Member Spotlight: 2025 Spence Awardee Gemma Sharp on the Prospects of Eating Disorder Research

Gemma Sharp presents at the Centre for Appearance Research’s Appearance Matters Conference in Bristol, England, June 2024.

Professor and 2025 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award recipient Gemma Sharp leads the Body Image & Eating Disorders Research Program at The University of Queensland. The Observer asked Sharp a few questions about her research, her career, and her goals for the future.

Learn more about Sharp and the six other Spence Award recipients.

Your research focuses on the factors leading to body-image concerns and eating disorders, as well as interventions for both. What led to your scientific interest in these subjects? 

I started my career as a biomedical scientist focusing on cancer research. We would sometimes be allowed to attend clinical meetings and speak with patients who were kindly donating their tumor tissue. I found myself becoming more and more drawn to a career as a health professional, but I still wanted to maintain my research career. The scientist–practitioner model of clinical psychology really appealed to me, so I changed course to clinical psychology at that point. The university where I completed these studies, Flinders University, was known internationally for its body-image and eating-disorders research. I noted how misunderstood and overlooked these areas were in mental health settings and in general. And through my clinical training, I could understand the devastating impacts eating disorders could have on the lives of individuals affected and their loved ones. As such, I really wanted to be part of advocacy and champion these issues through my research and clinical work. 

What are some highlights of your research? What has it shown?  

I have been very fortunate to have many highlights in my research career, including leading a number of world-first digital health initiatives in eating disorders (e.g., JEM™, an eating-disorder prevention chatbot; ED ESSI™, an early intervention/waitlist eating-disorder chatbot; and an online resource addressing the intersection of menopause and eating disorders), which have been wonderful opportunities for me and my team. Most recently, I founded the international Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders (CoRe-ED), a first-of-its-kind international not-for-profit initiative that brings together all people involved in eating-disorders research—researchers, clinicians, people with lived experience, advocates, not-for-profit and industry representatives—globally. Overall, these innovations have shown novel use of technology and collaboration in eating-disorder support to push the field forward. 

There’s always plenty of new projects being initiated in my team, which is very exciting. We’ll continue to focus on supporting underrecognized groups experiencing eating disorders, such as people at higher weights, people of older age, among others. 

What is the biggest challenge you have encountered in your career so far? 

Anyone who has a career in research would understand that challenges of various complexity are a daily occurrence. I lead many large-scale national and international projects with multiple diverse stakeholders/groups collaborating. In every project, there will be differences of opinion, which can cause friction. I always bring it back to the overall goal/vision that brought us together in the first place – helping people with eating disorders and their loved ones. 

What practical advice would you offer to student researchers who want to be in your position someday, especially those who are interested in researching eating-disorder/body-image interventions, or health psychology as a whole? 

Firstly, what a great choice of field! We need more people to help us in the battle against eating disorders. In all of the research I lead and am involved with, we collaborate with people with lived experience, whether it be their own experience or those who have supported someone else with an eating disorder. My advice is to try to join networks involving people who have experienced an eating disorder. You will learn so much from them and be able to better assist them with your research. 

Your research focuses on the factors leading to body-image concerns and eating disorders, as well as interventions for both. What led to your scientific interest in these subjects? 

I started my career as a biomedical scientist focusing on cancer research. We would sometimes be allowed to attend clinical meetings and speak with patients who were kindly donating their tumor tissue. I found myself becoming more and more drawn to a career as a health professional, but I still wanted to maintain my research career. The scientist–practitioner model of clinical psychology really appealed to me, so I changed course to clinical psychology at that point. The university where I completed these studies, Flinders University, was known internationally for its body-image and eating-disorders research. I noted how misunderstood and overlooked these areas were in mental health settings and in general. And through my clinical training, I could understand the devastating impacts eating disorders could have on the lives of individuals affected and their loved ones. As such, I really wanted to be part of advocacy and champion these issues through my research and clinical work. 

What are some highlights of your research? What has it shown?  

I have been very fortunate to have many highlights in my research career, including leading a number of world-first digital health initiatives in eating disorders (e.g., JEM™, an eating-disorder prevention chatbot; ED ESSI™, an early intervention/waitlist eating-disorder chatbot; and an online resource addressing the intersection of menopause and eating disorders), which have been wonderful opportunities for me and my team. Most recently, I founded the international Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders (CoRe-ED), a first-of-its-kind international not-for-profit initiative that brings together all people involved in eating-disorders research—researchers, clinicians, people with lived experience, advocates, not-for-profit and industry representatives—globally. Overall, these innovations have shown novel use of technology and collaboration in eating-disorder support to push the field forward. 

There’s always plenty of new projects being initiated in my team, which is very exciting. We’ll continue to focus on supporting underrecognized groups experiencing eating disorders, such as people at higher weights, people of older age, among others. 

What is the biggest challenge you have encountered in your career so far? 

Anyone who has a career in research would understand that challenges of various complexity are a daily occurrence. I lead many large-scale national and international projects with multiple diverse stakeholders/groups collaborating. In every project, there will be differences of opinion, which can cause friction. I always bring it back to the overall goal/vision that brought us together in the first place – helping people with eating disorders and their loved ones. 

What practical advice would you offer to student researchers who want to be in your position someday, especially those who are interested in researching eating-disorder/body-image interventions, or health psychology as a whole? 

Firstly, what a great choice of field! We need more people to help us in the battle against eating disorders. In all of the research I lead and am involved with, we collaborate with people with lived experience, whether it be their own experience or those who have supported someone else with an eating disorder. My advice is to try to join networks involving people who have experienced an eating disorder. You will learn so much from them and be able to better assist them with your research.

Learn more about CoRe-ED.

Register for CoRe-ED for free here.

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