Dr Joseph Firth

Current Positions Held:

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, University of Manchester, Manchester, U.K.

Honorary Fellow, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia.

Honorary Fellow, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, U.K.

Background:

Dr. Joseph Firth completed his PhD (Medicine) at the University of Manchester, U.K and has a BSc (1^st Hons) in Psychology from the University of Sheffield, U.K.

Dr Joseph Firth's current research primarily focuses on the use of digital technologies and physical health interventions for improving both physical and mental health outcomes in people living with mental illness.

Awards:

• Clarivate™ World Highly Cited Researcher in Psychology / Psychiatry (for ranking in the top 0.1% for citations by field, globally) in 2020, 2021, and 2022
• Awarded The USERN Laureate for Social Sciences in 2022, for research into digital tech & lifestyle medicine for mental health
• Research.com 's #1 "Rising Star in Science" in the UK, across all fields
• ExpertScape "World Expert" in Exercise, for ranking in the Top 10 researchers globally

Research & Impact:

• Published >250 peer-reviewed articles in international research journals, including the top-ranked medical journals, such as The BMJ, American Journal of Psychiatry, The Lancet Psychiatry, World Psychiatry, The New England Journal of Medicine, etc
  
  
• Extensive media engagement, with first-author publications receiving coverage from >700 news outlets (including Times, Forbes, CNN, etc.) along with televised interviews on Sky News and BBC television.
  
  
• Lead author of the  Lancet Commission on ‘Protecting Physical Health in People with Mental Illness’.
  
  
• Member of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 2020 Global Physical Activity Guidelines group, and co-author for the WHOs “2020 Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour”.

Dr. Firth's ongoing projects focus on developing and evaluating digital health interventions for helping young people with mental health conditions to engage in regular exercise, and to adopt healthy lifestyles. 

Select Publications

Firth, J., Solmi, M., Wootton, R. E., et al. 2020.
A meta‐review of “lifestyle psychiatry”: the role of exercise, smoking, diet and sleep in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders. World Psychiatry, 19(3), 360-380.
[Link]

Torous J, Myrick K, Rauseo-Ricupero N, Firth J. 2020
Digital mental health and COVID-19: using technology today to accelerate the curve on access and quality tomorrow. JMIR mental health, 7(3), e18848.
[Link]

Firth, J., Siddiqi, N., Koyanagi, A., et al. 2019.
The Lancet Psychiatry Commission: a blueprint for protecting physical health in people with mental illness. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(8), 675-712.
[Link]

Bull FC, Al-Ansari S, Biddle S,...Firth J, et al. 2020.
World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(24), 1451-1462.
[Link]

Firth, J., Torous J., Stubbs B, et al. 2019. 
The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 18:119-29.
[Link]