Stuart is a founder of the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law. Treating refugees and asylum seekers, Stuart became aware that the Home Office and Court decisions often did not seem to take into account current psychological evidence. One example concerned the interpretation of discrepant information. With Jane Herlihy, Stuart conducted empirical research to explore this issue, and later they jointly founded the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law, Stuart as chair of trustees, initially funding the centre through his clinic, and Jane as its executive director. Stuart returned later to assist in the transfer of CSEL to the Royal Holloway University of London and is delighted to see its continued development and success.

Research Interests: Stuart is a medical doctor who entered psychiatry in order to train in behaviour therapy with Vic Meyer (responsible for initiating exposure and response prevention for OCD and the founding president of what is now BABCP) and Ted Chesser (his undergraduate tutor) because of its scientific approach. His academic doctoral dissertation was on brain imaging and schizophrenia, but his research since then has focused on underprivileged populations, the homeless, refugees, and more generally on trauma and its sequelae. He is past president of both the European and the International Societies of Traumatic Stress Studies and has served as representative to the United Nations on behalf of ISTSS.