Researcher: Megan Cumming
Cultivating environments of optimal experience for sustainable wellbeing
Psychological flow is a state of deep immersion in an activity. Known to give rise to wellbeing and self-transcendence, it is becoming increasingly associated with pro-social and pro-environmental behaviour. Engaging with flow conducive environments therefore offers a potential pathway to sustainable wellbeing. Megan’s project seeks to understand how flow experiences are impacted by natural and built environments. She hopes findings will aid the development of nature-based wellbeing interventions and affirm the importance of environments for flow, ensuring their provision, design and conservation.
Researcher: Jesse Blackburn
Examining ecotherapy as a driver of improvements in personal, collective, and planetary wellbeing
Through his PhD, Jesse investigates how nature-based interventions (sometimes known as NBIs) can be used to enhance wellbeing at multiple levels. NBIs encompass a wide range of activities, from meditating in forests to growing fruit and veg, with the common theme of using nature to promote wellbeing. As a member of the SWRG, Jesse collaborates with organisations across the UK to explore how these interventions impact individual wellbeing, benefit society, and contribute to protecting our planet.
The impacts of air pollution on pregnant women
Lucy is an interdisciplinary researcher working across data science and psychology, using mixed methods to investigate how pregnant women and their babies are affected by air pollution in Wales. Her project covers exploring mediating and moderating factors; quantitatively assessing whether exposure to air pollution during pregnancy increases the risk of adverse birth outcomes through linked health data in the SAIL databank; and examining public and healthcare professional understanding of air pollution’s effects on health. By combining these approaches, Lucy hopes to provide a multifaceted perspective to deepen the understanding of this relationship as well as inform strategies to protect maternal and infant health.
Exploring the impact of foraging as a nature-based activity on sustainable wellbeing
Ally is an interdisciplinary scientist exploring the impacts of foraging as a nature-based activity on sustainable wellbeing. Foraging is the practice of collecting plants, fungi and other natural resources for food, medicine, crafts and other purposes for both personal use and sale. It is a popular leisure activity in the UK and is deeply rooted in British culture through its connections to the local landscape, nature connection, family traditions and access to non-market food. Ally’s PhD documents the potential to use foraging activities as part of a community-based lifestyle intervention, and explores implications for issues such as land access, risk, nature connection, nutrition, community development and holistic green healthcare.
Being a coach in a time of climate breakdown
Kate’s research seeks to understand how coaching psychology is evolving in response to global ecological crises and their impacts on the wellbeing of both coach and client. Coaching is traditionally a development approach aimed at enhancing people’s skills, knowledge, or work performance, but the remit of coaching and the extent to which coaches must remain neutral are being debated, given the pace of climate breakdown.
Designing, delivering and evaluating holistic wellbeing strategy at scale
Kelly's PhD aims to explore collective wellbeing through a lens that emphasises the interconnectedness of individual and community wellbeing with the wellbeing of the world around us – our place. Situated in West Glamorgan, in South Wales, the research will be grounded in the context of the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the unique influence of Welsh language and culture. The aim of the research is to develop a comprehensive understanding of Wellbeing across West Glamorgan, find gaps and local priorities, and identify suite of scalable interventions and an implementation framework that promotes sustainable and interconnected wellbeing for communities – the people within them and the place around them.
Researcher: Afonso Pereira
Shifting the narrative from climate anxiety to constructive hope
Afonso's research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of nature-based interventions (NBIs) in transforming negative climate-related emotions into constructive hope, fostering sustainable behaviours, and building interconnected wellbeing. Climate-related emotions, such as anxiety and apathy, are on the rise, often hindering pro-environmental behaviours by fostering feelings of powerlessness. However, these emotions, particularly practical eco-anxiety, can serve as motivators for sustainable change when channelled constructively by giving individuals ways to engage in sustainable behaviour. By focusing on emotions as levers for change, this project aims to foster constructive hope, empowering individuals and communities to engage positively with the challenges of the Anthropocene.
