Photo: Christoph Böhm

Brian Horsak holds an endowed professorship for Applied Biomechanics in Rehabilitation Research at the St. Pölten UAS. Now he takes stock at half time after the first three years.

“My team and I have been able to achieve a lot these past three years thanks to the endowed professorship”, he says.

Brian Horsak and his team have initiated several national and international research projects, raised more than a million euros in research funding, published over ten international publications in renowned scientific magazines, and held more than 20 speeches at international conferences, including one keynote.

Three of Horsak’s team members are currently working on their dissertations, and he is involved in co-supervising PhD students at institutions such as the Medical University of Graz, the University of Vienna, and the University of Zurich.

Improved Diagnosis and Therapy

The endowed professorship is dedicated, among other things, to exploring how virtual reality and artificial intelligence can be used in clinical gait analysis to facilitate the choice of the ideal therapy and surgery and to support rehabilitation. Patients with (neuro-)orthopaedic problems can benefit from this when it comes to their medical care.

Cost Reduction and Improved Access

Moreover, Horsak is investigating how a combination of AI and cost-effective sensor technology can enable gait analysis outside a lab as well.

“3D gait analyses are the state of the art in hospitals, but they are also expensive, and only few clinics use them at the moment. We are looking for ways to make gait analysis accessible for all patients”, says Horsak.

Outstanding Career and Establishment of a Unique Research Focus in Lower Austria

After completing his master’s degree in sport science 15 years ago, Brian Horsak started out as a Junior Researcher in the study programme Physiotherapy at the St. Pölten UAS. He completed his dissertation in Biomechanics and Movement Sciences at the University of Vienna in 2012 and acquired his habilitation in the same field in 2019.

Over the past 15 years, Horsak established an internationally renowned research group at the UAS which is well known for its work in machine learning, virtual reality, and clinical gait analysis, among other topics.

Brian Horsak was also substantially involved in the foundation of the CDHSI – Center for Digital Health and Social Innovation (St. Pölten UAS), the development of the study programme Digital Healthcare, and the establishment of one of the most modern gait and movement analysis labs in Austria: the Digital Health Lab.

The endowed professorship has a term until 2027, and Brian Horsak has no lack of ideas for further projects after this duration.

The professorship is funded by the province of Lower Austria via the Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung NÖ.