Yanni Verhavert

Dr. Yanni Verhavert (°17/11/1993) obtained her Master’s degree in Physical Education and Movement Sciences from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 2016. In the same year, she started her doctoral research within the Movement and Nutrition for Health and Performance (MOVE) research group. She successfully defended her PhD in June 2024, titled “The Association Between Energy-balance related behaviour and Burnout in Secondary School Teachers in Flanders.”

Since October 2024, she has been appointed as an 80% doctoral assistant (three-year mandate), allowing her to continue developing her own research line on the relationship between lifestyle factors—physical activity, sedentary behaviour, dietary behaviour, and sleep—and mental health.

Mental health challenges are an increasing societal concern, and her work introduces a new research focus within the Research Group MOVE, complementing its existing expertise in physical health and performance. As the first researcher in the group addressing the mental health dimension, she is responsible for further developing this unique research line and specialized expertise. Building on the foundation established during her PhD, her current research aims to broaden the understanding of lifestyle and mental health across populations, directions of association, and underlying mechanisms.

Her research focuses on three key objectives:
(a) identifying the role of lifestyle behaviours in mental health;
(b) uncovering mechanisms linking lifestyle and mental health; and
(c) exploring their complex bidirectional relationship.

Projects

Burn-out & energy balance-related behaviour in secondary school teachers in Flanders