Anthea Sutton (Academic and Research Liaison) & Emily Wood (Chair of the Scientific and Research Committee)

Committee membership

We start this update with some changes – a welcome to new members and special thanks to previous members of the SRC. After two years as chair of the SRC, Dr Jonathan Hutchins has stepped down and Dr Emily Wood has been appointed as our new chair. We would like to thank Jonathan for his tenacity and commitment to progressing EMDR research, especially in the key area of veterans and combat PTSD, and we look forward to working with him further as he remains on the committee to champion veterans research and continues to lead the Veterans Research Network, which he convened in 2025.

Please join us in welcoming Emily back to the SRC (Emily was a previous member of the group and helped to establish the EMDR Publications Database among other research activities). We are delighted to work with Emily as the new chair of the committee. Emily tells us more about her plans below:

Hi everyone, I am a senior research fellow at the University of Sheffield, I am a registered nurse and EMDR therapist. My PhD investigated the use of EMDR with people with long-term depression. I am aiming to build on the work of previous SRC chairs to create a new research strategy for the Association based on the recent prioritisation survey at the conference. I want to make it easier for clinicians to access research and researchers to improve recognition of EMDR in the guidelines.

More changes to the membership have occurred this year, with Emma Mullins-Crocker and Dr Marta de Madariaga López both stepping down to pursue other commitments – a huge thanks to both for their valuable input. We have also welcomed new members Dr Karen Barton and Alex Laurie and look forward to working with them.

Annual Conference 2026

We enjoyed meeting many of you at the conference in Bristol back in March and hearing from those attending online too. The SRC coordinated a research symposium on day 2, where we welcomed Professor Filippo Varese and colleagues from the University of Manchester to present on ‘New frontiers in the treatment and preventions of psychosis using EMDR’.

Professor Filippo Varese presenting at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2026

© Photography by ShotAway

Dr Jonathan Hutchins presented an update from the SRC, summarising the current evidence base for EMDR and launching our survey to ask you to vote on your research priorities to help inform our research strategy for 2026 and beyond. Thank you for your engagement with this survey. We have received 301 individual responses and we look forward to sharing the findings with you.

Dr Jonathan Hutchins presenting at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2026

© Photography by ShotAway

The research session concluded before lunch with a series of ‘lightning talks’ delivered by our poster authors. A new addition for the 2026 programme, this segment proved highly successful as the presenters rose to the challenge of summarising their projects in 60 seconds or less.

Lightning talks at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2026

© Photography by ShotAway

We are also delighted to announce that the winning poster – voted for by the delegates at the conference in person and online – were Dr Lisa-Maria Kraml and Claire Traylor from the Perinatal Community Mental Health Service, Cardiff, and Vale University Health Board, with their poster Using the EMDR Group traumatic episode protocol (G-TEP) for birth trauma: a service evaluation of feasibility, acceptability and early outcomes in an NHS perinatal mental health service. Lisa and Claire are pictured with their poster and receiving their award at the close of the conference. Well done again to you both, and to all our fantastic presenters. The poster area was busy and full of energy as people networked throughout the conference event.

Dr Lisa-Maria Kraml and Claire Traylor and their winning poster at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2026

© Photography by ShotAway

Looking ahead to 2027, we will again be opening a call for abstracts to present posters at the annual conference. If you are interested, please email us at: researchofficer@emdrassociation.org.uk and we will alert you once the call is open later in the year.

New research

The EMDR Publications Database has been updated to March 2026. You can read all about the latest research here. If you have not done so already, you can access the database with your EMDR UK membership; see the Member Resources section when you login to the members area of the EMDR UK website. If you have any queries about accessing or finding your way around the database, please email: emdrdatabase@sheffield.ac.uk

Evidence briefings

In addition to the EMDR Publications Database, we plan to produce a series of briefings outlining the evidence base and research gaps in key areas of EMDR. We have collated the current evidence base on EMDR with veterans and military personnel. You will be able to read about it in the Summer 2026 issue of the ETQ.