Abigail Smakowski is a is a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London specialising in mind-body interactions.

Abigail first joined King’s College London when she undertook a Master of Science in Clinical Neuropsychiatry in 2016. For this work, she received the Neuropsychiatry Trainee Award for an oral presentation at the Royal College of Psychiatrists International Neuropsychiatry Conference 2018.

Since then Abigail has held research positions at King’s College London and health partners including South London and Maudsley NHS Trust working on studies in the area of Functional Neurological Disorders and Persistent Physical Symptoms.

In 2021 Abigail moved to Germany as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellow at University Medical Center Hamburg – Eppendorf. Her PhD specialised in the Predictive Validity of Diagnostic Criteria in Functional Somatic Disorders – part of a European Commission Innovative Training Network project “Encompassing Training in fUnctional Disorders across Europe” (ETUDE).

Following her PhD, Abigail returned to King's College London in 2025. She is helping to lead a Randomised Controlled Trial to study the effectiveness of EMBody – an innovative documentary-style digital tool, co-produced by survivors, scientists and clinicians, to support the health and wellbeing of young cancer survivors using ‘mindsets’ about the body.

Research interests

• Persistent Physical Symptoms
• Mind-body interactions
• Living beyond Cancer
• Neuropsychiatry Research – specifically Functional Neurological Disorder
• Research Methodology and Statistics

Teaching

• Symptom Perception Lecture – Health Psychology MSc programme

Expertise and public engagement

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellow – Project ETUDE
• European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine (EAPM) Junior Fellow 2024 
• Not So Invisible – Diagnosis. This podcast describes the scientific journey of 15 early stage researchers that are part of the Innovative Training Network Encompassing Training in Functional Disorders across Europe (ETUDE)
• Recipient of the Neuropsychiatry Trainee Award for oral presentation at the Royal College of Psychiatrists International Neuropsychiatry Conference 2018

Recent publications

• Smakowski, A., Rosmalen, J., Löwe, B., Burton, C. and Toussaint, A., 2025. Empirical assessment of functional somatic disorder (FSD): frequency, applicability, and diagnostic refinement in a population-based sample. BMC medicine, 23(1), pp.1-15.
• Smakowski A, Hüsing P, Völcker S, Löwe B, Rosmalen JG, Shedden-Mora M, Toussaint A. Psychological risk factors of somatic symptom disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2024 Jun 1;181:111608.
• Huesing P, Smakowski A, Loewe B, Kleinstaeuber M, Toussaint A, Shedden-Mora MC. The framework for systematic reviews on psychological risk factors for persistent somatic symptoms and related syndromes and disorders (PSY-PSS). Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2023 Apr 5;14:1142484.
• Campbell MC, Smakowski A, Rojas-Aguiluz M, Goldstein LH, Cardeña E, Nicholson TR, Reinders AA, Pick S. Dissociation and its biological and clinical associations in functional neurological disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis. BJPsych Open. 2023 Jan;9(1):e2.
• Ingman T, Smakowski A, Goldsmith K, Chalder T. A systematic literature review of randomized controlled trials evaluating prognosis following treatment for adults with chronic fatigue syndrome. Psychological medicine. 2022 Oct;52(14):2917-29.

View all publications on ORCID.