Who are you and for what partner organisation do you work?
My name is Ben Wheeler, Associate Professor in Environment, Health and Inequalities at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. I’m based at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health.
What is your expertise related to nature-based therapy?
I am a health geographer and environmental epidemiologist, and my research focus is on the ways in which natural environments can promote and protect public health. A lot of my research is on how green/blue infrastructure can promote good health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities, and how nature-based solutions can deliver multiple benefits for health and the environment.
Can you describe the Case Studies (CS) you lead in a couple of sentences?
Alongside colleagues at Exeter, I lead CS1 and CS2. CS1 uses an existing data resource, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, to explore how the green/blue spaces around where people live might lead to increased individual and community resilience. CS2 will take a similar approach using another existing study, PROTECT, which we will augment using a bespoke follow-up survey of existing cohort members to establish not only the characteristics of the environment around where they live, but their day-to-day experiences and interactions with nature, such as how often they make visits to parks, gardens and other natural spaces.
What excites you most about the RESONATE project?
The RESONATE project is an incredible opportunity to develop our understanding of how our experience of the natural environment can support and promote our mental health and wellbeing. By taking a range of different approaches, from our studies of prevention amongst the general population, to randomised controlled trials of specific nature-based interventions, we will be able to deliver internationally leading, novel evidence to inform actions that will ultimately lead to improvement and protection of both human health and our natural environments.
What is your own favourite way to engage with nature for your health and wellbeing?
I love to go for a run around the coastal environment where in live in Cornwall, at the far south west of the UK. I am not fast, but spending some time in this amazing environment is exactly what I need at the end of a long day!
LinkedIn: Ben Wheeler