Professor Gemma Sharp established and has led the Body Image, Eating and Weight Disorders Research Program since 2018 and was promoted to Professor in 2024. She is currently a Professor in the School of Psychology at Adelaide University (2026-) with a NHMRC Emerging Leadership 2 Fellowship (2023-2028), following a previous NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (2018-2022). 

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology (University of Adelaide), Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Microbiology and Immunology (University of Adelaide), a Masters degree in Oncology (University of Cambridge), a Diploma in Languages in Japanese (University of Adelaide), a Graduate Diploma in Psychology (University of Adelaide), a Bachelor of Behavioural Sciences Honours degree in Psychology (Flinders University) and a PhD in Clinical Psychology (Flinders University). Her research career in both Medical Science and Mental Health has seen her study and work in Australia, Japan and the UK. 

Gemma was awarded a PhD from Flinders University in Adelaide in April 2017 which investigated the psychological predictors and outcomes of female genital body image concerns and cosmetic genital surgery. She worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate and Academic at Curtin University in Perth and extended this genital self-image research to other genders. She continues this genital self-image research program across the gender spectrum. 

Gemma then commenced an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship at Monash University (2018-2022) and more recently an NHMRC Emerging Leadership 2 Fellowship (2023-2028), now at Adelaide University where she is the NHMRC Lead of the College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences. Gemma and the program she heads investigate the factors leading to body image concerns, eating and weight disorders (across the age and gender spectrum) and novel therapeutic interventions to address these concerns, including digital technologies such as chatbots like JEM® (eating disorder prevention) and ED ESSI® (eating disorder early intervention) and mobile apps. Gemma has led collaborative technical and commercial projects with leading eating disorder support organisations across the globe (e.g., JEM® in North America with NEDIC). Gemma personally owns the intellectual property and licensing rights for these digital interventions through Sharp AI Psychology - please contact her directly with any queries. She also served as the lead expert in the Australian Psychological Society's Practice Guidelines for the use of AI and emerging technologies (2025). 

In 2023/2024, she led the development of a world-first highly accessed free online educational resource to explain the intersection of eating disorders and menopause. She has a keen interest in intersection of eating disorders, body image and women's health, particularly pregnancy and perimenopause.  

Gemma is the Founding Director of the registered charity, the Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders (CoRe-ED) which brings together all key voices in eating disorder research on a global scale to improve eating disorder research and care. The consortium was officially launched on 25th September 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. Everyone is welcome to join CoRe-ED free of charge by registering here to connect with over 1,000 people from 45+ countries and 6 continents and 50+ global partners to push for innovations in eating disorder research and treatment. There are free online research and educational events delivered by CoRe-ED and their international partners on a more than monthly basis. CoRe-ED also conducts an annual global team research initiative, Next Big Research Idea, to support teams from around the world to bring ground-breaking eating disorder research ideas to life.     

Gemma has published extensively (full listing here). Her research has received extensive coverage on mainstream media and she makes very regular appearances on all forms of media (full listing here). She was named one of ABC Radio National's Top 5 Under 40 Scientists in 2017 and also was invited to deliver a TED talk in Brisbane in 2017.  She also served as a host on Melbourne radio Triple R Radiotherapy program (2018-2022) and continues to make regular appearances on Triple R programs. 

For her 70+ awards/recognitions, she was elected a Fellow of the US-based Association for Psychological Science (2026), won the BioMelbourne Network Women in Leadership Emerging Leadership Award (2026), named a Women's Agenda Woman to Watch in Education (2026), awarded the Association for Psychological Science Janet Taylor Spence Award (2025), elected a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society (2025), national finalist for the Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science (2025), Lord Mayor's Convention Trailblazer Award (2025), Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) Mentee Honour (2024), Australian Psychological Society College of Clinical Psychologists Ian M Campbell Memorial Prize (2024), an international finalist for the Robert Greenblatt International Menopause Society Award (2024), Australian Psychological Society Media Award for Public Engagement with Psychological Science (2023), Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research (2022), Club Melbourne Fellowship (2022), Rising Star for the Association for Psychological Science (2021), two time national finalist for the Bupa Health Foundation Emerging Researcher Award (2021, 2019), Flinders Universiry Early Career Alumni Awardee (2021), one of The Educator's Rising Stars (2020), Australian Psychological Society Early Career Researcher Awardee (2020), a national finalist for the Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science (2020), received a national AMP Tomorrow Maker Award (2019), and was a Young Tall Poppy Award winner for Victoria (2018). Full award listing here.

In addition, Gemma is a registered clinical psychologist and has had clinical experience in the public and private sectors in multiple Australian states. She has led her own private psychology practice since 2019. She was formerly the Senior Clinical Psychologist and Research Lead at the Statewide Women's Mental Health Service at Alfred Health (2023-2024) and is currently an Honorary Research Clinician at Alfred Health. She is a Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician (CEDC) and a Board Approved Supervisor with the Psychology Board of Australia.

She and her research played key roles in the National and Victorian State Eating Disorder strategies (2023/2024). Furthermore, she was the lead expert for the national clinical practice guidelines for the psychological evaluation of patients undergoing cosmetic procedures in 2018 and 2023. Gemma launched a health professional online short course addressing psychological assessments for cosmetic patients in 2024. Please email Gemma directly if you would like more information about this course.  

Gemma currently serves on the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) Right Care Right Place Advisory Group and the APS ePsychology Interest Group Executive Committee. She also serves on a number of working groups with NEDC and the Eating Disorders In weight-related Therapy (EDIT) Collaboration to support innovations surrounding the intersection of eating disorders and obesity. Furthermore, she is an ethics consultant for Bellberry Limited. She formerly served on the Australia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) Executive Committee as well as the Chairperson of the ANZAED Membership Committee. She was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

You can follow Gemma's latest research, clinical, advocacy and other activities on LinkedIn, X and her program website.