Thorsten Barnhofer

Thorsten Barnhofer is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Surrey, part of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and School of Psychology. He holds a PhD from the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Germany, and specialized in cognitive-behavioral therapy. His career includes roles at the University of Oxford, King's College London, and the University of Exeter, where he led mindfulness training programs. He is known for research on mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), their neurobiological mechanisms, and applications in depression, aging populations, and youth mental health.

Key areas of research include the psychobiological mechanisms underlying depression, mindfulness's role in modulating emotion regulation and neural connectivity, and interventions targeting vulnerable groups like the elderly and adolescents. His work has been supported by grants such as the European Horizon 2020 (MEDIT-AGEING project) and NIHR (testing MBCT for treatment-resistant depression). He has authored over 100 publications and a book, 'Mindfulness and the Transformation of Despair.'

Barnhofer has received prestigious awards, including the Heisenberg Fellowship from the German Research Foundation. His research bridges ancient mindfulness practices with modern neuroscience, focusing on dementia prevention, cognitive decline, and reducing suicide risk. He collaborates internationally, contributing to randomized controlled trials (e.g., SCD-Well trial) and systematic reviews on mindfulness's cognitive effects.