About the Project
Water environments, or blue spaces, such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs and coastal waters are an important natural resource that support biodiversity, underpin food and energy production, supply drinking water, promote tourism and enable recreational opportunities. Access and exposure to blue spaces can deliver a broad range of health benefits, e.g., social interactions, mental wellbeing, physical exercise, that together are recognised as ‘blue-health’ benefits. While blue health benefits of spending time at the coast are well recognised, the role of inland blue space environments in promoting health and wellbeing benefits is less well understood. This is partly due to the breadth of sensory attributes (e.g., aesthetic properties of the waterbody, aesthetic properties of the waterside surroundings, soundscapes, smells), associated with different types of inland blue space. These sensory attributes of inland blue spaces are dynamic, which raises further questions of how environmental and climate change may influence the range and magnitude of health and wellbeing benefits provided by blue space environments because of, for example, increased water pollution or challenges of emerging pollutants.
Recently, sewage discharges into UK surface waters have received significant media attention with increased recognition of the frequency and magnitude of spills raising public awareness of the risks posed to water quality and downstream ecological and public health. This has attracted strong criticism from campaign groups, water quality experts and public health professionals who are increasingly concerned that combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are being used to regularly dispose of untreated sewage into receiving waters even during times of little to no rainfall. Heightened public awareness of sewage pollution and a growing appreciation of the risks from inappropriate wastewater discharge to freshwater ecosystems has coincided with increased numbers of people choosing to explore and value local environments as a resource for promoting their health and wellbeing in response to lockdown restrictions that were in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, the main argument in support of licenced CSO spills (i.e., those occurring during wet weather) is that this activity poses minimal direct risk to human health through exposure to faecal pollution because people are less likely to swim during heavy rainfall, when pollution would be diluted by high flows; however, this fails to recognise the potential disbenefits on health and wellbeing for the ‘hidden majority’ who engage with blue spaces in non-immersive ways. For example, do the health and wellbeing benefits associated with blue space exposure diminish, or have negative health outcomes, when waterside users: are exposed to visible water pollution signatures and evidence of washed-up and trapped sewage-related debris on riverbanks and shorelines; become increasingly aware of reduced aquatic biodiversity associated with impacted waters; and encounter smells typical of sewage effluents? In other words, when blue spaces turn brown, what happens to their health and wellbeing promoting potential and are those impacts short-lived or long-lasting?
The overarching aim of this studentship, therefore, is to provide critical data on the importance of water quality associated with blue space environments for promoting health and wellbeing benefits. Specifically, the research objectives are to:
1. Determine how different types and levels of water quality and pollution associate with measures of wellbeing across different blue space user groups;
2. Use a mixed methods approach to characterise how exposure to short- and longer-term changes in water quality influence perceived health and wellbeing (dis)benefits;
3. Investigate via scenario analysis and choice experiments how variations in water quality of blue spaces, driven by land use and climate change, can impact on their blue-health benefits, as perceived across different blue space user groups.
The student will deploy a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to enable data capture of blue-health benefits associated with inland water environments across different blue space user groups. The studentship will link together analysis of secondary data sources with participatory-based qualitative research methods and use of national-scale representative surveys. An evaluation of future potential impacts on blue space access, quality and health-promoting opportunities will be undertaken. Climate change projections will be used to derive scenarios of future blue space usage and access and consider how different “catchment futures” might relate to health inequalities.
Funding Notes
Application deadline is 3rd January 2025 (noon). By this time applicants must have submitted an application through the IAPETUS online application system (see: View Website) However, serious applicants should contact the lead supervisor well before the deadline to discuss.
UKRI eligibility rules enable a small proportion of IAPETUS PhD studentships to be awarded to non-UK applicants from overseas and for successful international candidates we will apply to the University of Stirling to waive overseas fee costs. International applicants must contact the primary supervisor by the earlier deadline of Monday 9th December 2024 if they wish to be considered for this PhD.
References
Further information on the project, skills and training opportunities can be found here: https://iapetus2.ac.uk/how-to-apply/
In order to address historical imbalances in the higher education sector, Iapetus is committed to recruiting a diverse, representative community of researchers in Environmental Science. The DTP has developed an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy to further this. This includes the Widening Participation Scheme, which identifies Home applicants from underrepresented groups.
