(Vienna, 02 February 2026) Brendon Stubbs takes up a tenure-track Assistant Professorship (§99(5)) in Mental and Brain Health at the Medical University of Vienna. In this role, he will lead and support interdisciplinary research at the Comprehensive Center for Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health (C3NMH).
Brendon Stubbs’ research focuses on the interplay between physical activity, lifestyle behaviours, mental and brain health, and chronic disease. He chairs the Lancet Commission on protecting the physical health of people with mental illness and has led clinical guidelines for both the European Psychiatric Association and the World Psychiatric Association as first or senior author.
His research has secured more than €12 million in funding. Over the past decade, he has held three consecutive funded NIHR fellowships in the UK, pioneering research pathways for non-medical clinician-scientists. He has supervised more than 15 PhD candidates and mentored over 15 postdoctoral researchers, many of whom have progressed to senior academic positions, including full professorships.
Public impact and dissemination
His research has featured in over 3,000 media reports worldwide, with regular coverage from BBC News and Sky News, and features in outlets including The New York Times and TIME magazine. He was lead scientist for the Amazon Prime documentary Mind Games: The Experiment, which reached more than three million viewers across 30 countries.
In 2024, he was scientific lead for the Desk Break campaign, fronted by Academy Award-winning actor Brian Cox, which resulted in 1.2 million workers worldwide incorporating more movement into desk-based routines.
He has delivered over 150 invited keynote lectures globally, including to non-academic audiences, with appearances at Wimbledon alongside Novak Djokovic, on Eurosport with French Open champion Iga Świątek, at the global headquarters of Meta and Amazon, and at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
About the person
Brendon Stubbs trained as a physiotherapist (BSc (Hons), University of East London), followed by an MSc in Neurological Rehabilitation (Oxford Brookes University) and a PhD in Pain Medicine and Rehabilitation (University of Greenwich).
From 2003 to 2012, he held a range of clinical physiotherapy roles. After completing his PhD in 2015, he joined King’s College London as a postdoctoral researcher and Head of the Department of Physiotherapy at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where he built and led an interdisciplinary research group focused on mental and brain health. From 2017 he was an NIHR Clinical Lecturer, from 2020 a Senior Clinical Lecturer, and from 2021 held an NIHR Advanced Fellowship.
Beyond academia, he has served as Chief Clinical and Scientific Officer for a MedTech startup, leading clinical validation and regulatory strategy for Software as a Medical Device through the FDA pre-market pathway. More recently, he has been awarded an Einstein Visiting Fellowship to advance mind–body interventions for psychosis. He will retain an honorary full professorship at King’s College London.