Joe Lillis

Joe is an ESRC-funded PhD student with the Medical School at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health. This PhD is supported by world-class researchers in this field, Prof. Ben Wheeler and Dr. Lewis Elliott. His research focuses on investigating combinations of environmental factors that may shape inequalities in mental health across society. His research aims to identify the circumstances where exposure (and access) to nature may provide the greatest protective benefits to mental health. 

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Conservation Ecology, an MSc in the Environment and Human health, and an MRes in Health and Wellbeing - for which he received a Dean's Commendation for Exceptional Performance as one of the highest performing students in the cohort. He has experience in conservation land management, landscape gardening, forest school teaching and species monitoring. 

The range of skills he has developed in this time include: environmental epidemiology, data handling and analysis, large panel datasets, earth observation (satellite data) skills, GIS use for a range of applications (QGIS, ArcGIS, GeoDa), STATA analytical software, secure (e.g. disclosive) data protocols and analysis, and the handling multiple types of environmental data (e.g. satellite, IMD, Government noise data, high resolution air pollution, and others). These various skills are widely applicable to many areas, and have given Joe an adaptable and open-minded approach. 

Alongside his PhD, Joe has presented his work to a wide audience on a 2 month study visit to the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Here, hosted by the GeoHealth Lab (Prof's Malcolm Campbell and Dr Matt Hobbs), he discussed work creating combined measures of greenspace, air pollution and road noise. During ths time he developed a New Zealand-wide, high resolution cloud-free composite, which Dr. Lukas Marek will utilise to improve the GeoHealth lab's Healthy Location index.

In addition to this, Joe worked with Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) to assist in monitoring populations of Kea (an endemic and rare species of alpine parrot). This data helped contribute to ongoing efforts to protect the species in a large protected area. This emphasises that the skills enabling Joe to investigate relationships between environmental exposures and health are easily transferred to other areas.