Dr Kai Thomas

(he/him)

BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, FHEA

Publication

• Date
• Type
• Promoted

Research

Current Research

I am interested in understanding the development of mental health difficulties and how we can promote wellbeing and resilience in children, adolescents, and adults.

My current research is focused on eating disorders, problematic eating behaviours, and concerns around body shape and weight in autistic, ADHD, and gender diverse populations. Despite being at greatly increased risk for eating disorders (Amodeo et al., 2022; Christensen et al., 2019; Jones et al., 2016), neurodivergent and gender diverse people face significant barriers to accessing early and effective treatment and support (Babb et al., 2021; Joy et al., 2022). They also present with more severe eating disorder symptoms, more complex needs, and require more intensive support than individuals without one or more of these co-occurrences (Ferrucci et al., 2023; Li et al., 2022; Mensinger et al., 2020; Testa et al., 2020). Given research demonstrates early detection and intervention of eating disorders can improve recovery prospects (Zipfel et al., 2015), significant work is needed to improve understanding of eating disorders in gender diverse and neurodivergent people. This is in line with a recent Welsh eating disorder service review and UK research inquiry, with both emphasising the need for increased awareness of eating disorders in gender diverse and neurodivergent people, as well as more accessible and inclusive eating disorder support.

My Health and Care Research Wales Advanced Fellowship aims to improve our understanding, awareness, and recognition of eating disorders in autistic people, people with ADHD, and gender diverse people. We are working in partnership with Beat, the UK's eating disorder charity, as well as an advisory board of people with lived experience and specialist clinicians and academics. 

We will be advising our upcoming research opportunities for this project via our social media channels using our LinkTree

You are welcome to contact us via our project email address leading_study@cardiff.ac.uk to be added to our mailing list and to find out more information about our upcoming research.

We are recruiting for our first study, an online survey exploring the relations between gender identity, neurodivergence, and eating disorders. In the current phase of recruitment, we are looking for participants who are:

• aged 18+ years,
• fluent in English and based in the UK,
• trans, gender diverse, and/or non-binary,
• and have lived experience of an eating disorder (current or historical)

Please follow the link to be directed to the survey, which contains more detailed information: tinyurl.com/LEADINGStudy1

Funding

• Thomas, K. S. (2024-2027). Improving awareness, understanding, and support for neurodivergent and gender diverse adults with eating disorders in Wales. Health and Care Research Wales Advanced Fellowship (PI).
• Gamerio, S., Morey, R., Thomas, K., Snow, K. (2024). FAIR Voices – Co-creating guidance to make qualitative data FAIR. Cardiff University Research Culture Fund (Co-I).
• Paine, A. L., Martin, F., Birdsey, N., & Thomas, K. (2023-2024). Supporting the Wellbeing of Children in Hospital with Humorous Play. UKRI Harmonised Impact Accelerator Award (Co-I).
• Thomas, K. S., Cooper, K., & Jones, C. R. G. (2023). The intersection of autistic and gender diverse identities in eating disorders: stakeholder engagement. Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account: Rapid Response Fund (PI).
• Thomas, K. S. & Jones, C. R. G. (2023). The intersection of autism and gender diversity in eating disorders. Cardiff University Learning & Teaching Academy Summer Placement (PI).
• Paine, A. L., Robinson, C., Thomas, K., & Smilie, I. (2021-2022). Laughing all the Way to Better Wellbeing in Childhood. Innovation for All Civic Mission Fund (Co-I).
• Gambi, C., Paine, A. L., Thomas, K., Hughes, A., Langley, K., Jones, C., Gerson, S., Shelton, K., & Smilie, I. (2021-2022). Co-producing developmental science: Working with educators and children to set priorities for research that matters. Innovation for All Public Engagement Fund (Co-I).
• Vanderwert, R. E. & Thomas, K. S. (2019). Understanding risk factors for disordered eating behaviours in children. Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme.
• Thomas, K. S. (2018 - 2022). Graduate Teaching Assistant Studentship, School of Psychology, Cardiff University.
• Thomas, K. S. (2017 - 2021). ESRC DTP PhD Studentship (1+3).

Previous projects

During the summer of 2023, I conducted stakeholder consultations with 6 autistic and/or gender diverse people with eating disorders, as well as 5 clinicians working across the Cardiff and the Vale Eating Disorder Service, Integrated Autism Service, and Welsh Gender Service. We discussed the intersections of eating disorders, gender diversity, and neurodivergence, and research priorities in this area. Avalon Ross, a researcher volunteering with me, has designed an infographic to present the shared and unique themes identified by people with lived experience and clinicians:

My PhD research focused on the relationship between children’s mental health and their cognitive, emotional, and neural functioning. Primarily, this was centred around eating behaviours, anxiety, and mood, which I have also previously explored in undergraduate populations. By increasing our understanding of why and how these difficulties develop, we are better able to establish new evidence-based treatment and intervention options. I used a variety of methods in my research, such as neurocognitive tasks, electroencephalography, social/behavioural tasks, and questionnaires. As part of my PhD, I gained extensive experience in engaging with primary schools to recruit and conduct testing sessions with children. I also recruited and collected data from individual families from the community in the laboratory and online.

Avalon Ross has produced accessible written summaries of two of my published PhD papers here:

A research summary: disordered eating, basic psychological need satisfaction and anxiety in children

A research summary: disordered eating, internalising symptoms and response inhibition in children

Teaching

My current teaching responsibilities involve supervising undergraduate final year projects and MSc dissertations in my research area.

Previous teaching experience

• During my PhD, I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA), delivering group seminars to first-year undergraduate students. I also marked essays and provided feedback.
• In the last year of my PhD, I took on the role of Lead GTA. In addition to normal GTA duties, I liaised with module leaders to ensure all seminar content was up-to-date and improved based on feedback.  Another key area of my role was providing support for eight other GTAs.
• During my lectureship, I delivered lectures, tutorials and workshops on research methodology and academic skills to all undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I was a personal tutor to undergraduate students at all levels.

Biography

Postgraduate education

2018 - 22: PhD Psychology, Cardiff University

2017 - 18: MSc Social Science Research Methods (Distinction), Cardiff University

Undergraduate education

2013 - 17: BSc Psychology with Professional Placement (First Class Honours), Cardiff University. (2015 - 16: Placement Student, Ty Catrin, Low Secure Mental Illness and Personality Disorder Service, Cardiff)

Teaching

2024 - present: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2022 - 2024: Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Employment

2024 - present: Research Associate, School of Psychology, Cardiff University.

2022 - 24: Lecturer, School of Psychology, Cardiff University.

2021 - 22: Lead Graduate Teaching Assistant, School of Psychology, Cardiff University.

2018 - 21: Graduate Teaching Assistant, School of Psychology, Cardiff University.

2016 - 19: Research Assistant, Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology, Cardiff University.

Honours and awards

GW4 Mental Health Research Network's Networking and Bid Development Workshop (funded place), September 2024

(Nomination) Personal Tutor of the Year, Enriching Student Life Awards, March 2024

Stonewall Cymru Future LGBTQ+ Leaders Programme, January 2024

HCRW Fellowship Development Workshop (funded place), September 2023

Hadyn Ellis Prize for Best PhD 2023

Speaking engagements

     'Eating Disorders in Gender-diverse populations', Service for High Risk Eating Disorders (NHS Wales), 23rd January 2025 (invited talk)

     Gender Dysphoria, University of Bath, 27th November 2024 (Invited guest lecture)

     Cardiff University Research Community Showcase, 24^th October 2024: Co-creating eating disorder research with gender diverse, autistic, and ADHD communities (talk)

Appearance Matters 10 Conference, 11-13th June 2024 (poster)

BPS Division of Clinical Psychologists Wales Branch, Cwpan Seicoleg, 14th May 2024 (talk)

Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science Colloquium: Under-represented groups in mental health research, 13th December 2023 (talk)

Swansea University School of Psychology Seminar Series, 31st May 2023 (invited talk)

Translation and Impact of Population Health Research Away Day, 2nd February 2023 (poster)

British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience, 24-25th May 2022 (talk and poster)

The British Feeding and Drinking Group 46th Annual Meeting, 13-14th April 2022 (talk)

Society for Research in Child Development, 7-9th April 2021 (poster)

International Conference on Children’s Eating Behaviour, 21st March 2019 (poster)

Committees and reviewing

• January 2025 - present: Associate Editor for Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
• October 2024 - present: EDI committee member, School of Psychology, Cardiff University
• September 2023 - present: Early Career Academic (ECA) forum member, School of Psychology, Cardiff University

Supervisions

Current supervision

Grace Williams

Graduate Researcher