2024 PEACE Pathway Conference

We were delighted to welcome over 200 attendees from the UK, Australia, Italy, South Africa, Singapore and beyond to the third PEACE Conference on 27th February 2024.

The 2024 PEACE conference started with an opening address by Professor Kate Tchanturia, PI of the PEACE Pathway, who described leading the project as 'the most rewarding experience' of her career. The programme featured updates on PEACE progress and future directions, alongside engaging presentations from speakers on working with family carers, clinicians' experiences with the pathway, and adapting outpatient therapy. In the second part of the conference, members of the PEACE team shared their experiences from running sensory wellbeing workshops and integrating smart robot toys (the Purrble study) into these sessions. Collaborators from the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire & West Berkshire (BOB) PEACE project reported exciting progress in adapting the pathway for young people and adolescents. Additionally, the Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative (EDAC) shared their innovative work in Scotland, using a co-design approach to bring together researchers, clinicians and autistic individuals to set the priorities for research in this area.

Presentations can be downloaded here:

1. Welcome – PEACE pathway progress and future? - Professor Kate Tchanturia (Consultant Clinical Psychologist/ Principal Investigator of PEACE Pathway – King’s College London)
2. Working with family carers of people with autism and eating disorders on the PEACE Pathway - Madeleine Oakley (PEACE Carers Champion/Psychotherapist)
3. Qualitative evaluation of PEACE pathway. What Clinicians think? - Zhuo Li (PhD candidate/PEACE researcher)
4. Lived Experience - Emily Nuttall
5. PEACE/FREED populations in outpatient therapy, focussing on therapy adaptions and supporting transitions - Emma Gluyas (Outpatient departments CBT therapist)
6. Sensory workshops developed by the PEACE pathway - Elisa Zesch & Amanda Sarpong (Assistant Psychologists, National ED service South London & Maudsley NHS Trust)
7. Purrble’s Soothing Touch for Eating Disorders and Autism: A Pilot Study on Integrating a Social Robot into Sensory Wellbeing Workshops - Dr Dimitri Chubinidze (Post-Doctoral Research Associate, King's College London and Honorary Researcher, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust)
8. Extending PEACE to Young People: The BOB PEACE Project​ - Dr Joanna Holliday (Consultant Clinical Psychologist Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust)
9. The Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative EDAC - Dr Fiona Duffy (Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh University) and Dr Karri Gillespie-Smith (Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh University)
10. The PEACE menu and dietetic perspective - Jacinda Gower (Specialist Eating Disorder Dietitian, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust)

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this year's conference a success. Together, let's continue to advance understanding and support for autistic individuals with eating disorders.