One of the most rewarding aspects of working in academic research is the opportunity to collaborate with knowledgeable, curious, and enthusiastic individuals with diverse interests and skills. The Quality of Urban Environments with Nature Connectedness and Health (QUENCH) Project provided the chance to work both within a larger network and in a smaller team towards exploring the processes that connect people with nature with the aim of benefiting the health of both. The QUENCH network, funded by NERC: Natural Environment Research Council, recruited numerous practitioners and researchers to collaborate on developing avenues of investigation exploring the interconnections between environmental qualities and human health and wellbeing.
The process began with two somewhat intense online collaboration sessions which facilitated the generation of ideas, the sharing of opportunities, and discussions with mentors, culminating in presentations of several project proposals to the funding panel. This panel then selected five projects for funding, which included explorations of the impact of green gyms, the new Eden Project Morecambe, urban community food growing, and a citizen science project focused on pollinators, as well as an initiative aimed at creating spaces for young people and promoting mental health. With the funding awarded, the successful projects commenced, and presentation of the findings to be presented the following summer at a celebration event hosted at the beautiful Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.
As principal investigator for the Making Spaces for Young People project, I was fortunate to have a team comprising ecologists, charity practitioners, government researchers, and academics. We explored the connections and experiences of 128 young people as they engaged with areas of varying ecological quality within a regenerating post-industrial landscape in North West England. Our protocol included qualitative data collected through photo-voice methods and focus groups to actively explore the environmental features with which the young people most valued and engaged. We also collected quantitative data on health, wellbeing, and nature connection through online surveys, and assessed mobility and physical activity with two days of accelerometry monitoring. Our measures demonstrated good sensitivity, and the results from the photo-voice exercise provided valuable insights that could be scaled up for a larger investigation.
In addition to the individual projects, the broader QUENCH network collaborated on an ambitious and timely concept paper outlining the interactions between environmental components, ecosystem services, and human health and wellbeing. This paper specifically addresses the differing perspectives, approaches, and intentions of various research disciplines to inform planning, policy, and management aimed at preserving both nature and human health. Furthermore, we emphasise that understanding the complexities of human-environment interactions requires input from multiple systems to shift the debate towards a more meaningful understanding of environmental functions. We conclude by presenting the key challenges and opportunities for practice and research moving forward. Congratulations to lead author Andy Yuille for weaving together the threads and pushing this publication over the line.