Monday 26 March 2018

UKELA London Meeting

Nature and Wellbeing: Why access to the natural world is critical for good health

Please join us for this early evening session where the subject will be on the natural world and human wellbeing

Venue: 

Herbert Smith Freehills

Exchange House, Primrose St, London EC2A 2HS

Timings:

6pm to 7.30pm (registration from 5.30pm)

followed by drinks and networking

Book here

We are delighted to welcome the following expert speakers:

Dr William Bird, MBE, CEO Intelligent Health

William set up Intelligent Health in February 2010 with the vision of making a lasting difference to people’s health and wellbeing by supporting them to become more active.

With more than three decades of experience in practising medicine and first-hand knowledge of the need to develop preventative measures to stop people developing diabetes and COPD, William is one of the UK’s leading experts on physical activity and building active communities.

William has helped transform the health of millions of people across the UK through innovative initiatives he has developed. As a family GP, he began to get his patients more active by setting up the first Health Walk scheme in April 1996. This led to him creating the Green Gym one year later as he realised that companionship and contact with nature were major driving forces in keeping people active.

As CEO and Founder of Intelligent Health, William developed the hugely successful Beat the Street programme which has encouraged more than 500,000 people across the world to get moving and improve their health. William’s leadership has grown the company from just three employees to an innovative industry leader in promoting physical activity.

William’s talk will look at the risks to health in an urban environment and how to value nature through a cost benefit analysis.

Dr David Pearson AFBPsS CPsychol, Anglia Ruskin University

David is Reader in Cognitive Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. His research investigates the mental processes involved during memory, attention and emotion, with a particular focus on applications in the fields of clinical and environmental psychology.

Despite a growing body of evidence supporting a positive association between natural environments and mental wellbeing, our understanding of why exposure to the natural world is beneficial remains more limited.  A psychological approach called Attention Restoration Theory has argued natural environments reduce mental fatigue by placing less demands on our attentional system than built environments.

David’s talk will discuss the relevance of Attention Restoration Theory to understanding the link between nature and wellbeing. Findings from his research will be presented that demonstrate important differences between people’s recovery from mental fatigue and their exposure to natural or built scenes.

The Meeting will be chaired by Simon Boyle, of UKELA and Landmark Information Group

Book here

UKELA is very grateful to HSF for hosting this event