The University of Exeter, including members of ECEHH, have joined a new €6.3 million EU Horizon Europe and UK Research & Innovation-funded project which will explore how nature based programmes can help build individual and community resilience. The Resonate project inlcudes a global review of interventions and an in-depth exploration of 9 nature-based therapy case studies, including five randomised controlled trials (RCTs) across Europe.

There is growing evidence that spending time in natural and semi-natural places such as urban parks, woodlands, mountains, rivers and coastal areas can reduce people’s risk of various health and social issues, including heart disease, diabetes, depression, and loneliness, and build resilience to every-day and longer-term challenges.

Many relatively small-scale “nature-based” therapies and interventions have sprung up across the world to support people with these and other conditions to access nature for their health and wellbeing. However, little is known about their overall effectiveness or how desirable or feasible it is to make nature-based therapies and interventions more mainstream, acceptable to both patients and health care professionals, while also recognising the possible impact on sensitive nature environments.

The €6.3 million EU Horizon Europe and UK Research & Innovation-funded RESONATE project will explore these issues with a review of interventions globally and in-depth exploration of 9 nature-based therapy case studies, including five randomised controlled trials (RCTs) across Europe. Three Social Innovation Actions will develop community focused nature-based resilience Hubs to demonstrate best-practices for scaling-up and scaling-out successful interventions.

RESONATE (“Building individual and community resilience through nature-based therapies”) brings together 14 partners, principally universities from across Europe, and is coordinated by the University of Vienna. Experts running nature-based therapies in America, Australia and Canada will be among those advising the project.

The RESONATE project runs from June 2023-May 2027 and will use the results of the research to produce a collection of open access Nature-based Therapy Guides for different stakeholders, practitioners and policymakers. These guides will help local communities decide if introducing nature-based therapies and intervention in their area is right for them, and if so provide a roadmap for how best to ensure the interventions are as acceptable and effective as possible.

Professor Ben Wheeler and Dr Lewis Elliott will lead the University’s involvement in the project. Becca Lovell, James Grellier and Leanne Martin from ECEHH are also team members. The RESONATE project is led by Professor Mat White, based at the University of Vienna and honorary member of ECEHH.