EASO and the EASO Early Career Network (ECN) board members congratulate the 2026 Best Thesis Award finalists. Join the ECN to learn about their European research at the ECN Best Thesis Award Session at ECO2026 in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Wednesday 13 May 2026 | 16:30-18:00
The EASO ECN Best Thesis Award recognises outstanding contributions to obesity science from PhD researchers. Three finalists are invited to present their doctoral research at ECO – the winner is announced during this dedicated session and is awarded with a €500 cash prize.
The 2026 candidates
Dr Elena Tsompanaki (Greece / United Kingdom)
“The impact of weight-loss programmes on disordered eating”
Dr Elena Tsompanaki is a registered dietitian in the UK and Greece and currently serves as a Public Health Nutrition Consultant for UNICEF Greece. In this role, she supports the update of Greece’s National Dietary Guidelines as part of the National Action against Childhood Obesity 2023-2025, under the mandate of the Ministry of Health. During her PhD in Primary Care at the University of Oxford (2025), she examined the impact of weight-loss programmes on disordered eating, using the NHS Path to Remission as a real-world framework, by conducting a mixed-methods clinical trial and a systematic review and meta-analysis. Her findings provided robust evidence that challenged the assumption that weight-loss interventions exacerbate disordered eating by default. Instead, the results suggest these programmes may improve mental health outcomes among people living with overweight or obesity, supporting a safer and more holistic approach to obesity care.
Dr Leona Ryan (Ireland)
“Developing the evidence-base for a digital intervention to address weight stigma in general practice: A patient and practitioner-informed approach to obesity education and training”
Dr Leona Ryan is a psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Galway, Ireland. Her thesis explored the lived experiences of people living with obesity and the systemic realities of clinical practice. These insights were synthesised using behavioural science frameworks to identify the specific determinants of weight stigma and barriers to optimal care. By mapping these findings to targeted behaviour change techniques, the research was translated into an AI-driven virtual human prototype designed to deliver obesity education and communication-skills training to healthcare practitioners. This work provides a scalable methodological blueprint for moving obesity training from information transfer to theory-driven skill development. Leona is a committee member of the Association for the Study of Obesity on the island of Ireland (ASOI) working in collaboration with the Irish Coalition for People living with Obesity (ICPO) to integrate patient perspectives into clinical practice, education, and national healthcare resources.
Dr Beatriz Cicuéndez (Spain)
“Coordinating metabolic balance across liver and brown adipose tissue in obesity: exploring the roles of p38 and MCJ”
Dr. Beatriz Cicuéndez is a postdoctoral investigator and professor at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2025, supported by a competitive fellowship from La Caixa Foundation. Her doctoral research at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) and Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas Carlos III (CNIO) uncovered mitochondrial mechanisms regulating brown adipose tissue thermogenesis and metabolic dysfunction in obesity. She also completed a research stay at Harvard Medical School. Her findings, published in journals such as Nature Communications, offer novel insights into mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets for obesity.
Join the EASO ECN in Istanbul at ECO2026 to support these early career researchers and celebrate their contributions to obesity science. Thank you to all ECN members who applied with their excellent research to the 2026 Award.
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