Personalised ecology: because we are all different

Personalised ecology is the study of the direct interactions between individual people and nature, their causes and consequences. Historically the field of ecology has focussed on understanding characteristics of natural systems in a manner as free as possible from biases of human observers. However, the need to understand human-nature interactions at the level of individual people has been highlighted particularly by concerns around the human health consequences of trends in the occurrence of positive and negative interactions. This requires attention to the biased ways in which people encounter and experience other organisms.

Present projects focussed on this topic include:

Ecology of domestic gardens

Extinction of experience

Human health benefits from interactions with nature

Shifting baselines