Director's message
This month, the CfCC is highlighting the latest research, stories, and projects supporting coastal communities. Our collaboration with The Guardian’s Against the Tide series explores the mental health challenges facing young people in the most deprived seaside towns, revealing how poverty, housing, and limited educational opportunities can affect wellbeing. At the same time, new research also shows that spending time in coastal environments can boost mood, social connection, and a sense of meaning in life.
Through initiatives like the ARISE Community of Practice, which brings together residents, professionals, and researchers, and projects like CoastGEM and our NIHR-funded mental health programme, we are working to tackle loneliness, improve access to services, and strengthen the resilience and wellbeing of communities along the coast.
Emily Murray - Director, Centre for Coastal Communities
Upcoming Events
CfCC and Guardian collaboration
The Centre for Coastal Communities has partnered with The Guardian on their new 'Against the Tide' series, a year-long project from the Guardian’s Seascape series reporting on the lives of young people in coastal communities across England and Wales, with articles written by Lisa Bachelor (Editor of Seascape) and photos by Polly Braden (documentary photographer).
In the inaugural Guardian Series article on the 7 July, two new research papers were featured from the CfCC, led by Dr Claire Wicks and Dr Emily Murray, using Understanding Society data. The first study revealed that young people in England's most deprived coastal towns are three times more likely to live with undiagnosed mental health conditions compared to their inland peers. In contrast, older residents in coastal areas had fewer undiagnosed mental health issues.
A separate paper found that the youth "coastal mental health gap" is partially attributed to factors such as poverty, poor housing, and limited educational opportunities. The study underscores the importance of amplifying young voices and suggests that long waiting times for mental health services may contribute to undiagnosed conditions.
The series plans to further explore coastal youth experiences over the next year through in-depth reporting and photography.
PhD Studentship: apply by 3rd November
Are you looking to start a funded PhD in applied mental health?
Are you interested in any of the following topics: youth mental health; loneliness and social isolation; coastal mental health; mental health inequalities; links between loneliness and suicide or drug use?
Apply now to join the NIHR Mental Health Award research team and undertake your PhD with experienced and excellent supervision within our team: Susan McPherson, Meena Kumari, Emily Murray, Roisin Ryan-Flood, Tamsin Ford, Cara Booker, Craig Morgan, and Vicky Bird. Successful applicants will receive a PhD scholarship for up to a maximum of three years of study, a home tuition waiver, a stipend (2025-26 is £20,780) and £2,500 for additional training and conferences.
Find out more about this studentship
Research spotlight
The ARISE Initiative launches Community of Practice regular meetings
ARISE is a ground-breaking research project, funded by UKRI, which seeks to develop resilience within the UK’s coastal seas and communities.
As part of our programme, we have launched a Community of Practice which brings together a diverse range of professionals, researchers, community members and advocates who share insights, build collaborations, and learn about and from each other.
On the 22nd May 2025, we hosted our launch event at the University of Essex. Sixty people gathered to meet, discuss and establish some initial themes for the Community going forwards.
Using the Open Space meeting format, we surfaced thirty-four different discussion topics that fell into six broad themes: social, political and demographic change; climate change impacts; ecology, wildlife and human connection to nature; creativity and civic agency; food, farming and fisheries; housing and health care.
We collated summaries of all the discussions in a book, published this week, that can be downloaded from Eastern ARC.
The Community now has over seventy members, and we will be meeting regularly - online every fortnight and in person every six months. The next in-person gathering will be on the 13th of November at the University of East Anglia.
We welcome new members, and ask that they join ready to participate, share their wisdom and expertise, and are open to encountering diverse perspectives with respect.
You can register to join the Community of Practice online.
New research: Nostalgia-on-sea
Essex research shows that coastal environments are especially fertile ground for beneficial nostalgic experiences.
The research team, including Wijnand van Tilburg from the Department of Psychology, linked nostalgic locations of US and UK participants to their local geographical features. Compared with ordinary places, nostalgic locations were far more likely to feature in blue environments, such as coast and seaside. The researchers furthermore found that evoking nostalgic places has well-being benefits, such as increased positive mood, social connectedness and perceived meaning in life.
The research, published in Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology has been linked to Historic England’s Missing Pieces Project, celebrating links to our coastal heritage.
Welcome Prof Vicky Bird
Professor Vicky Bird, who has joined Essex from Queen Mary University London (QMUL), will lead a new research programme funded by a NIHR Mental Health Leadership Award which will bolster research across Essex, Southend and Thurrock.
Working with IPHW Deputy Director Professor Susan McPherson and a team of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students, Professor Bird will help the team tackle loneliness and social isolation among young adults in coastal communities.
Speaking about the NIHR-funded research project she will work on, she said: “I am delighted to have joined Essex and to contribute to the growing portfolio of applied mental health research. This programme offers a unique opportunity to have real-world impact, improving the lives of underserved members of our local community.”
Read more about the new research project here.
Enhancing equality in ESNEFT life-after-stroke services
On 18 September, partners from across East Suffolk & North East Essex, including East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) and NHS Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE) ICB, came together to discuss how to tackle inequalities in stroke rehabilitation and life-after-stroke care. The session drew on findings from the CoastGEM project (Coastal Gap Equality Management for Stroke Care), which show how current systems, though well-intentioned, can fall short due to personal, environmental, and systemic challenges-reinforcing health inequalities, particularly in coastal and rural areas.
Through open discussion and world cafe–style group work, participants explored practical policy interventions and shared reflections on the barriers people face in accessing services. ESNEFT colleagues made an active contribution through the delivery of presentations, helping to frame the discussions and connect the CoastGEM findings to ongoing local service practice. Central to the discussions was the need for better data on equity including language, disability and communication needs, transport, and distance to identify gaps and improve planning.
There was strong agreement on the importance of adapting service delivery with more flexible, community-based, and home-based rehabilitation, supported by transport schemes and inclusive communication as standard. The session also highlighted the value of multi-sector partnerships, with clear leadership and sustainable funding, to bridge gaps across health, care, transport, and voluntary services.
The conversations made clear that people experiencing the greatest challenges often face the most complex barriers. Addressing these requires both systemic adaptations including standardised equity dashboards, better data collection, and coordinated community pathways and community-level solutions, such as health coaches, community transport schemes, and voucher support. The emerging picture is one of practical, collaborative innovation.
This event was another step forward in aligning research with regional planning and ensuring that stroke rehabilitation pathways are fair, accessible, and responsive to our coastal communities.
New coastal publications
- Matt Bennett, Johanna Forster, Ben Little and Irene Lorenzoni with Flora Child, Viviana Mojica Godoy and Gina Yannitell Reinhardt (Eds.). (2025). Coastal resilience community of practice: launch book. Eastern Arc. Download the PDF.
- Avril Keating, Emily Clark, Sam Whewall, Zongpu Yue, Claire Cameron, Emily Murray, Stephen Jivraj (2025). Young people & coastal communities: Local policymaker and practitioner perspectives: Interim report from the UCL Coastal Youth Life Chances project. UCL (University College London): London, UK.
- Ioana E. Militaru, Wijnand A.P. van Tilburg, Constantine Sedikides, Tim Wildschut, Peter J. Rentfrow. Searching for Ithaca: The geography and psychological benefits of nostalgic places, Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, Volume 8, 2025, 100223.
- Claire Wicks, Susan McPherson, Cara Booker, Antonella Trotta, Meena Kumari, Emily T Murray. Risk of diagnosed and undiagnosed mental distress in coastal and inland English residents: A pooled cross-sectional analysis of adult UKHLS respondents, Health & Place, Volume 95, 2025, 103501.
Please email coastal@essex.ac.uk if you have any queries.
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