Accessibility statement

Departments of Health Sciences and Environment

Studentship 2: Freshwater blue space and wellbeing: investigating co-benefits at different spatial scales

The natural environment, from rural areas to urban green spaces, provides a range of benefits for physical and mental health. Acknowledging the contribution that nature can make to health could lead to opportunities for delivering health benefits in ways that may be long-lasting, less reliant on pharmaceutical products, and economically efficient as well as aiding environmental and biodiversity conservation. Whilst the role of the natural environment in promoting health is receiving increasing policy attention in the UK it is still has less influence in the health sector than the environmental sector. One reason for this is likely to be the lack of a robust evidence base.

The studentship was held by Siân de Bell, who was awarded a PhD in Health and Environment in July 2018. It contributed to the evidence base relating to the integration of ecosystem health and human health by investigating two areas:

  •  Environmental change and its effects on ecosystem health and human health. 

Using the restoration of an urban river to a semi-natural state as a case study, the project looked at the effects of environmental change at a local level. Biological data on macroinvertebrates was gathered to measure the effects of the restoration on the ecosystem health of the river. Focus groups and interviews were used to explore how the restoration had affected the well-being of local people. The restoration led to improvements in the ecological health of the river and enhanced the river as a space to visit for psychological benefits.

  •  The benefits of visits to blue space.

Whilst the health benefits of green space are widely acknowledged, the effects of blue spaces – areas with water such as rivers, lakes, and canals – on health have received less attention. Questions regarding visits to blue space were commissioned in the Office for National Statistics Omnibus Survey and analysis of these data allowed investigation of visits to blue space by the general public. Factors such as people’s values and socio-demographic backgrounds were explored to determine whether they have an impact on the benefits received from visits to blue space. Psychological benefits and social interaction were found to be the main benefits of visiting blue space, with nature considered particularly important by visitors reporting psychological benefits from their visits.

Three papers have been published from the PhD:

Before starting at the University of York, Siân studied BSc Biology at the University of Bristol and worked in the Community Ecology group studying ecosystem restoration in salt marshes. She is now a Research Associate at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), University of Exeter, conducting research into the value of urban green spaces for human health and wellbeing. Her contact email is s.c.de-bell@exeter.ac.uk and her home page is https://www.ecehh.org/people/dr-sian-de-bell/

young-boy