Tanwen Ward BSocSci(Hons), (she/her)

Tanwen is a PhD candidate completing research that has explored the experiences of autistic adults who play TRPGs. She is currently undertaking her second year of clinical psychology training, and raising a busy 18-month old girl.

In her professional work, Tanwen has provided mentoring support to autistic children, teenagers and young adults, has worked as a psychological assistant for a consultant clinical psychologist and facilitated autism professional development training for healthcare workers. Prior to beginning her PhD research, Tanwen established and facilitated TRPG groups for autistic teens and young adults in Aotearoa New Zealand to build social confidence and skills as part of a local disability support service. She has been playing TRPGs and game mastering for eight years now. Tanwen plans to incorporate tabletop role-playing games and geeky interests into her work as a clinical psychologist once she completes her training in 2025.

In her spare time, Tanwen obsessively manages her neighbourhoods in Sims 2 and Sims 3, reads fantasy and science fiction novels, grows a herb and vegetable garden, makes chutneys and preserves, explores different TRPGs and supports her local role-playing club, making TRPGs more accessible to folks in Waikato, New Zealand.