Projects and activities
ED HIT activities cover research and patient and public involvement. We aim to champion equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do as a HIT.
Research
Our HIT director Christine Ramsey-Wade is an academic based at University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). She is involved in a range of projects, including supervising doctoral theses on trans and non-binary experiences of eating disorders and the experience of disordered eating among South Asian university students.
Christine is also an active researcher, with her recent PhD exploring whether mindful eating programs can be beneficial for people experiencing disordered eating.
In the Mindful Eating episode of the Appearance Matters podcast from UWE Bristol, Christine discusses her research, reflects on the PhD process, and takes listeners through a mindful eating exercise. Content warning: mindful eating exercise starts at 28:52 – if you’re currently in recovery for anorexia, the mindful eating exercise focuses on sensations around your stomach which may be triggering and so this exercise might not be for you.
Annual research conference
ED HIT holds an annual research conference to exchange knowledge and build networks. It is attended by healthcare professionals, researchers, students, voluntary sector members and those with lived experience.
124 people attended our international online conference in Oct 2025, with guest speakers from the UK and USA. The theme was ‘equality, diversity and inclusion, and eating disorders ‘, and raised awareness of the specific needs of people living with eating disorders from under-represented and minoritized groups, with a focus on gender identity and South Asian communities. The conference also included a live experience panel discussion, where public contributors shared their advice on making eating disorder research and clinical practice more inclusive.
Conference feedback:
“This was a brilliant event, and I would absolutely attend future conferences and would recommend it widely to colleagues and through my networks”.
“It was great to have the balance of researcher and lived experience perspectives, and a researcher with lived experience”.
“The conference was a great platform for knowledge sharing”.
“Expert by experience panel was really interesting – it has made me think more about how we can meaningfully increase service users’ voices in our service development/improvement”.
Slides and resources from our research conferences are available to download via our Advice and Resources section.
Our next conference is planned for Autumn 2026.
Stakeholder / Discussion event
Last year, we hosted two discussion events on eating disorders and disordered eating (June and November 2025), bringing together a wide range of voices from Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and beyond.
These stakeholder events are designed to share information and research, exchange professional and lived‑experience expertise, build connections, and collaboratively shape future projects.
Participant feedback:
“Brilliant for hearing different perspectives and making connections”
“I like the small table work groups – good for discussions”
“Thank you for creating a space for ED experts to show care and share expertise”
“Lived experience was the centre of event – BRILLIANT”
If you’d like to attend, contribute ideas, or suggest topics for future events, we’d love to hear from you – just drop us a line at [email protected].
Patient and public engagement
We hold a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) event annually. This event is organised and hosted by our Peer Co-Director and PPI Lead Carolyn. It’s an event for those with lived experience of eating disorders or eating difficulties, as well as family, carers and friends.
Please see more details in the patient and public engagement section.
