IAPS Activities

Hello to all our network members! There’s a lot of content in this edition of our newsletter – conferences, network changes, a finished PhD, calls for papers, and more – so we hope you enjoy the read. We’re sending this on a Saturday so that you can catch a few deadlines coming up in the very near future.

This month we met online for the IAPS 2022 conference, hosted virtually in Lisbon, Portugal. As with previous conferences we hosted a symposium on research from the Restorative Environments Network (screenshot above). We heard from four researchers about their exciting work on links between culture, identity, and environmental appraisals; early experiences of nature and restoration; coastal landscapes as restorative settings; and a meta-analysis of the effects of urban green space on mental health. There were thoughtful questions and discussions after the presentations, and we look forward to continuing these in person next year at ICEP in Aarhus, Denmark, and in 2024 at IAPS in Barcelona.

Colleagues in the IAPS Early Career Researchers Network sharing their houseplants at IAPS 2022. (Photo supplied by Anne Grave)

There were also opportunities for us to connect more informally at the conference. It was great to see new and old faces at our REN thematic network meeting. We heard that you like our newsletter, so we will keep this going! We also discussed how to facilitate more interaction between network members. Alexander Hooyberg started this off by suggesting a lunchtime meet-up on Zoom which was a lovely chance to relax and chat. We’ve created a REN space on Slack to support more of this kind of activity. You can use Slack to chat with other network members, advertise talks, ask questions, or set up meetings. So, if you’d like to get more involved in the network, join our Slack here and say hello.

Finally, we mentioned at our network meeting that some of us are winding down our roles as convenors of REN. While Robert will stay as a convenor, Ellie, Kate, and Stephanie will be moving on over the coming months. We are therefore looking for people who would like to join the team. To express your interest and/or find out more about what is involved, please email us.

Conferences

• Landscapes for Life Annual Conference, 13-15 September 2022, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, United Kingdom. Registration closes 24 August.

• NHS Forest Conference: Biodiversity and resilience, 19 October 2022, virtually. Registration is free and via Eventbrite.

• Conference on Environmental Psychology, 17-18 November 2022, INN University, Lillehammer, Norway and virtually. Abstract submission by 10 Octobe

• International Conference on Environmental Psychology (ICEP), 20-23 June 2023, Aarhus, Denmark. Website and submissions detailed expected later this year.

If you would like an upcoming conference or symposium shared in the next newsletter, please email us.

New Publications by Members

Call for papers

• The Organising Committee of the IAPS 2022 conference will be editing a Research Topic (Special Issue) of Frontiers in Psychology, with the call for papers opening shortly. If you are interested in participating in this Special Issue, please provide your name and email here by 25 July. Additionally, the following Frontiers Research Topics are open for submissions:

  • Current Trends in Environmental Psychology – Part II, edited by Prof. Giuseppe Carrus and colleagues. Submissions by 30 July 2022
  • Conscious Perception of Nature and Times of Silence as Resources to Improve Public Mental Health, edited by Prof. Dr. Arndt Büssing and colleagues. Submissions by 17 August 2022

  Journal of Environmental Psychology: “Environmental Psychology and Health: Research in VR and Real Settings”, edited by Dr. Chiara Burratini and colleagues. Submissions by 30 September 2022.

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH):

  • Place, Space, and Mental Health, edited by Dr. Tytti Pasanen and Dr. Anna Kajosaari. Submissions by 31 August 2022
  • Advances in Restorative Environments Research: People, Contexts, and Processes, edited by Dr. Massimiliano Scopelliti and Dr. Ferdinando Fornara. Submissions by 31 January 2023
  • Environmental Exposures and Health – Mechanisms and Their Contingencies in a Developmental Perspective, edited by Prof. Dr. Peter Lercher and colleagues. Submissions by 31 January 2023
  • Restorative Environments, edited by Dr. Maria Jacinta Fernandes and Dr. Gabriela Gonçalves. Submissions by 30 June 2023
  • Natural and Built Outdoor Environments and Children’s Health, edited by Dr. Iana Markevych and colleagues. Submissions by 30 June 2023

Vacancies

Lecturer in Environmental Psychology or Social Science in the Built Environment, University College London (UCL)
Deadline: 14 August 2022
Location: London, UK

UCL wishes to appoint a Lecturer in Environmental Psychology or Social Science in the Built Environment. The postholder will be based at The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, a world-leading faculty ranked #1 in the world for Built Environment studies and #1 in the UK for its research environment. The postholder will carry out teaching, research, and programme administration within the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, in the fields of environmental psychology and/or environmental social science in the built environment, consistent with the vision and mission of the School.

PhD Completion

Congratulations to Dr. Konrad Uebel (University of Queensland, Australia) who successfully defended his PhD thesis in November 2021. Konrad’s thesis, “Urban and Peri-urban Green Spaces: Soundscapes and Private Land Conservation”, can be downloaded here.

Konrad writes: “My thesis had a focus on both urban park soundscapes and peri-urban private land conservation, two important components in the sustainable management of urban and peri-urban green spaces. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, that included ecological fieldwork, survey-driven data collection and a repeated measures laboratory study, I examined qualities of urban park soundscapes with respect to bird calls and traffic noise. Overall, I found soundscapes with a greater array of bird sounds and minimal traffic noise offer greater restorative potential, whilst actual experiences of bird and traffic sounds vary across social and spatial gradients in cities. I also found that increased vegetation at ground level can both promote greater bird species richness whilst also mitigating traffic noise within urban park soundscapes. In peri-urban regions, I found that personal capacity to act, feeling that actions are helpful, community participation and tailoring distinct engagement strategies between farmers and non-farmers, are key factors in improving the uptake of environmental actions amongst landholders.”

Member Spotlight

The photo on the left is supplied by Rebecca (Becky) Reece. She writes:

“I am a PhD researcher at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), and my research focuses on the impact of individual differences on the mental well-being benefits gained from exposure to urban green environments.

I am interested in understanding what components of these environments are important for visitors based on their individual characteristics (e.g. age, cultural background, personality traits etc) and how these impact time spent in these environments. Additionally, I plan to explore how virtual reality can be used as an exposure method for populations who are unable to access outdoor environments.”

Contact iapsREN

You can contact the iapsREN Convening Committee via the following emails:

• Convenors: Kate Lee, Ellie Ratcliffe, Robert van Dongen, and Stephanie Wilkie (REN_convenors@iaps-association.org)
• Dissemination: Robert van Dongen (publications), Stephanie Wilkie (events) (REN_dissemination@iaps-association.org)
• Website: Kate Lee (REN_support@iaps-association.org)
• Twitter: Ellie Ratcliffe (follow us at @iapsREN)

Do share your favourite photos with us, and have them and you featured in future newsletters and on the website. Send photos to REN_convenors@iaps-association.org. Please let us know if you have any related publications, conferences, PhD successes or jobs to advertise in the next newsletter and/or on the website. Keep a close eye on the website and Twitter as this will display the most up to date information, including vacancies that arise in-between newsletters.