CRESH

Author: Rich Mitchell

  • Research post available (the contribution of natural and cultural heritage to population health)

    CRESH has a new short term research post available , based in Glasgow

    The purpose of the post is to undertake research and development for a project assessing and valuing the contribution of natural and cultural heritage to population health, wellbeing and happiness in Scotland. The project aims to explore whether an influence of Scotland’s cultural and natural heritage on health, wellbeing and happiness can be detected, measured and economically valued using secondary survey and routinely collected data. This post is to assess feasibility and, if possible, to develop a suitable approach. To that end, the job will involve reviewing relevant literature and existing practices, finding and appraising existing data sets which could contribute, beginning the design of appropriate methods (if feasible) and helping to build a coalition of interested parties and funders. The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) owns and manages some of Scotland’s greatest natural and cultural heritage and this project will be a collaboration between NTS and the University of Glasgow. This post might suit a range of numerate backgrounds including (but not limited to) economics, social or environmental science.

    Main Duties and Responsibilities

    1. To play a leading role in reviewing the relevant literature and in the search for key extant data sets that could be used in this project.

    2. To play a leading role in assessing the feasibility of assessing and valuing the contribution of natural and cultural heritage to population health, wellbeing and happiness in Scotland, via secondary data sets and, if deemed feasible, in specifying the methods to be used.

    3. To liaise with the NTS, including securing access to any useful data they have and can share, and communicating the progress of the project and its findings.

    4. To document the progress of the research, administer team meetings and write progress blog posts as required.

    5. To write up the findings/outcomes in a preliminary report.

    6. To collaborate with other members of the group, and external interested parties as appropriate, in order to develop the work of the group as a whole.

    7. To undertake or assist with the dissemination of the project progress and findings through presentations to a variety of audiences and, if appropriate, academic paper(s).

    8. To assist, if required, in the preparation of further funding bids to continue the project.

    9. To collaborate with colleagues and participate in team meetings/discussions and centre research group activities.

    Salary will be on the University’s Research and Teaching Grade, level 7, £31,948 – £35,938 per annum.

    This post is fixed term for 6 months. To find out more contact Richard.Mitchell@glasgow.ac.uk

    Closing date: Friday 18th May 2012.

    You can apply online here

  • More green space equals less stress (as measured by cortisol)

    A project team which includes Rich Mitchell has just published a study showing that cortisol circulation (a marker of stress) is more favourable in areas with greater amounts of green space. The team was led by Catharine Ward Thompson, at OpenSpace research centre. The study is the first to show effects of green space on biomarkers of stress in everyday (i.e. non-experimental) settings. It’s published in Landscape and Urban Planning and you may be able to read it here . The study is part of the wider GreenHealth project, in which CRESH plays a large part. It was funded by the by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division. For those without access to the journal, here’s the abstract:

    Green space has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including stress reduction, but much pertinent evidence has relied on self-reported health indicators or experiments in artificially controlled environmental conditions. Little research has been reported using ecologically valid objective measures with participants in their everyday, residential settings. This paper describes the results of an exploratory study (n = 25) to establish whether salivary cortisol can act as a biomarker for variation in stress levels which may be associated with varying levels of exposure to green spaces, and whether recruitment and adherence to the required, unsupervised, salivary cortisol sampling protocol within the domestic setting could be achieved in a highly deprived urban population. Self-reported measures of stress and general wellbeing were also captured, allowing exploration of relationships between cortisol, wellbeing and exposure to green space close to home. Results indicate significant relationships between self-reported stress (P < 0.01), diurnal patterns of cortisol secretion (P < 0.05), and quantity of green space in the living environment. Regression analysis indicates percentage of green space in the living environment is a significant (P < 0.05) and independent predictor of the circadian cortisol cycle, in addition to self-reported physical activity (P < 0.02). Results also show that compliance with the study protocol was good. We conclude that salivary cortisol measurement offers considerable potential for exploring relationships between wellbeing and green space and discuss how this ecologically valid methodology can be developed to confirm and extend findings in deprived city areas to illuminate why provision of green space close to home might enhance health.

  • New PhD student starts at CRESH

    Joanna Stewart has just started her PhD at CRESH. She’ll be looking at the development of Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool over time and asking whether the spatial patterning of poverty might explain the ‘Glasgow effect‘. Her PhD is funded by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and Joanna will be based at Glasgow University. You can find out more about her project here

  • CRESH gets new grant to look at risk to kids from alcohol and tobacco outlets

    The CRESH team, led by Niamh Shortt, has been awarded a grant from the MRC/CSO Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy. The research will examine whether the density of tobacco and alcohol outlets around schools and homes affects smoking and drinking behaviours among 13 and 15 year olds, in Scotland. The grant begins in early 2011 and we’ll be looking to recruit staff soon. Watch our website for more details.

  • CRESH and colleagues launch Big Society film

    CRESH and colleagues from the Universities of Liverpool and Portsmouth have launched a film about their plans to measure the progress of Big Society across the UK. See it at measuringbigsociety.org and find out more about the project here.

  • Measures of multiple environmental deprivation now available for New Zealand

    CRESH is pleased to make available our measures of multiple environmental deprivation for New Zealand. You can find out more, and get the data for free, here

  • CRESH at the EUPHA conference on Public Health and Nature

    Rich Mitchell is giving a keynote address at a pre-meeting of the European Public Health Association in Copenhagen on the 9th November. Rich will be talking about Public Health’s new found interest in natural environments, the demand for high quality evidence and the relationships between experimental and observational studies. More details on the meeting can be found here.

  • CRESH at ESRC festival of social science

    Rich Mitchell will be giving a talk about green space and public health on Monday 31st October. He’s talking at an event in Aberdeen as part of the ESRC’s festival of social science. The event is called Scotland’s trees: creativity and well-being connections and you can find more details here

  • Collaboration with University of Porto, Portugal

    Rich Mitchell has a new collaboration with  the Faculty of Medicine of Porto University. Prof Maria de Fatima de Pina has a new PhD student there who will be working on mortality, morbidity and health status of the elderly across Portuguese regions. The student, Ana Ribeiro will visit CRESH in 2012.

     

  • PhD studentship available; health economics of green space

    Rich Mitchell and Andy Briggs (Glasgow Uni) have a PhD studentship available.

    There is growing interest in whether contact with ‘green spaces’, including forests and parks, carries health benefits. Both Scottish and UK public health policy documents now explicitly recognise green spaces as ‘good for health’. The evidence for these effects stems from both experimental studies in lab and field, and from population level observational studies. Several experimental studies demonstrate direct effects of perceiving these environments on a variety of physiological and psychological measures. Several observational studies show independent associations between greener environments and better population health. However, this is an emerging field of research with much work still to do to confirm, quantify and qualify any positive impacts on health. If it is true that contact with nature brings health benefits, the cost of providing and accessing such environments, the subsequent health benefits and the relative merits of such ‘environmental health care’ need to be weighed carefully.

    The Forestry Commission and other forest agencies are engaged in many programmes of woodland improvement and creation, with the explicit aim of increasing the use of woodlands and prompting health benefits. These programmes provide useful natural experiments through which health impacts of environmental interventions might be assessed. However, the specifics of how any health economic analysis might be applied to these situations are not clear. The prevailing methodology employed in health economic evaluation, is to use ‘Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)’ to measure health benefits of interventions in favour of the more traditional monetary measures typically used for economic appraisal in areas such as environmental and transport economics. While the QALY framework may be appropriate for Health Related Quality of Life benefits of interventions relating to the woodland environment, the broader evaluative framework offered by cost-benefit analysis might be more appropriate for the broader wellbeing aspects of the environment.

    The purpose of the PhD project will be to explore the potential use of economic appraisal techniques to value and evaluate woodland interventions. A broad perspective will be adopted to explore the potential to use and combine methods from environmental, health and transport economics.

    Funding Notes:

    Person specification:

    Applicants should hold a first class or upper second class degree in economics and preferably have demonstrable interest in, and experience of health economics. A master’s qualification in a relevant discipline would be an advantage.

    Award details:

    This is a 3 year full time studentship and will provide an annual stipend and fees. The award is available to UK and other EU nationals only.

    References:

    How to Apply – Please send a full CV including the contact details of 2 referees and a covering letter explaining why you are particularly suitable for this post via email to Prof Richard Mitchell (Richard.Mitchell@glasgow.ac.uk) and Professor Andy Briggs (andrew.briggs@glasgow.ac.uk)

    Further details: More details on the project, the supervisors and the departments involved is available from Professor Richard Mitchell (Richard.Mitchell@glasgow.ac.uk), Professor Andy Briggs (andrew.briggs@glasgow.ac.uk)