ICEPAED 2026 programme

Day 1

A day spent getting to know each other, and getting an overview of different studies on exercise/physical activity and eating disorders.

Time Topic Name of presenter Title of presentation Objective of presentation/study
09.00–09.15 Opening Organizing committee Welcome and information
09.15–09.45 Keynote

Professor Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen

Director of the Oslo Research Centre for Women’s Sport, Physical Activity and Health, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences

Sport, Exercise and Eating Disorders: From Silence and Stigma to Research and Clinical Practice Key points: From stigma to awareness in sport; Understanding the role of exercise; Implications for research and practice
09.45–10.00 BREAK
10.00–11.15

Sport and athletes

Dr Klara Edlund

Associate Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden

Care-by-Claire:

How to use Technology-Driven Treatment to Reshape Maladaptive Movement into Recovery-Oriented Training for Athletes with Eating Disorders

This presentation will discuss, with a focus on athletes, the feasibility, adherence, and preliminary clinical outcomes of a publicly available, app-based, program-guided intervention, specifically targeting maladaptive movement alongside ED symptoms and mental health.

Professor David R. Kolar, Dr Sasha Gorrell, Dr Katherine Schaumberg

DK, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; SG, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; KS, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.

Investigating acute exercise response in people with eating disorders: Next steps and lessons learned from three experiments In this talk, we will discuss considerations in selecting the in-lab exercise type and intensity, protocols, safety mechanisms, and ethical concerns, informed by three recent experimental trials enrolling a total of over 100 persons with eating disorders. The intended focus of these trials was to generally investigate reward mechanisms, emotion regulation, and psychobiological features of acute exercise in people with eating disorders.

Danika Quesnel, PhD Candidate

Department of Psychological Clinical Sciences, University of Toronto

Returning Youth to Play. Introducing The Safe Exercise at Every Stage (SEES-Y) Guideline. We will work collaboratively with attendees to identify risks in supporting youth return to movement, while integrating the latest research on the topic. We will then present the Safe Exercise at Every Stage: Youth (SEES-Y) guideline, which resulted from a systematic review of the literature, focus groups, and feedback from relevant stakeholders

Nikki Jeacocke

Senior Sports Dietitian and National Disordered Eating Initiative Lead, Australian Institute of Sport, Australian Sports Commission

The Australian Institute of Sport National Disordered Eating Initiative – A whole of high-performance sport system approach This presentation will showcase the AIS approach to DE and EDs within HP sport, ranging from policy to coal-face behaviours and actions required to move towards an ED-safe environment.
11.15–11.30 BREAK
11.30–12.45

Emotional regulation by physical activity

Dr Sasha Gorell

University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

Riding the wave: Examining variance in affective response during in-laboratory cycling This project aims to enhance understanding of psychobiological mechanisms that may elucidate potential treatment targets for compulsive exercise in the context of eating pathology.

Dr Katherine Schaumberg

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

Age Moderates Affective but Not Body Image Responses to Acute Prescribed Exercise in Eating Disorders This study examined whether age (14-25 years) and BMI predicted baseline states and moderated change in affect and body image during prescribed and self-paced exercise in individuals with EDs.

Professor David Colar

University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Effects of exercise on affect and emotion regulation in persons with anorexia nervosa and persons without anorexia nervosa: an experimental study To assess the effects of acute exercise on affect and spontaneous emotion regulation in people with and without anorexia nervosa.

Avery J Hinchcliffe, MSc candidate

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Canada

Intensity and Intolerance of Body-Related Self-Conscious Emotions as a Mechanism of Appearance-Driven Exercise within the Transdiagnostic Model This project aimed to test associations among intensity and intolerance of body-related self-conscious emotions, perfectionism, and maladaptive exercise.
12.45–13.30 LUNCH
13.30–14.00 Keynote

Professor Solfrid Bratland-Sanda

Department of Sports, Physical Education and Outdoor Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Sports and Educational Science, University of South-Eastern Norway

Physical literacy as a useful framework for approaching maladaptive and adaptive movement in the context of eating disorders To explore how the framework of physical literacy can help researchers conceptualise the continuum from maladaptive to adaptive movement in eating disorders, and to identify implications for future research on assessment, treatment, and recovery-oriented movement practices.
14.00–15.00

Professional Exercise Competence

Zoya Barbier, dietist

Research Centre ‘Substance Use and Psychosocial Risk Behaviours’ (SUPRB), University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Ghent, Belgium

MOVED+: A qualitative weight-neutral perspective on physical activity in eating disorders To explore current practices, needs and perceptions regarding movement by Flemish clinicians in eating disorder care

Caleb McMahen, PhD Candidate

Charles Darwin University, The University of Western Australia

Supported exercise therapy within adult mental health inpatient services for individuals with disordered eating To evaluate an accredited exercise physiology (AEP) led exercise therapy program for adult mental health inpatients with disordered eating and dysfunctional exercise behaviours.

Kate Brown, Anna Paterson, Yvonne Swainson, Physiotherapists

KB, Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, England, UK; YS, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.

Physiotherapy-led interventions for adult patients with anorexia nervosa are associated with a large drop in self-reported compulsive exercise: A service evaluation and case presentation To demonstrate the clinical effectiveness of physiotherapy-led physical activity management as part of eating disorder treatment, alongside an individual case study, to highlight the importance of including physiotherapy-led exercise management in eating disorder treatment.
15.00–15.15 BREAK
15.15–16.15

Resistance Exercise in Therapy

Victoria Bongiorno, MS, RD, CPT

Hunter College, New York, USA

Resistance training is an underused and promising tool in eating disorder recovery: a narrative review The purpose of this narrative review is to examine the use of resistance training in the treatment of eating disorders to determine whether its incorporation in treatment programs should be recommended.

Dr Hester Hockin-Boyers

City St George’s, University of London, UK

Exploring weightlifting as adaptive exercise in eating disorder recovery: Insights and future directions from a five-year research programme This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of women who engage in weightlifting as part of their eating disorder recovery.

Professor Therese Fostervold Mathisen

Østfold University College, Fredrikstad, Norway. NOslo Research Center for Women’s Sport, Physical Activity and Health, Norwegian school of Sport Sciences

PED-t: How Progressive Resistance Training Builds Self-Efficacy and Promotes Eating Disorder Recovery To present the theoretical and clinical rationale underlying the PED-t design, summarise findings from the RCT, share key implementation experiences, and provide insight into the next steps in research and clinical application.
16.15–16.30 BREAK
16.30–17.50

Maladaptive Physical Activity

Danika Quesnel, PhD Candidate

Department of Psychological Clinical Sciences, University of Toronto

A moving target: How are we conceptualising maladaptive movement (MM) and the proposal of unified terminology This review synthesises definitions of MM, examines the evidence underpinning the defining terms, and proposes a unifying framework for understanding MM in ED.

Michel Hollauf (MSc) and Dr. Christian Fricke

MH, Schön Klinik Roseneck, Prien am Chiemsee, Germany; Paracelsus Medical University (PMU), Salzburg, Austria; Danube University Krems (University for Continuing Education Krems), Department for Health Sciences, Medicine and Research, Krems, Austria. CF, Schön Klinik Roseneck, Prien am Chiemsee, Germany.

Integrating wearable activity monitoring into treatment of compulsive exercise in anorexia nervosa: Feasibility data from the HIET programme of research (AGB study) This presentation introduces HIET (Health Intensity Exercise Transfer), a multi-phase research programme supporting a sustainable shift from compulsive to health-promoting physical activity. It aims to (1) outline clinically usable principles for assessing and modifying compulsive exercise, (2) present structured modules from AGB (Building Healthy Movement Behaviour) and TGB (Transfer of Healthy Movement Behaviour), and (3) report feasibility and preliminary signals of integrating wearable monitoring into therapeutic feedback and goal work.

Professor Almut Zeeck

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Centre for Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im
Breisgau, Germany

Mechanisms of pathological exercise in patients with eating disorders Building on our previous studies, we aim to better understand the impact of exercise intensity, a major component of physical activity, on mood and cognition in EDs with and without PE. We will present the design of a study.

Lillian Palmer, PhD candidate

Clinical Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, US

Not All Exercise is Created Equal: Trait Predictors and Psychological Comorbidities of Maladaptive and Non-Maladaptive Exercise Profiles Two clusters of exercise profiles have previously been identified. Using the emergent exercise clusters, the present study aims to evaluate: (a) dispositional predictors of cluster membership; and (b) within the ED group, cluster differences in psychological comorbidities.
17.50–18.00 Wrap up Organizing Committee Wrap up, closing remarks, information about day 2

Day 2

During day 2, we will collaborate to develop a consensus on a shared understanding of our current knowledge base about physical activity and eating disorders, as well as determine which areas require further or deeper exploration.

Further details on the workshop’s framework and organization will follow. We plan to work in small groups to facilitate broad exploration and sharing of experiences, with periodic summaries in plenary throughout the day.

Program is planned to run between 9AM until 15.00PM.