Dr Alex Smalley
Communications specialist
a.j.smalley@exeter.ac.uk
01872 258135
Peter Lanyon
Peter Lanyon Building, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK
Overview
Dr Alex Smalley is a researcher and communicator aiming to understand more about how experiences in nature can impact people’s wellbeing.
Alex holds a PhD in environmental psychology from the University of Exeter and since 2017 has been investigating the cognitive and emotional impacts of virtual encounters with the natural world.
His Virtual Nature project involved creative approaches to data collection and analysis, working with interdisciplinary teams from the arts, media, and science to weave large-scale experiments into national broadcast outputs, and engaging diverse audiences in conversations surrounding nature and health.
Alex has worked with the BBC on several research collaborations, including the award-winning Radio 4 series Forest 404, the cross-platform BBC Music initiative Soundscapes for Wellbeing, and the BBC Four series Mindful Escapes.
Most recently, he partnered with the BBC Natural History Unit and Audible to create the Healing Power of Nature, an immersive 8-part audio series, written and narrated by Alex, that introduces key concepts from the field of environmental psychology.
Alex also has a background in the physical sciences and science communication, where he spent over a decade communicating complex concepts to a range of national and international audiences.
Following an undergraduate degree which focused on atmospheric physics, he worked as a weather forecaster in Australia, as a policy assistant at Defra, as a climate consultant for private consultancy, and as a producer at BBC News, before joining the University of Exeter where he led the science communication activities of two large pan-European grants, BlueHealth and SOPHIE.
Read more about Alex and his work here.
Research group links
Research
Research interests
Alex is interested in how virtual natural environments can impact wellbeing. His research into ‘virtual nature’ is investigating how nature, culture, and technology can combine to enhance psychological health.
Alex’s research is developing our understanding of ‘what works’ in nature restoration, and is hoping to inform interventions which bring contact with the natural environment to people who can’t otherwise access it.
His research has been funded by the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, and the University of Exeter.
Research projects
Current Projects:
- Virtual Nature: Exploring how digital experiences of the natural world can impact health and wellbeing, virtual-nature.com
