Q and A with InsideOut’s Melissa Pehlivan

InsideOut PhD Candidate and Research Officer, Melissa Pehlivan was presented with the 2025 Brian Lask Award for up-and-coming researchers at the 2025 London Eating Disorders Conference. She is currently visiting the Centre for Eating and Weight Disorders (CREW) in Kings College London (KCL) as part of the Graduate Women's Academy NSW Tempe Mann Travelling Scholarship she was awarded in 2024. We spoke to Melissa about her recent success and what it takes to build a career in eating disorders research.

What does winning the 2025 Brian Lask Award mean to you?

This award means a lot to me. It is in honour of a famous eating disorder researcher who held very high standards and really cared about developing the next generation of researchers. I have always wanted to attend London Eating Disorders Conference (LEDC), as London and its surrounds have long been a major hub, and dare I say, mecca for eating disorder research. Many of our current treatments for eating disorders were borne out of their labs. To be recognised by the LEDC conference committee, out of all the promising young researchers doing fabulous work today, really holds a lot of weight for me. 

How has it made you feel in terms of your future career in the eating disorders research field?

In a word, hopeful. As someone who struggles with imposter syndrome, this award is a vote of confidence that I might have what it takes to pursue a career in research. As an early career researcher, it's hard not to wonder if you 'have what it takes'. A career in research is hard to break into and takes a lot of talent and grit. You also spend a lot of time with some really impressive people. Your supervisors are typically legends in the field with 20+ years of experience with a CV, that can be many, many pages long. It is hard to know whether you will ever 'measure up' and make a difference in your area of interest. 

What have you learnt on your current visit to London as part of the Graduate Women's Academy NSW Tempe Mann Travelling Scholarship?

I have been so lucky to be afforded with this opportunity to closely network and collaborate with international eating disorder researchers who are truly world-class experts in their field, and to hear what they are currently working on and what they see happening in the future. It has been a period of deep thinking and reflection for me as I come to the end of my PhD and begin to explore what is next - where I and my research sits within the broader field. It has been really helpful for gaining a better understanding of how it all comes together to build the bigger picture and how we can work together to better support and obtain better outcomes for people with eating disorders and their loved ones. 

Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Sarah Maguire and Dr Kristi Griffiths, and all the InsideOut staff who help out to do the amazing work that we do. At InsideOut we very much work as a team and one person's achievement is a reflection of a number of supporting acts who make a way for that person to shine. We uplift each other so we can all reach our greatest potential. 

You can read more about Melissa’s research here and her latest paper here.