Professor Brendon Stubbs.

Professor Brendon Stubbs is a leading researcher in exercise and mental health. His work looks at how physical activity, lifestyle, mental and brain health and chronic disease affect each other. He is an Assistant Professor (tenure track) in Mental and Brain Health at the Medical University of Vienna, where he leads and supports interdisciplinary research at the Comprehensive Center for Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health (C3NMH). He has published more than 900 papers, cited over 100,000 times, and has been a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2019.

He trained as a physiotherapist at the University of East London, followed by an MSc in Neurological Rehabilitation at Oxford Brookes University and a PhD in Pain Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Greenwich. From 2003 he worked in clinical physiotherapy, in mental health care, independent practice and with sports teams.

After his PhD he joined King’s College London as a postdoctoral researcher and became Head of Physiotherapy at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where he built and led an interdisciplinary research group in mental and brain health. He went on to hold three consecutive NIHR fellowships, pioneering research pathways for clinician-scientists who aren’t doctors.

His research has secured more than €12 million in funding. He has supervised more than 15 PhD candidates and mentored more than 15 postdoctoral researchers, many of whom now hold senior academic posts, including full professorships.

He chairs the Lancet Psychiatry Commission on protecting the physical health of people with mental illness, and has led clinical guidelines for the European Psychiatric Association and the World Psychiatric Association. Outside academia, he works with startups, investors and global brands, and his research has featured in more than 3,000 media reports worldwide.