Gavin is a British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist, a Registered Practitioner of the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC), and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). Gavin completed his BSc and PhD in The School of Psychology at Queens University Belfast in 2005, and studied International Business in the USA. Following this he worked as a Researcher Officer in the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland until 2007 when he joined Ulster University where he held several leadership positions including Professor of Psychology, Head of Department, and Interim Research Director.

Gavin has published extensively both nationally and internationally in the area of mental health and well-being, including three books entitled, Sport and Exercise Psychology: Practitioner Case Studies; Mental Health Interventions in Sport Research Theory and Practice; and Understanding Sport Psychology. He has led on systematic reviews, cross sectional, prospective, and case studies on mental health, and has designed randomised controlled trial interventions using psychological behaviour change theory to enhance well-being for children and adults in schools, sports clubs, prisons, hospitals and workplace settings.

In REF 2021 he led an impact case study entitled ‘Informing the Development, Implementation and Evaluation of the Wellbeing in Sport Action Plan for Northern Ireland 2019 – 2025’. He also led a panel of experts on the development of an international consensus statement on mental health interventions in sport, with researchers, policy makers and practitioners from 10 countries. His work has been cited in international publications and by the BPS, and Royal College of Psychiatry as a result. His research on mental health and exercise in secure forensic settings has recently been cited in reports by the Ministry of Justice, illustrating the impact that his research has had in improving health in psychologically challenging environments.

He is currently funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to assess the effectiveness of public health interventions as part of the Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams (PHIRST) initiative, where he leads a Whole Systems Approach to Diet and Healthy Weight in East Scotland, a collaboration with University of Hertfordshire. His research on the psychology of Whole Systems Approaches to obesity is informing innovation and practice in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

More recently he was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for the Challenging Health Outcomes Integrating Care Environments (CHOICE) project. The CHOICE project tackles health inequalities for those with severe mental illness with patient involvement central to its design and implementation.

His passions are his family, playing guitar and running marathons.