Prof. Tony Charman holds the Chair in Autism Education and is Director of the Centre for Research in Autism and Education at the Institute of Education, London. He holds an honorary contract at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust where he works in a diagnostic service for children with complex neurodevelopmental conditions. His main research interest is the investigation of early social cognitive development in children with autism and the clinical application of this work via screening, epidemiological, outcome, early intervention and ‘at risk’ studies. He has published more than 135 peer-reviewed papers and is the author of over 25 book chapters. He is former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry; an Associate Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and is on the Editorial/Advisory Boards of a number of other journals. He has served on a number of expert panels for the Medical Research Council in the UK and the National Institutes of Health in the USA. He is the current Chair of the Advisory Group to the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism.