Research

Green guide

A new green agenda for mental health has been launched by the charity Mind following two studies by University researchers in the Centre for Environment and Society and Department of Biological Sciences.

Research conducted by Professor Jules Pretty, Rachel Hine and Joanna Peacock, concluded that outdoor physical activity, known here as green exercise and in the report as ecotherapy, has measurable benefits for mental health.

They recommended that green exercise be recognised as a clinically valid treatment for mental distress.

Professor Pretty said: ‘Whether it’s taking regular walks in the park, flying a kite or participating in a gardening therapy project, green exercise is proven to have huge benefits for mental health.’

Results showed that 71 per cent reported decreased levels of depression after a green walk, while 22 per cent felt their depression increased after walking in an indoor shopping centre. Some 90 per cent had increased self-esteem after a country walk.

A second research study, showing the views of people who regularly take part in green activities run by Mind’s network of associations found that 90 per cent said it was the combination of nature and exercise that had the greatest effect on them and 94 per cent said that green activities had benefited their mental health, lifting depression.

The University team’s report called for green exercise and green care farms to be brought into mainstream health and social care practice. Mind itself has started a campaign to promote green exercise and called for GPs to consider prescribing this as a treatment option for every patient experiencing mental distress.

Government leads research on civil war

The Department of Government will play a central role in European research on civil war, one of the most serious problems for many developing countries.

Dr Kristian Gleditsch and Dr Han Dorussen, both of Government, have recently received funding worth £417,781 from the European Science Foundation, (ESF) together with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to study civil war.

The research project, titled 'Disaggregating Civil Wars', is a three year collaborative network with partners at the Center for International Studies in Zurich and the Centre for the Study of Civil War in Oslo, and the total budget for the collaborative project is €1,120,361.

The project seeks to reorient the study of civil war by greater focus on the specific actors involved, geographical variation within countries, and the role of transnational linkages in civil wars, and will collect and analyze new spatial data on civil war and actors. The research group at Essex, which also includes Professor Abhinay Muthoo in Economics and Professor Hugh Ward and Dr Todd Landman in Government, will focus on transnational links between rebel groups and the role of international peacekeeping in the transition from civil war.

The ESF/ESRC grant has been combined with further fellowship funding from the UK Research Councils and has enabled the Department of Government to appoint Clionadh Raleigh as a research fellow for a five-year period.

Historian awarded Woodrow Wilson Fellowship

Dr Mary Ellen Curtin of the Department of History has been awarded a 2007-08 residential fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C.

Dr Curtin will spend the academic year working on her current project, a study of former Congresswoman Barbara C. Jordan of Houston, Texas, entitled 'From virtue to power: Barbara Jordan and the origins of the African American female politician in America.'

Established by an act of Congress in 1968, the Wilson Centre is an official living memorial to the only American president with a doctoral degree, Woodrow Wilson. A non-partisan institute for advanced study and dialogue, the Centre brings pre-eminent academics and independent scholars to Washington to interact with policymakers, public officials, and the general public.

Dr Curtin, who earned her doctorate at Duke University, has been a member of the Department since 1998. Her research and teaching focus on modern African American and American women's history. She is the author of Black Prisoners and Their World, a study of the convict leasing system in the late nineteenth century South, and articles related to African American women's political history.

Also in the printed June edition of Wyvern:

• Bookshelf
• Essex makes Singapore Law
• Salt goldmine