Dr Stefan Schilling

Stefan Schilling is a Lecturer in Social & Organisational Psychology at the University of Exeter. His research examines the socio-structural determinants of health, well-being, and teamwork, with a particular focus on how social identity processes and the design of work shape outcomes in high-demand occupational contexts — including healthcare, the military, and veteran and service-family populations.

Stefan's current programme spans three funded projects in the military and veteran domain. The Veteran Connection Programme (VCP), funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme, is a feasibility randomised controlled trial of a group-based, peer co-facilitated psychosocial intervention for UK military service leavers and veterans navigating the transition to civilian life. The Military Service Families (MSF) project, funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Trust, supports military spouses and families in navigating the identity shifts, social losses, and isolation that accompany frequent relocation between duty stations. ASTRID 600, funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), investigates organisational resilience interventions in UK Defence, drawing on social identity approaches and the Job Demands–Resources model.

In parallel, Stefan leads research on the NHS workforce and healthcare teamwork. The ROTATE study (Rotational Outcomes during Training: Assessing Transitional Experiences in Resident Doctors) examines how frequent rotational placements in UK postgraduate medical training disrupt identification with ward, Trust, and NHS, erode job resources and social support, and drive burnout, to show that burnout in the resident doctor workforce is primarily a structural rather than individual phenomenon.

A unifying thread across Stefan's work is how social identity processes — particularly leadership and group dynamics — can be harnessed to strengthen the design and effectiveness of psychological, clinical, and organisational interventions. This is reflected in his doctoral supervision, which extends the social identity lens into emerging therapeutic contexts: a DClinPsy thesis on group processes in psychedelic ritual groups, a PhD examining social identity dynamics within clinical psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), and a DClinPsy project developing a social identity-informed mindfulness intervention.

Before joining Exeter, Stefan held a research post at the University of Oxford's Pandemic Sciences Institute, working on psychosocial care teams during high-consequence infectious disease outbreaks in Uganda , and was previously Post-Doc and Co-Investigator on the ESRC-funded NHS COVID Teams Study examining leadership, team-working, and mental health among frontline NHS personnel.

Stefan has long-standing engagement with the military. He taught military officers for eight years at the Defence Studies Department of King's College London at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, where he also completed his Ph.D. on cohesion, teamwork, and leadership in a large exploratory study with the Royal Marines. He has accompanied military units on overseas exercises, contributed to military ethics training, and developed leadership training programmes for entrepreneurs.

Stefan holds a Ph.D. in Security Studies, an MSc in Psychology, and M.A. in Political Science and the Political Science of South Asia. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has studied at King's College London, the University of Heidelberg, the University of Toronto, and Shanghai International Studies University.