Intervenants / Speakers

Naomi Hayami, PhD

Naomi Hayami is a Lecturer in Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan. She is a registered dietitian and health educator with a special interest in health and nutrition education among adolescents and young adults. Her main research topics are in the areas of eating problems and body image issues among adolescents and young adults. She has been involved in nutrition and body image research among Japanese adolescents and the intervention program to promote positive body image and healthy eating behaviors in primary schools and junior high schools.

Gianluca Lo Coco, PhD

Gianluca Lo Coco is an associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Palermo. He is a member of the Italian Association of Psychology and the coordinator of the steering committee of the Society for Psychotherapy research in Italy and Europe. His main research and teaching interests are in the areas of eating disorders and obesity, psychological distress in overweight clients and psychotherapy research. Gianluca is also an associate editor for “Research in Psychotherapy” and an editorial consultant for more than ten journals.  

Esben Strodl, PhD

Dr Esben Strodl teaches psychotherapy and health psychology in the Masters of Clinical Psychology program at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane Australia. He also serves as the Director of the QUT Eating Disorders Clinic. Esben’s current research interests include understanding the psychological predictors of disordered eating behaviours and developing novel psychotherapies (e.g. challenging maladaptive beliefs about emotions, memory reconsolidation therapy for traumatic memories) for eating disorders and disordered eating. He has a particular interest in the role of childhood maltreatment in disordered eating as well as applying the metacognitive model to disordered eating.

Charlotte Markey, PhD

Dr. Charlotte Markey has been studying eating behavior and body image for 25 years. Charlotte completed her B.S. at Santa Clara University and her Ph.D. in health psychology at the University of California–Riverside.  She had been a psychology professor at Rutgers University-Camden since 2002.

Charlotte’s research has focused on eating, body image, and health in the context of romantic relationships.  Her research has included heterosexual, lesbian, and gay individuals and their partners.  She has also been interested in parent and media influences (including social media) on children’s eating behaviors and body image.  Some of her recent research examines predictors of positive body image and positive body image among individuals living with chronic health conditions.

Charlotte has written and edited a number of books including “Body Positive: Understanding and Improving Body Image in Science and Practice,” (co-edited with Drs. Elizabeth Daniels and Meghan Gillen; Cambridge University Press, 2018), “The Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless” (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and “Being You: The Body Image Book for Boys” (Cambridge University Press, 2022).  “Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life” will be published next (Cambridge University Press, 2024).  She also regularly offers body image psychoeducational programs for tweens, teens, and parents.

Alvaro Sicilia, PhD

Alvaro Sicilia is professor in the Education Department at Almería University, in the province of Almería, in the south east of Spain. His major research interest focus on analizing the Physical Education and Sport from a pedagogical and social-psychology perspective, specially in youth population. Last years he has been involved in a longitudinal research to examine if the body perception and social physique anxiety from puberty onwards is associated with motivation and exercise adherence in Spanish adolescents. His current research project is focused on body image and unhealthy behaviours associated with feeding and exercise patterns. His publications cover over one hundred journal articles, chapters and books.

Hannah White, PhD

Dr Hannah White is a Lecturer in Psychology within the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University. Hannah’s research interests are focused around disordered eating and mental health in adolescents and young adults. She has particular expertise in interactions among adolescents and their parents in the context of eating and family mealtimes. Hannah has experience conducting eating-focused research with adolescents, young adults and parents within both community and clinical samples. Her research has included outlining a new factor structure for the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire for use among adolescents, and also the development of a measure to assess adolescents’ emotional experience of mealtimes. Clinical research has included identifying parental interactions used during the family meal session of Family-Based Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa, and examining how these interactions relate for treatment outcomes.

Rachel Rodgers, PhD

Dr. Rodgers’ interests are in the area of body image, disordered eating and adolescent/young adult psychopathology, in particular focusing on sociocultural influences on body image and eating concerns. Her research aims both to examine socio-cultural determinants of health-related behaviors but also to generate research which may inform public policy. She is the author of over 200 journal articles and book chapters.

Annie Aimé, PhD

Annie Aimé is professor at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, in the province of Québec, Canada. She practices as a psychologist and co-founded two multidisciplinary clinics (Imavi and Ata) which are specialized in the treatment of body image, weight and eating problems. Her research and clinical interests mainly focus on body satisfaction, weight bullying and weight-based stigmatization, and emotional well-being of youth, adults and parents who suffer from weight, shape and eating problems. She has developed an expertise in eating and mental health disorders and considers cultural, gender, and developmental specificities is her conceptualisation of these disorders. She is also involved in the development and diffusion of up to date and efficient clinical practices.

Carolyn Plateau, PhD

Dr Carolyn Plateau is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology within the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University. Her research interests are focused around understanding the risks and consequences of disordered eating and exercise, with a specific focus on young people, athletes and exercising populations. Carolyn is particularly interested in the role of key stakeholders (e.g., coaches, sports professionals, teammates, peers, parents, teachers) in the prevention and early identification of eating problems. Currently, Carolyn is collaborating with clinical colleagues in the development and evaluation of effective and scalable interventions to prevent and reduce disordered eating and exercise among athletes, students and exercisers.

Carolyn’s research has an applied focus and has led to the development of new screening tools, educational materials and resources to support sports professionals in the prevention, identification and management of disordered eating among athletes. For example, Carolyn has developed an evidence-based online educational programme for coaches and sports professionals, to support the early identification and management of athletes with disordered eating. The programme has been adopted by several national governing bodies in the UK. Carolyn has successfully supervised several doctoral students and researchers in the domain of exercise and eating psychopathology.

Mackenzie Cox, PhD student

Mackenzie Cox is a Counseling Psychology doctoral student at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, where she is part of the APPEAR lab. Her research and clinical interests focus on body image and eating concerns among young adults and college-aged athletes in particular. Her research aims to examine sociocultural and relational sources of appearance pressure in sport environments, with an applied focus to inform policy and develop interventions and prevention resources. Mackenzie has a background in clinical mental health counseling and sport psychology from Boston University. 

Elisa Sarda, PhD 

Dr Elisa Sarda is an Associate Professor in Social Psychology at the University of Nantes. Her research focuses on the psychological processes involved in media influence on perceptions of others and oneself, as well as on individual attitudes and behaviors. She also explores the influence of gender norms and adherence to these norms on perceptions of others (human beings or digital agents such as chatbots). Additionally, her research investigates the consequences of adhering to beauty norms on body perception, the negative health implications (e.g., dietary control) that may result, and factors that can mitigate these negative consequences.