Brendan is based in Adelaide, Australia, where he is undertaking doctoral research in pain science alongside an active role in teaching and research translation across health and rehabilitation. His work sits at the intersection of clinical practice, cognitive neuroscience, and contemporary philosophy of science.
His primary research focus is on clinical interactions, particularly how implicit and explicit messages within healthcare encounters shape perceptions of self, body, and environment, and how these perceptions influence behaviour, symptom experience, and recovery trajectories. Drawing on predictive processing and modern models of pain, Brendan examines how explanations, expectations, and treatment contexts drive learning, uncertainty, and belief updating.
He is especially interested in persistent musculoskeletal pain, where biomedical markers often fail to explain outcomes, and investigates how treatment explanations and intervention choices influence perceived fragility, healthcare utilisation, and engagement with movement.