Blackbird Initiative

We are investigating how an online survey and program can reduce eating disorder risk and a range of related symptoms.

The study is open to all 13 - 25 year olds who live in Australia. You will be compensated with a $30 voucher for completing the study.

To participate, visit the Media Smart website

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of an online intervention to improving perfectionalism and related psychological outcomes.

The study is open to anyone aged 17 years and older, who is fluent in English and believe they might currently struggle with perfectionism.

The aim of this research is to see whether metacognitive training (MCT) is a helpful addition to existing treatment.

Because little research has studied the use of MCT in people with eating disorders, we want to feedback from those that have participated in this training program.

Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Professor Tracey Wade has worked as a clinician in the area of eating disorders for almost 30 years. In 2000, she was awarded the Ian M Campbell memorial prize for outstanding contribution to the scientific or professional status of Clinical Psychology in Australia and in 2003 she was awarded the Australian Psychological Society Early Career Award.

Tracey’s current research interests are in the aetiology, prevention and treatment of eating disorders and perfectionism. She has co-written two books on the treatment of perfectionism and has over 200 publications in peer reviewed journals. In 2015, Tracey was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

She was the President of the Eating Disorder Research Society in 2017-2018 and is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. In 2018 she was appointed to the Expert Advisory Panel, Million Minds, a federal mental health research mission.

Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Professor Marika Tiggemann's major area of research is body image, very broadly defined. She is one of the most published and highly cited psychology researchers in Australia and has attracted continuous ARC funding since 2006. Her most recent ARC grant (2016-2020), entitled “Warning: This image has been digitally altered”: The effect of disclaimer labels on women’s mood and body dissatisfaction investigated the effectiveness of disclaimer labels attached to fashion magazine images. Her current research focus has turned to social media, particularly Instagram, as a risk factor for negative body image and disordered eating. Marika is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Professor, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Professor Eva Kemps has a strong background in cognitive experimental psychology and has extensive experience in its application to a range of eating-related problems, including obesity, disordered eating and eating disorders. She is a Consultant on a five-year NIH grant (2017-2022; US$2,581,134), led by Prof. Eric Stice (Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, USA) for a randomised weight loss trial in overweight adults, and a Partner Investigator on a 4-year Special Research Grant from Ghent University, Belgium (2017-2020; €240,080) to Dr. Lien Goossens to examine the role of self-regulation in binge eating among adolescents. Since 2006 she has consistently obtained funding from the Australian Research Council, attracting four Discovery Projects, all as Lead Chief Investigator, most recently for a collaborative project with Marika Tiggemann titled “Things don’t always go better with Coke” (2018-2021; $420,077).

Associate Professor, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Associate Professor Sarah Cohen-Woods heads the Behavioural Genomic and Environmental Mechanisms laboratory. Her research focuses on integrating environmental factors and epigenomics with genomic risk factors across a range of psychological disorders, including eating disorders. She recently presented a keynote at the ANZAED describing the current state of play of (epi)genomics of eating disorders and will be presenting a keynote the ISST in Copenhagen in 2020 on the neurobiology of psychological therapy. She has been awarded over $1.7 million in category 1 funding since moving to Australia in 2012. Sarah works closely with Professor Tracey Wade on the genomic bases of disordered eating behaviour through adolescence, funded by Breakthrough ($20,000). She recently secured funding to improve her laboratory infrastructure, further improving biobanking facilities and sample quality controls.

Professor, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Professor Reg Nixon is a clinical psychologist who specialises in the area of posttraumatic stress disorder. His research ranges from studying the mechanisms that lead to the maintenance of posttraumatic stress following trauma to testing adaptations and new methods to improve therapies for PTSD and its co-occurring problems. In the last 5 years he has received $940,000 in competitive grants from funders such as the Australian Research Council, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation, and he has previously received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Rotary Health Fund. He acts regularly as a research and clinical consultant in the field of posttraumatic stress and was a member of the Multidisciplinary Panel for the Australian Guidelines for Treatment of ASD and PTSD in Children and Adults.

Senior Research Fellow, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Dr Simon Wilksch is leading large-scale projects of both eating disorder prevention (school-based RCTs of risk reduction programs) and early intervention (Australia-wide RCTs of online programs for adolescents and young-adults at high-risk or already showing signs of an eating disorder).  He and Professor Tracey Wade developed Media Smart, which is regarded internationally as the leading school-based eating disorder risk reduction program.  His recent funding includes being CIA on a NHRMC Targeted Mental Health grant for prevention of, and early intervention in, mental illness in young people for the project titled Eating disorder prevention in young-adult women at risk: A randomised controlled trial of two online programs ($254,904, with Professor Tracey Wade and international collaborators), along with two 2 Australian Rotary Mental Health Grants related to prevention and early intervention in eating disorders ($177,887 with Professor Tracey Wade and $131,634, with Dr Sue Byrne and Professor Tracey Wade).  In addition to his research role, Dr Wilksch is also a Clinic Director at Advanced Psychology Services, a private practice providing treatment services to children, adolescents and adults experiencing eating disorders that he established 10 years ago with Dr Anna Steele.

Dr Anna Steele completed her PhD in eating disorders at Flinders University in 2007 and has been working primarily as a clinician for the past 12 years. She is one of the Clinic Directors of Advanced Psychology Services (APS), an eating disorder private practice that houses the largest clinical psychology outpatient eating disorder service in the state, with over 400 enquiries each year, and 8 clinicians. The clinic provides evidence-informed treatment to over 200 patients a year. Anna’s role includes clinical work, supervision of psychologists, and clinic management. She is a member of the ANZAED and has published research papers in the area of eating disorders. Anna is also employed in a strategic role within Workforce Services in SA Health.

Lecturer, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Dr Ryan Balzan is a registered clinical psychologist. His research focuses on why people form misbeliefs – that is, beliefs not based on objective facts or reality. Misbeliefs are commonly observed in clinical populations, including the unrealistic (sometimes ‘delusional’) beliefs characteristic of eating disorders (e.g., unrealistic beliefs regarding body image, weight and shape). Dr Balzan has received funding to develop a metacognitive training (MCT) programme for eating disorders, a novel psychological treatment approach that targets the problematic thinking styles underlying these unhealthy beliefs about body image, weight and shape (Australia-Germany Joint Research Co-operation Scheme, $6,300). He is also the chief investigator on two grants with Professor Wade investigating the feasibility and efficacy of the MCT programme in improving the biased thinking styles in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant, $21,000; Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation Grant, $32,000).

Professor, College of Medicine and Public Health

Professor Richard Woodman is a Professor in Biostatistics & Epidemiology and has 15 years full-time experience as a biostatistical consultant. His work covers a broad range of health research and he is experienced in analysing both RCTs and observational data. He has published more than 200 peer reviewed journal article publications and has a total grant income of $11.6M including $7M from Category 1 grants. His work includes providing a lead role in establishing methodology for the reporting of standardised in-hospital mortality ratios across Australia for the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in HealthCare (ACSQHC) and the National Health Performance Association.

Academic Status, College of Medicine and Public Health

Dr Randall Long is a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist in the Southern Area Local Health Network, the Head of Unit of the Statewide Eating Disorder Service and Flinders Medical Centre Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Service and a Senior Lecturer at Flinders University. Randall collaborates with Professor Tracey Wade to deliver an embedded research and evaluation structure to assess the outcomes of the Statewide Eating Disorder Service Inpatient and Day patient programs. He has published in the area of eating disorder service challenges and development. Randall provides treatment for people living with Body Dysmorphic Disorder and works with the Department of Plastic Surgery at Flinders conducting pre-surgical assessments. He is collaborating with the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity at Flinders University researching the social and psychological factors influencing patients receiving abdominoplasty in the public hospital system.

Senior Lecturer, College of Nursing and Health Sciences

Dr Ivanka Prichard's research focuses on the nexus between body image, exercise, and eating behaviour with an emphasis on the impact of social media. In the prevention and early intervention space, Dr Prichard works on promoting positive body image throughout the lifespan. This includes working with the Body Image Movement on film materials for children, supporting parents to foster positive body image environments (Body Confident Mums), and identifying key features of social media to target. She has received funding to progress research in relation to eating behaviour, physical activity, and social media ($40,000 Flinders University seed funding) and has external grants in this area currently review with the ARC and Instagram.

Professor, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Professor Murray Drummond's research interests are based around qualitative sport and health research with a particular interest and expertise in men’s and boys’ body image. He has recently a published a book titled Boy’s Bodies: Sport, Health and Physical Activity (Palgrave Macmillan), which investigates boys’ bodies from early childhood through to adolescence. Professor Drummond also has a strong track record in males and eating disorders using masculinities as a theoretical framework. These research cohorts include younger, older, gay and Asian men. He is regularly invited to present his work nationally and internationally. Of note, Murray’s expertise in sport research has led to three recent significant research projects on girls, women, and LGBTIQ+ community, in sports ($151,000).

Lecturer, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Dr Dan Fassnacht is a member of the ANZAED and NEDC. His research in the field of eating disorders spans from psychological and social risk factors to the development of technology-enhanced applications to prevent eating disorders and facilitate help-seeking. Dr Fassnacht has received funding ($20,000 from the Australian Foundation for Mental Health Research) to develop a podcast series to reduce help-seeking barriers and facilitate treatment seeking for eating disorders. Recently, he received a Flinders University Impact Seed grant ($10,000) to examine the podcast before its dissemination to the wider community.

Associate Professor, College of Medicine and Public Health

Associate Professor Hossein Afzali's research has made a significant contribution to economic evaluation of healthcare interventions within different areas, including primary care, healthy ageing, and mental health. Of note, the development of comprehensive frailty and depression cost-effectiveness models to evaluate lifetime costs and effects of alternative interventions. As investigator he has won a total of $3 million in competitive tender and grant funding. His innovative methodological work on (cost-effectiveness) model structuring is internationally recognised (awarded the prestigious internationally competitive fellowship- University of York-UK). A large component of his applied research is used to directly inform public funding decisions at national level. He is currently a member of the (Australian Government) Evaluation Sub Committee of the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC).

Peter Musiat is a researcher at Sonder, a large healthcare provider in the Adelaide metropolitan region and South Australia. He has undertake extensive research into the prevention of common mental disorders, including eating disorders, in young people, as well as into the use of innovative technology in early intervention and to engage young people with mental health services. He currently contributes to the evaluation of an early intervention service model in eating disorders in the Adelaide region.

Stephen Allison is a psychiatrist and an Associate Professor in the College of Medicine and Public Health and will contribute around contribute around EDs and health services research in psychiatry and general practice.

Dr Catherine Johnson is employed on a long-term wellbeing project with Concordia College, that offers a “transdiagnostic” prevention approach, including for body image problems. An Innovation Partnership Seed Grant was received for this work, followed by a 3-year Research Translation Fellowship Agreement.

Dr Johnson is also currently employed to evaluate aspects of the Sunshine Coast Eating Disorders Access Trial, which seeks to improve access to evidence-based multidisciplinary treatment for people with eating disorders living in the Sunshine Coast region under the new Medicare items.