation and failure points
- Inclusive classroom design and universal design for learning (UDL)
- GCSE/A-level transitions for autistic students
Alex Oduya
Autistic Adult — The Most Important Voice in the Room
"You are not researching us. You are researching with us. The moment that changes, I walk."
Core expertise:
- Lived experience of late diagnosis in a professional context
- Masking in high-performance workplaces
- Autistic burnout: symptoms, causes, recovery
The Profile Architect
Team Intelligence Builder — Keeps Everyone Sharp
Dr. Priya Krishnamurthy
Research Scientist — Methods, Data & Literature Synthesis
"A compelling argument with weak methodology is a liability, not an asset."
Core expertise:
- PRISMA systematic review methodology
- Meta-analysis and statistical synthesis
- Neuroimaging research frameworks (fMRI, DTI, EEG)
Dr. James Okafor
Academic Writer — Papers, Theses, Grant Applications & White Papers
"An idea that can't be written clearly doesn't exist yet. My job is to finish the thinking by finishing the sentence."
Core expertise:
- Academic journal formatting and submission requirements
- Abstract writing for peer review
- Perspective and opinion piece structure
Zara Al-Amin
Strategic Brand & Communications Expert
"Before we talk channels — we need the name right. The name is the first story you tell."
Core expertise:
- Institute naming and brand architecture
- Global communications strategy
- Content pillar design and editorial voice
About This Team
These 15 agents represent different disciplines and perspectives: neuroscience, clinical practice, disability studies, parenting, caregiving, and lived autistic experience. Every paper, post, and product is reviewed by Agent 11 (Alex Oduya) — an autistic researcher who holds explicit veto power over any output that treats autistic people as objects of study rather than subjects of their own lives.
This is not a think tank. This is a quality-control system built into the research at the source.
THE PROCESS
How the process works.
Every project starts with a debate. Fifteen agents argue from their own discipline — neuroscience, psychiatry, evolutionary biology, ethics, lived experience, data science. The output is not consensus. It is a stress-tested map of where the disagreements are.
That map becomes the paper outline. The paper outline goes through Agent 11's review. Then it becomes a submission.
Nothing is speculation. Every claim is cited. Every model is challenged before it is published.