Dr Monika Walia

Dr Monika Walia is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions (Net+ Centre), funded by the UKRI. She is an environmental epidemiologist and a public health researcher with expertise in quantitative research. Her current work focuses on utilising a systems thinking approach for conceptualising and identifying key issues and priorities in climate change and mental health and mapping complex systems that underpin them.

Her PhD under QUEX Institute – a partnership between The University of Queensland, Australia, and the University of Exeter, UK – examined linkages between climate change and mental health across Australia and the UK. Monika’s research examined how exposure to extreme weather events is associated with mental health conditions and wellbeing and if these associations varied by socio-economic and psychosocial factors such as social support and pro-environmental behaviours.

Prior to this, Monika worked on various health and development-related issues as a public health researcher with the Population Council, India Office, and International Food Policy Research Institute, South Asia Region, for over 6 years. Her current research interests include climate change, air pollution, mental health, and community-based interventions, with a focus on identifying issues and potential solutions to address systemic bottlenecks.

Key areas of her previous research include climate change, air pollution, Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health and Nutrition (RMNCH+N), family planning, HIV/AIDS, and community mobilisation interventions among marginalised population groups.Some of her methodological expertise includes conducting mixed-methods studies, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEAL) activities, large-scale primary and secondary large-data curation and analysis, and applying systems thinking approaches.