Professor Cornelia Guell

Professor Cornelia (Conny) Guell is Associate Professor (Reader) in Anthropology of Health and Environment at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, which she led as Co-Director (Jan 2022 - July 2024). She is Deputy-Director of the UKRI-funded Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions, Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Natural Environments and Health, and the Deputy-Director of Postgraduate Research at the Department for Public Health and Sports Science.

Her research addresses key planetary health priorities to create healthy, sustainable and socially just environments in both Global South and Global North settings with a focus particularly on food systems for better nutrition and healthy infrastructure to support physically active lives. Conny leads highly interdisciplinary international research teams across the social sciences, humanities, health and environmental sciences in Small Island Developing States as well as European settings and the UK funded by most major UK funders.

Conny also leads the ECEHH research theme Food Systems and Planetary Health. She is a member of the steering group of Exeter Food, member of the Food, Nutrition & Health research group, and co-investigator at the Centre for Cultures and Environment of Health.

Conny designs and leads undergraduate and postgraduate modules and teaching on social contexts of health and the environment, global health, and qualitative research methods; she supervises Master's and PhD students, and welcomes inquiries for PhDs (self-funded or through studentships schemes such as the ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership) in her field of research. She is external examiner for the University of Cambridge, the University of the West Indies and the University of the South Pacific.