LEADING Study

1) Trans, nonbinary, and/or gender diverse adults who are also autistic and/or have ADHD.

2) Cisgender adults who are also autistic and/or have ADHD.

3) Trans, nonbinary, and/or gender diverse adults who are not autistic and do not have ADHD.

For this study, we are looking to interview three groups of adults (aged 18+ years) who have current or past experience of an eating disorder and experience of accessing eating disorder support in Wales. These three groups are:

Recruitment notice for a Cardiff University research study on eating disorders. Seeking trans, gender diverse, and/or nonbinary adults (18+) in Wales with current or past eating disorder experience and who have accessed treatment. Participation involves a paid one-hour interview with researchers Kai or Grace, online or in person. Topics include eating disorder experiences, gender diversity, and neurodivergence if relevant. Contact via email at LEADING_Study@cardiff.ac.uk or visit tinyurl.com/LEADINGInterviews. Ethics approval: EC.24.11.12.7066A3.

Recruitment poster for the LEADING Study at Cardiff University. Seeking cisgender adults (18+) in Wales who are autistic and/or have ADHD, with current or past experience of eating disorders and accessing treatment. Participation involves a paid one-hour interview with researchers Kai or Grace, online or in person. Topics include eating disorder experiences, neurodivergence, and identity. Contact via email at LEADING_Study@cardiff.ac.uk or visit tinyurl.com/LEADINGInterviews. Ethics approval: EC.24.11.12.7066A3.

📣 We're recruiting for a new interview study!

Please see our attached recruitment posters for further information (we have separate posters for trans+ and cisgender people).

🔗 Expression of Interest form via this link: tinyurl.com/LEADINGInterviews

✉️ LEADING_study@cardiff.ac.uk

Our survey is now closed!

We're so grateful to everyone who took the time to participate in and share our survey. The insights you provided are very valuable to us, and will help us understand the lived experiences of gender diverse and neurodivergent individuals with EDs and disordered eating.

ℹ️ Open to both autistic and non-autistic individuals, as well as those with other neurodivergences.

🔗 Find more details in the attached flyer and access the survey link below: tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1

📩 LEADING_study@cardiff.ac.uk

📢 We're looking for cis or trans+ people who are:
- aged 18+ years
- based in the UK and fluent in English
- and have current or past experience of an eating disorder (a diagnosis or treatment experience is not needed to take part)

We're so grateful to everyone who has taken part in our survey so far! Your insights are helping us better understand the diverse intersecting experiences of eating disorders, neurodivergence, and gender identity.

⏳ The survey closes on 25th July 2025, so there's still time to take part!

@edaceatingautism.bsky.social
@cardiffunilib.bsky.social
@thencmh.bsky.social
@edcrn.bsky.social

📣 We’ve now opened our second phase of recruitment and are inviting cisgender adults with a current or past eating disorder to share their experiences too.

Please follow the link to find out more: tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1

We’re still recruiting UK-based trans and gender diverse adults who’ve experienced an eating disorder (current or historical) to share their experience with us. To find out more, please follow this link: tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1

Please share widely! 🏳️‍⚧️

We had a great time meeting lots of lovely people and chatting about our research at Barry Pride today! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

We had a brilliant time at the @inqyr.bsky.social UK Symposium on Advancing LGBTQ+ health, well-being, & resilience yesterday at the @unibirmingham.bsky.social 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

The day was incredibly well-organised and packed full of insightful talks and poster presentations!

We're getting excited for the @inqyr.bsky.social UK Symposium next Thursday at @unibirmingham.bsky.social. Grace is presenting a poster and Max is giving a presentation. Hope to see you there! 🤓🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

#eatingdisordertreatment #genderdiversityresearch #publicinvolvement #neurodivergent #livedexperience

Research into EDs has historically marginalised gender diverse and neurodivergent populations. Lived experience-led approaches are essential for producing research that is scientifically robust, ethically sound, and truly representative.
✉️leading_study@cardiff.ac.uk
🔗 tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1

This #WorldAutismAcceptanceMonth, we’re centring our trans autistic siblings and the need for respect & empowerment. Supporting trans autistic people—at school, home, or work—helps build an inclusive society. Let’s create spaces where all autistic people feel seen and valued. #TransRights

Trans and Autistic: Power at the intersection Gender expression and identity, under colonialism, is considered as binary, either masculine or feminine, but some people fall somewhere along – or outside of – the spectrum of gender. …

It's #WorldAutismAcceptanceMonth and we're featuring writing from autistic trans people.

Read Katie Munday's piece 'Trans and Autistic: Power at the intersection' on their website: autisticltd.co.uk/2024/06/08/t...

#Trans #Transgender #Nonbinary #WAAM25 #AutisticTransPride #Autism

Research opportunity flyer for gender diverse participants exploring the relationships between gender identity, neurodivergence, and eating disorders. The poster has a blue background and logos for the LEADING Study, Health and Care Research Wales and the Cardiff University Wales Autism Research Centre. The text says: We are looking for participants who are: aged 18+ years, fluent in English and based in the UK, trans, gender diverse and/or nonbinary, and have lived experience of an eating disorder, which can be current or historical. If you choose to participate, you will be asked to complete an online survey about your experiences. The survey will be a mix of multiple choice, scale response, and open text response. To find out more about the study and/or take part, please follow this link: tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1. For any questions, please email on LEADING_study@cardiff.ac.uk or find us on social media. On instagram we are @LEADING_study and on bluesky we are @LEADING-study

Research request:

A trans-led study from researchers at Cardiff University is recruiting trans+ people (age 18+) in the UK on the relations between eating disorders, gender diversity and neurodivergence. More info at tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1 or email Leading_study@cardiff.ac.uk

#Trans #LGBTQIA

We’re at the Fast Track Newport Trans+ & NB Health and Wellbeing Fair today! Lots of other great orgs to check out here as well 🤓🤩

Come visit us at the Fast Track Newport Trans+ and NB Health and Wellbeing Fair today at the Corn Exchange in Newport!

Our brilliant PhD student, Grace Williams, presented the plan for her first study at the School of Psychology 1st year conference today 🎉 There was an impressive showcase of research presented at the event (which Grace co-organised), stimulating a lot of interesting discussions! Well done, Grace! 👏

We are still looking for UK-based gender diverse adults (18+) who have a current or historical experiences of an eating disorder/disordered eating to complete a survey about your experiences. Find out more here: tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1

Please share widely with anyone who might be interested!

In honour of Trans Day of Visibility, Dr Kai Thomas joined the Full of Beans podcast this week to speak about trans experiences of eating disorders. Find out more here: www.wearefullofbeans.com/trans-eating...

We were fortunate to present our plans at the Health and Care Research Wales Faculty Showcase today! There were engaging talks throughout the day, with Prof Melendez-Torres opening with his keynote talk on finding the site of our revolution (what drives our research and what we hope to achieve) ! 👏🏻

Research Participation Opportunity
We are recruiting gender diverse participants for a research study about the relationships between gender identity, neurodivergence, and eating disorders. Scan the QR code or click the link in our bio to find out more.

Light purple background with black text “up to 40% of people with an eating disorder also have neurodivergent traits (Nazar et al., 2016; Westwood et al., 2017)“ and graphic depicting white silhouette figures each standing in a circle with the circles slightly overlapping. One of the figures has a rainbow infinity sign on their chest to indicate neurodivergence. There is also a rainbow infinity sign in the area where the circles overlap.

Blue background with text reading “gender diverse people are up to 6x more likely to develop eating disorder symptoms compared to cisgender people (Warrier et al., 2020)“

Light green background with a venn diagram of three overlapping circles in blue, yellow, and teal. The circles are labled “Gender diversity“ (blue), “Neurodivergence“ (yellow), and “Eating disorders“ (teal). Below the graphic, text reads “Amongst gender diverse people, those who are neurodivergent may be more likely to experience an eating disorder“

Light red background with the LEADING Study logo [LEADING Study written in black over a background of diagonal stripes in the colours of the progress pride flag (rainbow with brown and black)] at the top. Below the logo, black text reads “Our goal is to better understand eating disorders in gender diverse and neurodivergent folks“ and “Get in touch with us at LEADING_study@cardiff.ac.uk to learn more about our work and how to get involved“

Neurodivergent and gender diverse people may be at higher risk of developing eating disorders (EDs). LEADING study aims to better understand EDs in these groups.

#EatingDisorderAwarenessWeek #EDAW2025 #GenderDiversity #Neurodivergence #EatingDisorderAwareness #EatingDisorderResearch

YouTube video by Beat Eating disorders can affect anyone

Right now, at least 1.25 million (more than 1 in 50) people in the UK are living with an eating disorder. The real number could be even higher.
Eating disorders are one of the biggest mental health challenges of our time and they can affect anyone.
#EDAW2025
youtu.be/xRdKBLbb-bk

Beat on LinkedIn: #eatingdisordersawarenessweek #edaw2025 #anyoneanytime Monday is the start of Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which will be filled with fundraising, stories, stats, support, and ways that you can help - one of…

With Eating Disorders Awareness Week next week, Beat have created some guidance for safe content #eatingdisordersawarenessweek #edaw2025 #anyoneanytime
www.linkedin.com/posts/beated...

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) symptoms in gender diverse adults and their relation to autistic traits, ADHD traits, and sensory sensitivities - Journal of Eating Disorders Background There is emerging evidence to suggest gender diverse people are overrepresented in avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) samples. However, the mechanisms underlying elevated ris...

📣 I'm excited to share that our new paper on ARFID symptoms in gender diverse adults and their relation to autistic traits, ADHD traits, and sensory sensitivities has been published online and is open access 🎉 🏳️‍⚧️
jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....