About EDIFY

Eating Disorders: Delineating illness and recovery trajectories to inform personalised prevention and early intervention in young people (EDIFY).

EDIFY is a four-year programme of research focused on how we understand and treat eating disorders in young people. It includes six core projects or ‘workstreams’, each approaching the topic of early intervention for eating disorders from a different perspective. The workstreams span projects in the arts and humanities right through to state-of-the-art scientific research in informatics and neuroscience. This interdisciplinary approach will allow us to build a rich picture of the different reasons why young people develop eating disorders, how these illnesses progress, and what we can do to promote lasting recovery.

About EDIFY

EDIFY is led by Professor Ulrike Schmidt, King’s College London and Dr Helen Sharpe, University of Edinburgh, alongside other academic and third sector partners across the UK. The project has young people’s voices at its heart, with an advisory board of young people affected by eating disorders helping to steer and shape the whole research process. It is one of 7 projects funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of their 'Adolescent Mental Health and the Developing Mind' scheme.

Who we are

Overall, EDIFY aims to:

Develop a new biopsychosocial model of eating disorder risk factors and illness stage

Design and test better interventions for eating disorders, personalising care to each individual’s unique risk profile, illness stage and circumstances

Share our findings using creative methods, challenging narrow stereotypes around who is affected by eating disorders

Build a hopeful public narrative, translating our research into real world improvements in policy and practice.

Keep young people’s voices at the centre of the work, making sure this research reflects the priorities and needs of those affected by eating disorders.

Check out each Work Stream to find out more, and our News & Events and Get Involved sections to keep up to date.

Need help, support or info?

Need help, support or info?

The sooner you seek support, the sooner things can start to get better. We can help you find the right option for you.